USB Harddrive problems

MouseMat2004 · 4 Nov 2007 at 00:00

Hello,

I have a friend with Windows XP, hes having major problems with external USB hard drives. Whenever he plugs one in windows brings up the error 'The disk structure is corrupted and unreadable' even on his iPod. They all work fine on other PC's.

It's an old KT266 motherboard with USB1.1, plus he has a USB 2.0 VIA PCI card. I've tried reinstalling/updating to the latest VIA drivers, no conflicts or errors in device manager. Other USB devices work perfectly fine....

Anyone got any clues before I format the git.

MagicalTrevor · 4 Nov 2007 at 00:50

Maybe the USB ports aren't providing enough power to the external hd? I can remember having a KT266 *I think* (socket a?) and I couldn't use my Alcatel USB ADSL modem directly with the computer because it couldn't power it. I had to buy a hub.

swinnie · 4 Nov 2007 at 09:51

It is quite possible that not enough power is at the source of the problem.

I believe there is a free piece of software to check how much power you're giving to USB Devices. Can't remember for the life of me what it is.

Bandwidth something?

MouseMat2004 · 4 Nov 2007 at 11:47

Should had mentioned before. It was working just fine, then one day...it wouldn't. It was quite a while ago and he didnt tell me else I would had done a system restore.