Restart the PC without any external USB drives connected. Then connect your older USB drive and if it does not install or install correctly, check the Device Manager for that drive and if it's listed uninstall it in the device manager and then disconnect it from the PC. Then do the same thing for the new drive if it's listed in the Device manager. Restart the PC and connect the original USB drive and it should be detected and reinstalled. After it's reinstalled, leave it connected and connect the new drive and it too should be connected and installed.
If after connecting the new drive there is problems with both drives, it could be a "power" issue with the USB bus, and if thats the case you will need an external powered USB 2.0 Hub (one that has it's own power supply) to connect the drives.
If you have a spare bay, pull it out (perhaps firewire or what not) and install a 5-port USB PCI card. It will do it. I used Belnik's.
It has 4 ports sticking out and one looking inside of your computer. You can also rip off your floppy disk drive (if you have one) and install yet another set of 4 USB ports (without the card this time) and connect it to the internal USB port of Belkin's (or whatever other maker's you choose). This way you will have 8 ports.
In essense it is a POWER consumption issue. Your motherboard does not want to have two USB ports siphoning off 0.5 Am each. It cannot afford it. PCI card has its own PSU connection as I remember.
I'm not sure what you mean about power issue but if it helps the two externals have their own power source. It has to be something to do with my pc because I'm using my brothers laptop at the moment with the 2 drives in it and they're working fine. These drives worked fine for me all along even with the two of them connected so why would they act up now. I even ran a deep system scan( Bitdefender Antivirus) to make sure it wasn't a virus problem.
If it is a power issue, the external powered USB hub would be a better option. No added internal components, just the external USB connected powered hub.
The "power" is the amount of power that is available on the USB bus. There is only a certain amount and if the devices attached draw more than is available it can cause problems. This is separate for the power that each external enclosure/drive has to power the drive.
But, if both worked at one time and now neither work, try what I originally suggested. I recently (three days ago) fixed a problem for a customer that was similar; she had a USB memory key that her PC used to recognize but now does not. I connected the key then went to the Device Manager and uninstalled the key, disconnected it from the PC, restarted the PC and after Windows finished starting I connected the Key and Windows detected it and installed the key, and it now works. One thing you should be doing, if you are not, is after you are done with a USB connected device use the "Safely Remove Hardware" option and do that before disconnecting rather than just disconnecting the drive as that can cause USB devices to not be recognized the next time it's connected for use.
fireberd
9 Legend
•
33.4K Posts
0
May 24th, 2008 10:00
Restart the PC without any external USB drives connected. Then connect your older USB drive and if it does not install or install correctly, check the Device Manager for that drive and if it's listed uninstall it in the device manager and then disconnect it from the PC. Then do the same thing for the new drive if it's listed in the Device manager. Restart the PC and connect the original USB drive and it should be detected and reinstalled. After it's reinstalled, leave it connected and connect the new drive and it too should be connected and installed.
If after connecting the new drive there is problems with both drives, it could be a "power" issue with the USB bus, and if thats the case you will need an external powered USB 2.0 Hub (one that has it's own power supply) to connect the drives.
AlexBB
48 Posts
0
May 24th, 2008 16:00
If you have a spare bay, pull it out (perhaps firewire or what not) and install a 5-port USB PCI card. It will do it. I used Belnik's.
It has 4 ports sticking out and one looking inside of your computer. You can also rip off your floppy disk drive (if you have one) and install yet another set of 4 USB ports (without the card this time) and connect it to the internal USB port of Belkin's (or whatever other maker's you choose). This way you will have 8 ports.
In essense it is a POWER consumption issue. Your motherboard does not want to have two USB ports siphoning off 0.5 Am each. It cannot afford it. PCI card has its own PSU connection as I remember.
eyeballs
7 Posts
0
May 24th, 2008 17:00
fireberd
9 Legend
•
33.4K Posts
0
May 24th, 2008 17:00
If it is a power issue, the external powered USB hub would be a better option. No added internal components, just the external USB connected powered hub.
fireberd
9 Legend
•
33.4K Posts
0
May 24th, 2008 22:00
The "power" is the amount of power that is available on the USB bus. There is only a certain amount and if the devices attached draw more than is available it can cause problems. This is separate for the power that each external enclosure/drive has to power the drive.
But, if both worked at one time and now neither work, try what I originally suggested. I recently (three days ago) fixed a problem for a customer that was similar; she had a USB memory key that her PC used to recognize but now does not. I connected the key then went to the Device Manager and uninstalled the key, disconnected it from the PC, restarted the PC and after Windows finished starting I connected the Key and Windows detected it and installed the key, and it now works. One thing you should be doing, if you are not, is after you are done with a USB connected device use the "Safely Remove Hardware" option and do that before disconnecting rather than just disconnecting the drive as that can cause USB devices to not be recognized the next time it's connected for use.