USB 2 Seagate External HDD Problem...

RoEy · 20 Mar 2008 at 22:24

Hi all,

I recently built a PC for my Dad and it’s been completely stable so far. He plugs his Seagate External HDD 100GB into the front I/O usb port to use it. Basically, I setup his new speakers, mouse and keyboard, which he got today and they all went on fine. I had to turn the PC off at the wall in order to tidy the cables up, during this time the Seagate HDD was plugged in and then I turned the power back on to be alerted by a beeping noise and flashing blue coming from the Seagate HDD.

Now when I plug it into the front USB it goes really slow and is very temperamental. It runs a lot quicker when I plug it into the back usb. It also won’t let me format using the front usb yet the back ones do. The motherboard is an ASUS P5K PRO. Hope someone can please help me as to what might be causing it. I've tried my flash stick in both front and back and they copy and move data at exactly the same speeds so it must be the external hdd acting up.

Thanks,

RoEy

fobose · 20 Mar 2008 at 23:45

Probably unrelated but I had a very similar sounding problem with my e-sata external hdd with my P5K-E. Fixed with a jmicron controller update - however unrelated to you as your using USB and not e-sata.

Tomsk · 21 Mar 2008 at 09:28

I assume the front USB ports are connected to the motherboard via wires.
I've had a similar problem on an Asus and Gigabyte motherboard. I can't use the front ports with my iPod because of slow transfer and erratic connection, yet the back ports, which are fixed on the motherboard are fine.
I suspect it's to do with lack of power going to the front ports.

RoEy · 21 Mar 2008 at 10:26

It’s all connected to the motherboard correctly as it was working perfectly well before. Memory sticks work in the front too at exactly the same speed as they do at the back. I've also checked the BIOS and USB Hi-Speed is enabled, which is 480mps.

The HDD won't even let me format it at the front or back. It was working fine until I turned the plug on at the wall with it plugged into the front. My Dads had it for a year and not had a problem, although he did have it plugged into Laptop which is USB 1.1. Surely turning the PC on at the wall with it plugged in couldn’t corrupt it or damage it? It can't be the USB's on the board being faulty can it?

RoEy

RoEy · 21 Mar 2008 at 11:00

No one got an idea?

RoEy

Tomsk · 21 Mar 2008 at 11:41

From what you've just said it looks like the external drive is broken. Either the USB-drive interface or the drive itself. If it's out of warranty, you will need to dismantle the unit and test the drive to determine what's wrong.

RoEy · 23 Mar 2008 at 16:57

Found out that you need to use both USB leads when connecting to USB 2. I had queried this before but my Dad said you only needed to use one. I connected two, formatted it and now it works perfectly.

RoEy