PC crashes when connected to external HDD

[Computician]

Hi,

Have a strange problem. Bought a new WD Mybook 500GB external (USB 2.0/Firewire) for backups. When I connect it to my home PC, computer crashes BSOD. The HDD works fine with my office PC though. I have a HP Pavilion 1030n. 3.0Ghz 512MB RAM with internal 200GB HDD.
Tried all the USB ports and the firewire. Same result!

Any help will be appreciated.

 

[kjv1611]

Hmmm, it could be a hardware incompatibility between the motherboard/mainboard and the USB hard drive. Though, I would think that rare, it is possible.

Can you try a PCI USB add-on card, and see if you get the same results? Or do you have any other card, such as a sound card, that would have an extra Firewire or USB connection that you could try? I'm assuming you only used the onboard USB/Firewire connections.

--

"If to err is human, then I must be some kind of human!" -Me

 

[Grenage]

Greetings.

What is the exact BSOD error message? Have you connected any other external storage to this machine using USB, before now?

Carlsberg don't run I.T departments, but if they did they'd probably be more fun.

 

[Computician]

Thank you kjv1611 and Grenage,

Ok, the details are:
The first day I bought the HDD, came home and connected it to PC. It was ok, the drive was formatted FAT32. I tried to partition it and format it using NTFS. While doing so, using the disk management tool in Winxp, the system crashed. I though, I might have screwed something. Next day I took the HDD to office. Connected it there, worked fine. Went ahead, partitioned it, formatted it. No problems. Went back home attached it to PC....boom. BSOD....everytime I tried to connect it, same result. I thought maybe the partitioning is not working. So, make one partition again at office PC. AT home same result.
The BSOD says, the windows stopped working to damage to your machine. Seek driver update or disable memory cacheing/shadow in bios. I couldn't find such setting in my bios. Also, I have all the lattest bios/windows/antivirus/anti-spyware updates. Contacted HP who said, might be power surge problem, remove all USB devices and use just you ext. HDD. Tried everything, same result.
I use HP lazerjet3030, my USB Hyundai drive 2.2GB and a webcam using USB ports, never had any issues.
Called WD customer service. They said check your HP machine as its working with other PCs....
If nothng works I will return the drive and try the WD passport 120GB instead, though I like Mybook and its storage capacity.

Regards

 

[Grenage]

That's very odd, as you say. I wonder if perhaps the driver for accessing the external drive became corrupt when the system crashed during partitioning?

Carlsberg don't run I.T departments, but if they did they'd probably be more fun.

 

[kjv1611]

To check into the power surge possible problem, you could try swapping out the power supply, assuming you had an equal or greater wattage power supply around, or accessible.

Or if you still wanted to stick with the current hard drive, you can pick up a PCI add-on card with USB ports for cheap. A hardware problem between the onboard USB controller and the hard drive should be bypassed that way.

Given this is a namebrand device, and it's working well at the other location, I would think it has to be something with your machine. I can't help but think that the most likely candidate is the USB controller on the motherboard, and the second most likely a problem with the power supply.

In the mean time, if you wanted to try and do something other than hardware, you could try removing and reinstalling the driver, as I think Grenage is suggesting.

--

"If to err is human, then I must be some kind of human!" -Me

 

[Computician]

Thank you once again for you help guys.
I will try this today. Just wondering if FAT32/NTFS could be an issue. I know it sounds stupid but the drive worked when it was initally factory formatted at FAT32??

Regards

 

[kjv1611]

I wouldn't think it would be a problem, unless the enclosure's HDD controller has problems with it for some reason. It's worth a try, I guess, so long as it doesn't cause any problems such as not recognizing all the drive space.

--

"If to err is human, then I must be some kind of human!" -Me

 

[Computician]

Hi kjv1661,

I am posting this for your info. I just found the problem. As, I said earlier, it sounds stupid but hey whats the harm in trying. I reformatted the HDD using FAT32 and it worked. I still don't know the reason why this happened..any thoughts....

Regards

 

[kjv1611]

My only guess would be either just a cheap hard drive controller that is not setup to handle NTFS, or that maybe your external case needs a firmware update. Oftentimes, when various peripherals do not work the way they should, the manufacturers will eventually post fixes via firmware updates. But, if you're fine with FAT32, then I'd say just stick with that, and don't bother with a firmware update. The reason being that if a firmware update goes bad, then you may lose all functionality of your hardware - there is no "undo" button, per se, for firmware updates - there may be a way to back them off, but if it causes damage, then the damage is done.

--

"If to err is human, then I must be some kind of human!" -Me