Computers and Related Hardware/Software

bmwracer wrote:
Eek, sounds like your external drive's USB interface is flaking out...

You're running Win2K/XP, ne?

It's flaking out already??? I had it less than a year too. :grumble:

And I'm running XP.

cori wrote:It's flaking out already??? I had it less than a year too. :grumble:

And I'm running XP.

Is the problem intermittent or chronic?

If possible, try it out on several other PCs...

Don't know how you'd recover from a bad USB interface... :sweat:

You might have to contact the manufacturer for help/warranty issues.

Try these...

-try a different cable first.
-unplug every usb device, including hubs, except your keyboard and mouse. see if it works then.
-if you know someone capable enough, remove the HD and put it into another case and test that.
-throw it out the window.

bmwracer wrote:
Is the problem intermittent or chronic?

If possible, try it out on several other PCs...

I tried it on my laptop first and my desktop and got the same message for both of them. I'm thinking that this stuff happened because of the DVD authoring stuff I did last night.

I basically had the .avi files on the external HDD and used the desktop to convert files and burn the discs. The 6-7 hour process might have caused the HDD to give away. :shamefulcry:

Don't know how you'd recover from a bad USB interface... :sweat:

You might have to contact the manufacturer for help/warranty issues.

And that sucks about the warranty part because I cannot find the receipt for the external. :banghead:

cori wrote:I tried it on my laptop first and my desktop and got the same message for both of them. I'm thinking that this stuff happened because of the DVD authoring stuff I did last night.

That shouldn't have caused a problem...

Have you tried powering everything off and restarting? The entrire system could be in a goofy state...

I basically had the .avi files on the external HDD and used the desktop to convert files and burn the discs. The 6-7 hour process might have caused the HDD to give away. :shamefulcry:

Possible, but not likely... Is this the first time you've done this process?

Try some of Krim's suggestions as well... Except maybe the last one. :beaten:

bmwracer wrote:That shouldn't have caused a problem...

Have you tried powering everything off and restarting? The entrire system could be in a goofy state...

The DVD authoring is the only thing unusual that I can think of which could've possibly caused this to happen.

And I tried turning off the computer, but maybe I should turn the electric off as well. Is shouldn't be a bad thing to do, right??

Possible, but not likely... Is this the first time you've done this process?

Try some of Krim's suggestions as well... Except maybe the last one. :beaten:

And that was the first time I've done DVD authoring on my ancient computer, which is the reason why I'm guessing that's the cause of this.

Wow, I didn't even see krim's post till you mentioned it. :sweat:

krim wrote:Try these...

-try a different cable first.
-unplug every usb device, including hubs, except your keyboard and mouse. see if it works then.
-if you know someone capable enough, remove the HD and put it into another case and test that.
-throw it out the window.

- Different cable? is there a different cable when it comes to an external harddrive? I'm going to have to buy one, I think..
- I'll try unplugging the other usb stuff soon...
- And I'll ask my brother to help me out with the HD stuff, but probably not till this upcoming weekend. :sweat:
- if all this doesn't work, I might just be tempted to do the last suggestion. Please don't give me any other ideas. :beaten:

I tried turning off the power for everything and started it up again. AND it works!!! Thank you so much beem & krim!!! You guys are awesome. :hug:

For future reference, how should I switch the external HDD from the desktop to my laptop? Should I plug it in first then turn the laptop off or plug it in when it's already on? I remember doing that, but Windows didn't start up, but maybe that's a once-in-a-while fluke.

I think the authoring thing is a pure coincidence...

Did you have any inkling of a problem before?

bmwracer wrote:I think the authoring thing is a pure coincidence...

Did you have any inkling of a problem before?

Nope, no problem before, which was why I was semi-panicking. But now I'm so happy that it's back to normal. Maybe I should try authoring with the laptop now. :bonk:

cori wrote:I tried turning off the power for everything and started it up again. AND it works!!! Thank you so much beem & krim!!! You guys are awesome. :hug:

Great. :)

The "turn off everything" solution works again... Windows/PCs get like that every now and then...

For future reference, how should I switch the external HDD from the desktop to my laptop? Should I plug it in first then turn the laptop off or plug it in when it's already on? I remember doing that, but Windows didn't start up, but maybe that's a once-in-a-while fluke.

It shouldn't make a difference, unless the manual for the external HDD says otherwise: USB connections should be hot-swappable, i.e., plugged in/out with the power on... :)

cori wrote:Nope, no problem before, which was why I was semi-panicking. But now I'm so happy that it's back to normal. Maybe I should try authoring with the laptop now. :bonk:

If the CPU on the laptop is faster and you have the disc space, it might speed things up quite a bit. :)

bmwracer wrote:
It shouldn't make a difference, unless the manual for the external HDD says otherwise: USB connections should be hot-swappable, i.e., plugged in/out with the power on... :)

I don't recall it having any instructions like that, so I guess it's alright to do both.

bmwracer wrote:
If the CPU on the laptop is faster and you have the disc space, it might speed things up quite a bit. :)

And I think I shall try that out...just as soon as I back up whatever junk I have on my laptop. I ain't going through this computer related panicking again!

cori wrote:And I think I shall try that out...just as soon as I back up whatever junk I have on my laptop. I ain't going through this computer related panicking again!

Wise decision.

With XP, when you plug in a USB device, it should pop up a message saying that it recognizes the device and then you should be ready to go...

When you unplug the device you should click on the Safely Remove Hardware icon on the icon bar at the lower right before actually unplugging the device... That ensures that Windows disconnects the device gracefully from the system and that no data transfers are occurring at the moment. :)

BTW, some external hard drives tend to generate a lot of heat. Unless it has fans, they die easily when they're on for a while.

Oh, and putting it in a bucket of water along with the power cord won't make it cooler. Some kid tried that a few weeks ago. :crazy:

tabana wrote:BTW, some external hard drives tend to generate a lot of heat. Unless it has fans, they die easily when they're on for a while.

Hmm, never woulda thought the enclosure itself might be a problem... If that's the cause for the failure, it's a bad design.

Oh, and putting it in a bucket of water along with the power cord won't make it cooler. Some kid tried that a few weeks ago. :crazy:

LOL. :hehe:

Extreme liquid cooling. :hehe:

bmwracer wrote:
Wise decision.

With XP, when you plug in a USB device, it should pop up a message saying that it recognizes the device and then you should be ready to go...

When you unplug the device you should click on the Safely Remove Hardware icon on the icon bar at the lower right before actually unplugging the device... That ensures that Windows disconnects the device gracefully from the system and that no data transfers are occurring at the moment. :)

This is the safe way of removing USB drives from Windows. I always do this even if the drive says it's hot-swappable. :victory:

On Macs, you want to eject the disk before disconnecting it. (At least they changed it so that you aren't sending it to the Trash like in older versions).

dochira wrote:At least they changed it so that you aren't sending it to the Trash like in older versions.

LOL, nice feature.

Steve Jobs come up with that? :hehe:

bmwracer wrote:
LOL, nice feature.

Steve Jobs come up with that? :hehe:

I don't know who came up with it. Probably the same person that decided that to shutdown a machine, you should press the Start button. :hehe:

On Macs, it was difficult explaining to a person that to eject a CD, you need to drag the icon to the Trash Can.

Bizzaro World, I tell you.

That's weird. :sweat:

Wow, i haven't heard that crap in ages.