powered usb hub - still cant power external hard drive

Samfau2 · 17 Jan 2009 at 13:47

I have an external hard drive with a cable that splits into two usb plugs. The only ports on my system that seem to be able to power the device are my front two. I have an antec 900 and the front two usb ports can power the device fine. But when i try and plug the hdd into my rear usb's it doesnt work. The LED comes on but you can't hear the disc spin up and it doesnt appear in my computer.

Now i've just bought a powered USB hub hoping to solve this problem and free up my front USB's. But when i plug the hard drive into this hub i get the same thing, light comes on but cant use the HDD.

Any ideas why its not working in anything but the front USB's?

ShakenNstirred · 17 Jan 2009 at 16:09

are all the usb ports, usb 2? maybe it has something to do with that

Samfau2 · 17 Jan 2009 at 16:36

yeah i assume they are, its a new build. mobo is an asus p5q-se so there shouldnt really be a problem with that.

you dont need any form of usb drivers in vista do you? there all preloaded aint they?

think i might email asus, see if they can help at all. Theyve been pretty helpful in the past with little issues like this

ShakenNstirred · 17 Jan 2009 at 17:03

yeah vista has the driver already, besides that if you didnt have a driver no usb`s would work.
give asus a email see what they have to say

ChrisLX200 · 17 Jan 2009 at 18:53

I reckon the drive is asking for 2x 500mA, and some USB ports share the same header and can't supply the current for every socket (they assume not all devices will actually be asking for the full load). Take the back sockets, usually (say) 8, if they were all asked to supply the 500mA that would be 4A or 48w just for USB devices. You may have some success trying different combinations of sockets on the back to plug into. I know I have 2 CD storage boxes powered by USB, some of the back sockets can power them, some can't. I had to mark which ones I can use for that and the others are used for low power devices.

Samfau2 · 18 Jan 2009 at 11:49

just tried several different combo's on the back and same thing, will try again later, wierd thing is the front usb's can power the whole device with just one of the USB's, anyways im off out now. Will email asus when i get back and hopefully sort this out.

Samfau2 · 19 Jan 2009 at 20:33

Asus just recommended i updated the bios and installed the latest mobo drivers, and if that doesnt sort it contact my reseller to check for a fault.

Doubt this will fix it and im pretty sure its not faulty.

Any other ideas? No one else had a similar prob?