Cannot connect ext hd

karltimber

**posted this on Computers -but got no replies**

Hi,
I have a media pc running xp-mce and when I connect my Western Digital external hard drive, the pc cannot see it.
I have changed the ext hd letter to Z but it seems the HD is trying to run the setup software it has on it.
Because this software is runnng I cannot get the "add software" in control panel to start up.
I cannot see it either in Device manger
The hd connects fine on the laptop and other pc's but not the media pc.
I took off the software off the hd but still no luck.

Is mce or settings on the pc effecting this.

any suggestins,

thx - K

mathias

This could be any number of things but run through the obvious ones first ,

Is this a passport hard drive , or a drive that needs power from the USB port , if so , the USB port your connecting too might not be a " power " port , try all the ports that the media PC has and see if you get the same results.

Do you have a PCI USB controller in the media PC , these are good to have as the motherboard USB ports tend to be a shared resource and if there are a lot of devices connected already then there might not be enough bandwidth for the new drive to fire up properly.
For a Media PC a Separate PCI USB card is highly recommended , they are only about 19 euro. ( this may be your only option if the drive is powered from the USB port and you have no " Power " USB slots on your media center.)

Is the hard drive partitioned in any way ? , this can cause problems with some setups.

Also what format is the external drive , is it NTFS or FAT 32?

Go into disc management while the unit is connected to the PC , can you see the drive there , it may say unallocated disk or something.
This is in Control panel / Admin tools / computer management ...... it should show all drives connected and the status of each drive , unless the drive is allocated it wont show anywhere else.
If it is showing here but unallocated then right click on the drive for a list of options.

subway

you can change the drive letter but cant see the drive?
the hd is trying to run setup software, but you cant run the software?
somethings not right here.

can you see it in disk management? (right click on my computer > manage)
does it have a letter, etc in there.
what software are your trying to install?
an external hdd in mce does need software

karltimber

thx lads,
It is a passport alright.

I have changed the letter to Z ie not used, tried to find it in disk management but no luck.
It is running Fat32 - which I will change when have it freed up of stuff.

I will try a different usb port tomorrow and will let you know.

I do have an extension usb cable from the back of the pc - which I am using to connect it - do these cable transfer power as well as a direct connection ?

The software the passport is trying to install is it's own setup.exe, and hence why it stops me from |"add new hardware" it says it's busy.

will reply tomorrow so,

thx again

K

mathias

If it turns out to be the USB ports , one of these will fix you up ,

http://www.komplett.ie/k/ki.aspx?sku=335104

Should considerably speed up file transfer as well.

subway

the system is trying to access setup.exe?
the drive is obviously working then as the system can see the files.

can you cancel the setup, or disable autorun on the drive?

karltimber

howdy,

I pulled out the mce machine - desktop - and put the usb connection into a back usb port and it connected and transfered files perfectly.

so, why does an usb ext cable not work - when connected into a back usb (the rear of mce machine is not that accessible)?

Will I just get a longer cable than the one supplied with the drive (3 inches) and just leave it there - probably the easiest fix.

K

mathias

Well the limit on USB cable is 5 meters , theres only four pins to worry about , and I have used Ext cables for USB powered devices myself with no problems whatsoever , so can only assume that the cable is faulty in some way.

Well , at least you know what the problem is.

karltimber

I changed out the usb ext cable and it now works fine.

it's gas that I always think it's software, settings or compatibility - instead just a faulty cable - I'll know better next time.

thanks for the replies.

k