PC Notebook-External Drive

[dddave]

I have a Gateway Solo Notebook 2500 SE, running Windows 98 SE, 64 MB RAM, 333 MHz Celeron. I have an installed Matshita CD-ROM CR-175 drive, originally identified as D drive. I added an external USB HP CD-Writer 8200 and installed the driver using a HP file, usbver39.exe; the new external drive came in ID as E. Apparently, I cannot address the Matshita CD-ROM now, as the HP driver installed the new external drive onto a Gateway proprietary bus and assignments have changes in such a manner that the original CD-ROM cannot be seen now. Is there a way to reliabily undo this change, removing the new external USB HP CD-Writer 8200 and restoring the IDE bus to the original configuration?
Thanks,
David

 

[micker377]

Reboot with the external drive unplugged. Windows will go back to the original settings. I have the same problem with my USB ports (flash drive and external hard drive). Whichever is plugged in on boot is drive "K". Boot it up without the external drive and plug it in after the CD is recognized.
Another thought, does your external drive have an on-off switch? If I have everything plugged in, and the power to the external drive off, the computer won't recognize the external hard drive.

 

[dddave]

Thanks for the info. It works OK; can use one (D) or the other (E), but not both (D & E). No power switch on the external USB drive.
David

 

[micker377]

Is the USB drive powered by the USB cable, or does it have a power supply you can un-plug at the drive case?

 

[dddave]

It does have a power supply I can un-plug at the drive case.

 

[micker377]

In that case, you can leave everything hooked up and unplug the power the external hard drive when not in use. When the computer is running and the hard drive power is plugged in, you should have both recognized. If not (IRQ conflict), you just can't use both at the same time (bummer). By the way, I'm using a SOLO 2500 - 266 CPU. When I upgraded from Win 95 to Win 98, I had a very rough time getting the USB to work right again. Apparently the Gateway USB is non-standard.

 

[jimmydigital]

I have a gateway laptop also running xp home, and have a maxtor 5000LE 80GB hard drive external that has worked for the past year, I recently got a new one, used both of them thursday and now the old one doesnt work, it shows it has power on the drive, recognizes it as a device in device manager, and says that it is working properly, but it doesnt work, it is not recognized in my computer, i used the drive management option you recommended and it did not show up there, the external has it's own power supply that plugs into the wall, and it doesnt make a sound like it used to, any ideas? thanks.

 

[micker377]

When the computer is running, pick the "bad" drive up and slowly turn it over in your hand. Do you feel a "gyroscopic (restrictive) action"? If not, it sounds like the drive isn't spinning up. Could be drive, or the drive case power supply. What if you unplug the new one, and try the old one by itself?

 

[jimmydigital]

no, i didnt feel the gyroscopic, it's not spinning up at all, is there any way to fix that, or at least get all my information off of it?

 

[jimmydigital]

ive tried the drive by itself, together, reboots, the safe remove, trouble shooting that led no where

 

[micker377]

Do you have access to a desktop computer? If so, you can get an adapter to run the laptop drive itself as a slave on it. If the OS's are different, you may not be able to read it, but you can still see if it spins up. If it spins up OK, get another enclosure.