Weird HDD auto-disconnecting....

zer

zer

zer

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Hi there! I seem to have one of the weirdest problems ever heard. Even googling it didn't reveal any thing usefull. Problem is, whenever i open internet explorer, mozilla or even Steam, my external HDD disconnects! Sometimes it reconnects after a while , sometimes it doesn't and i have to restart my Desktop.
Any ideas would be really appreciated!! I mean, i can't store anything i d/load to my External (WD) drive if it isn't there, can i?;)
 
Somewhere in Control Panel/USB settings there's an option to "Allow Windows to power down this device when not in use" (or something similar) - make sure it's unchecked.

Other than that, I've no idea, unless the caddy is borked. If it's out of warranty, you could buy a new caddy, or use it as an internal drive (assuming the actual HDD is OK).
 
Is it USB powered? If so your USB hub on the motherboard is probably not supplying enough power. This is not uncommon. Some boards can be quite poor. The only solution would be to use an external powered hub.
 
sadbuttrue said:
Is it USB powered? If so your USB hub on the motherboard is probably not supplying enough power. This is not uncommon. Some boards can be quite poor. The only solution would be to use an external powered hub.
Click to expand...

You mean the External WD USB drive , right? No, it plugs to a socket. What baffles me is why it happens (almost exclusivelly) when trying to open an Explorer (IE or Firefox)...:confused:
 
This is the order I'd attack this..

-Replace USB cable
-Check event viewer to see if it sheds any light on the issue
-Test hard drive directly connected to PC (out of enclosure)

bledd. said:
The way to use event viewer..(Windows Vista/7)

Windows logs
>System

Click Filter current log.

Select 'Event Sources', then click 'disk, Disk', click OK

It will have every problem ever recorded for hard drives
Click to expand...
 
Ok!
Replaced usb cable- checked, didn't help.
Malware checked- there aren't any
I use XP. Is there Event viewer in XP?

What i tried is move the Drive from front USB ports to the back. It seems to me that it helped by reducing the number of disconnections (not eliminating them though)
Any more ideas?
Many thanks!
 
zer said:
Ok!
Replaced usb cable- checked, didn't help.
Malware checked- there aren't any
I use XP. Is there Event viewer in XP?

What i tried is move the Drive from front USB ports to the back. It seems to me that it helped by reducing the number of disconnections (not eliminating them though)
Any more ideas?
Many thanks!
Click to expand...

Start - Run - eventvwr
 
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