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Question

pc usb no longer recogonises external hdd

Mar 2, 2018 8:20AM PST

Hi,
I have two Toshiba external 2tb drives connected via my pc usb ports. They have both stopped being recognized by the pc after working for several months. Both drives work on other pcs. They are not recognised by disk manager but show up in device manager as a mass storage device. I have tried other usb sockets on the pc but nothing works. The usb sockets work fine for everything else. I have reinstalled windows 10, the drivers, and the bios. They both try to start up, spin and then make like a pinging sound. They then repeat this over and over.
I would be grateful for any help. I have now spent days on this and it becoming very frustrating.
My motherboard is an Asus M4A78LT-M LE. Thanks.

Discussion is locked

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Clarification Request
are you using windows 10?
Mar 5, 2018 6:15PM PST

If so, reinstall the motherboard driver files from your manufacturer's site. W10 has lately been replacing driver files on some computers and causing problems like this and with video. The only fix is replacing the wrong W10 driver files with the correct ones from your computer manufacturer, or the motherboard manufacturer's site.

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Answer
Re: USB drives
Mar 2, 2018 8:24AM PST

Could be a power issue. Things to try:
1. USB Y-cable
2. Powered USB-hub
3. External drive with its own power adapter.

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Re usb drives
Mar 2, 2018 10:41AM PST

Hi,
I would normally agree but why would this suddenly become a problem after they have worked fine for 6 months or so. Everything else is OK.
I will certainly try your suggestions and post my progress.
Thank you.

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orange box around my reply
Mar 4, 2018 3:19PM PST

My reply seems to be kept in an orange box with no help from cnet.
Trying smaller message.

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Send me a direct message.
Mar 4, 2018 3:24PM PST

We know that the forums don't like ad blockers but message me directly and I can see if I can post what you want.

How? Click on my name and look for the mail icon.

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Message characters are limited.
Mar 4, 2018 3:37PM PST

Also, links may fall to the spambot or Mods.
Dafydd.

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Spambot is excited today.
Mar 4, 2018 4:57PM PST

I see your message but when you write you made this, I worry. Tell more.

Also, the USB 3.0 card would be a nice step up.

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Spambot is excited today
Mar 4, 2018 5:27PM PST

Why are you worried?
What is wrong with my reply?

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I have few worries.
Mar 5, 2018 12:10PM PST

But I think I did see you post and my email had the text in an alert.

As with most AI no one seems to know how it works.

Back to you. Tell me about this cable you made. I don't run into a lot of folk that good with the solder iron today.

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You have a few worries what about me?
Mar 5, 2018 3:43PM PST

You have obviously read my reply and blocked it for some reason. I have an ad blocker perhaps?
I sent this reply to help other people that may have a similar problem and to be a good community member.
Please tell me in very plain English on this forum why you have blocked my reply. There is nothing wrong with it. Do you have some other motive for doing this?
This is my last message unless you can give me a good reason why you have taken this action.
Regards Derek.

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Let me clear the air a bit.
Mar 5, 2018 5:18PM PST

I have no control over the spam bot. It has a mind of its own.

Again, I did not take this action. Don't let the CNET Spambot get you down.

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See below I revived one of your 4 posts
Mar 6, 2018 9:24AM PST
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Thank you Lee.
Mar 6, 2018 9:30AM PST

For reviving and clarifying.

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Answer
Re USB drives
Mar 4, 2018 3:14PM PST

I made up a “Y” USB lead as you suggested combining two leads and connecting only the power pins 1 and 4 from the second USB port. Using this lead things only seemed to get worse as I started getting various error messages from Windows. When I connected the two leads together I left the connections exposed so I decide to measure the voltage supplied to the HDD. This was fluctuating between around 4.5V and 3.5V. This is obviously wrong. Even with the HDD disconnected it was still only reading 4.5V. This was the same for all of the USB port on the back panel of my PC. Reading the motherboard manual, I found that there were several USB seven pin plugs on the PCB. The voltage reading on these was a constant 5.2V as you would expect. Fortunately, I had a 2 USB hub that plugged into one of the spare sockets. I plugged in the HDD and held my breath. It worked! I can only assume that there is a fault on the motherboard which is restricting the power supplied on the back-panel USB ports. It would also appear that the mouse, printer etc are not affected by the reduced voltage.
Thank you for your help I had already decide it was probably a power supply problem but I had been misled by a local computer shop that insisted that this was not the problem and to reinstall my chipset drivers. Your advice helped me get back on the right track.
Am I right in assuming that if I fit a PCI-E x1 to 4 port USB 3.0 card, that I could run USB 3.0 instead of 2.0 that I am running now. This would make a nice upgrade.
Thanks again for your help.
Cheers Derek.

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USB speeds are such that
Mar 6, 2018 9:32AM PST

Making a cable can create issues which to the entry level engineer might ask "why didn't that work?" The answer is not possible here. My view is that you need to go get a ready to use USB Y power cable for this test.

As to USB 3.0 cards, that would be a good move as well.