Stupid USB Portable HDD problem

[phoenix6]

I bought a WD passport for my car. My head unit has USB on it so I went that route.... everything works in my car, and the single USB cable thats also supposed to power this fuckin drive, works on laptops and work PCs.... but my desktop? NOPE.... I have 2 diff cables, 1 thats a Y type USB cable to plug into 2 ports that go into 1 mini b for the hdd, and 1 normal to mini b cable. The single cable works fine with everything, but even the Y cable, doesnt work on my desktop.... it loads and unloads and repeats constantly until I unplug it.... I cannot figure this out.

 

[drunk_medic]

Check to make sure the plug is able to seat all the way in on the connector? I had a USB drive that had a retractable connector, and it was a touch too short. on some PCs I could not plug it far enough in, and had to support it to make sure the drive worked.

 

[JMDigital]

Sounds like the USB port on your computer is not powering the drive correctly. Is it USB 2.0 ?

There is 2 things you can do to fix this.

1. Buy the power cable from them and just use it for the computer that you are having problems with -
- http://www.wdc.com/en/products/accessories.asp?ProdID=170

2. Get a POWERED USB HUB to run the external. Not a cheap $7.00 one. A good one. Then plug the drive into the powered USB HUB. Here is a link to one I use.

http://www.staples.com/office/supplies/p1_USB-Cables-Hubs_139532_Business_Supplies_10051_SEARCH

This comes with the power adapter, make sure the one you do get has one. Sounds like this should fix your problem. That external is known to be a little temperamental.

Good luck with it. If you have any other questions please post them up..

 

[phoenix6]

Medic - I dont think the plug is the problem, I have 6 USB 2.0 ports on the comp, 2 on board the other 2 are add ons that take over PCI Spots. (the plug into the board too)

I checked the device manager, it says all hubs are putting out 500MaH each.

JMD, that power cable in the first link, I have one, doesnt fix the problem here, its what I have to use for the car though, one to the radio, one to a USB inverter plugged into the cig lighter... works like a charm.

Im gonna try the powered hub with an AC adapter.

EDIT: I really only need it to work a few times on the PC, its gonna sit in the car in its spot I made for it 99% of the time.

 

[JMDigital]

Ahhh. you have the power cable.. Before you buy the hub, How many other USB devices are attached to the computer? You could try pulling as many as you can then try the extra power cable.

Also what size is the power supply in the computer? Do you need the extra 2 usb ports? Perhaps your power supply cant handle everything in the computer? What is your computer setup?

 

[phoenix6]

Personal Setup, I think the PS is only 250, I have 2 other USB devices hooked up right now, one is an external AC powered hard drive the other is the bluetooth dongle for my keyboard and mouse.

Ive tried plugging in the Y cable for the hard drive on multiple spots, nothing seemed to work really.

I have an AMD Athlon XP 3200+, 1.5gb DDR400 ram, shitty temp vid card (nvidia) cuz my other one ate it, Gigabit motherboard with VIA chipset.

I tried unplugging one of the extra USB sets, didnt work then either.

 

[JMDigital]

OK. Well try the USB HUB then. hopefully that will do it.

 

[annoyingrob]

definitely a power problem. The startup current is causing the ports to go into protection mode and shut off.

Normally, you SHOULD be able to power it atleast from two ports, but if you have a crappy motherboard and/or power supply, it won't. Use the powered hub. That should solve all your problems.