External Hard Drive Problems

[Belial]

Hey, I have a Dell Inspiron 1505 laptop, which up until recently was working fine with all my peripheral devices. I have been using this external hard drive for some time now, although, thinking back, I did have this same problem with certain flash drives. The when everything is connected, it makes the sound like it recognizes the device, but then it does not show the drive under "My Computer" I have tried the hard drive on a friend's computer (Inspiron 1505 as well) and everything is working, so I know it is not an issue with the hard drive. I also know it is not an issue with the USB port because my mouse works in the same port, it has the sound, and the "safely remove device" icon is in the bottom right corner.

I'm stumped, and so are my friends. Any ideas?

 

[KurrentEweser]

It could be something as simple as a mixed up registry entry. Try uninstalling all the USB drivers and let Windows reinstall them.

 

[Belial]

A friend of mine reccomended that I look for anything unrecognized under device manager. Things like disk drives, USB controllers, etc... he said that it is a problem with my OS (windows XP). I'm not at my computer at the moment, so I can't verify, but does this sound like a good way to go? Does that give you guys any ideas as a starting place?

 

[thetechexpert]

That would be a great idea. Make sure device manager has no exclamation marks and the drivers are up to date. I have an external hard drive myself and there is a cable on the back that doesn't connect in tightly so this is obvious but make sure everything is connected properly and try to scan for hardware changes and it may find it then. If not, uninstall and reinstall all usb drivers and windows xp should reinstall them automatically like kurrent said

 

[Belial]

Thanks for your quick reply, you guys seem great.

I deleted the usb drivers, and reinstalled them. That may or may not have helped, because a message came up saying that the hardware is recognized and working properly, only... I still can't access it. As far as I can tell, its not an issue with the hard drive, or the usb port: its an issue with whatever is "talking to" the usb and sending the information to "my computer". The only other suggestion I've been able to get is to back up my computer and reinstall xp, but I've never done that before, and I'd rather not if I don't have to.

Thanks again for your help, and if you have any suggestions about what is "talking to" the usb ports, I would appreciate it.

 

[KurrentEweser]

Touching the drive do you feel the drive spinning?

How does the drive show up under Computer Management - Disk Management? Does the drives model number show up under Disk Drives in the Device Manager?

Assuming you are using a 2.5" HD. Is the Drive 100% powered by the USB port or does it have a separate power supply? The drive with age may be drawing more current to overload the USB ports power supply. The enclosures USB to ATA controller is getting enough power, but the hard drives electronics and motor may not have the power it needs.

 

[Belial]

I don't thinks its an issue with the hard drive itself, because I hooked it up to my friends computer (same model as mine) and it worked fine. It is powered from an outlet, because its a 320gig.

There is a new manifestation... now it is telling me that there is a malfunction and that the device is no longer recognized. I think this may be a good thing, because now there actually appears to be a problem (lol) and that brings us one step closer to fixing it.

Thanks again.

 

[Belial]

bump; I would appreciate any help

 

[KurrentEweser]

Open the case and see if all the connectors are seated. Try a different USB cable if you can. Also try booting with your XP/Vista disk and see if the drive is visible.