External HDD problem

[Teny]

i bought an external HDD in china, the Western Digital 160 Passport Essential, and now i am back in the US. and it was working fine awhile back. then i took it to my friends house, which is about 2 min drive away. and when i try to connect to his computer, i get this.

"one of the USB devices attached to this computer has malfunctioned, and windows does not recognize it. For assistance in solving this problem, click the message."

then i tried it on the computer, and get the same message. Then i came home to see if my computer can read it, it said the exact same thing. According to Windows, its an unknown device. Ive tried rebooting, my friends reformatted their HDD, used different cables, uninstalled all USB devices, and plugged it in into different slots. Its only been about 1-2 hours before it was working.
any advice on how to fix this?

 

[IAntDemo]

sounds bad man.

Ok, try turning off your pc for 30mins with no usb connections in, then turn it on without usb's and then try plug the external harddrive in.


if this does'nt work, try clicking start, run and type regedt32.exe , nopw go to HKEY_LOCAL_Machine\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Usb , under this key, create a new dword value called DisableSelectiveSuspend, and set it to value 1, now restart the pc.

if this does not work try uninstalling all USB drivers and reinstalling them along with your motherbored drivers.

Goodluck

 

[Teny]

Ok, try turning off your pc for 30mins with no usb connections in, then turn it on without usb's and then try plug the external harddrive in.

tried that, and no luck.

if this does not work try uninstalling all USB drivers and reinstalling them along with your motherbored drivers.

also tried that, and still no luck.

if this does'nt work, try clicking start, run and type regedt32.exe , nopw go to HKEY_LOCAL_Machine\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Servic es\Usb , under this key, create a new dword value called DisableSelectiveSuspend, and set it to value 1, now restart the pc.

ill try that in a minute.
the thing i dont understand is why all of the sudden the external just stopped working. It was working perfectly before i left the house. i never dropped it or no electrical current went to it, i just put it in my pocket and went over.
then all of the sudden i get the error message.
i tried connecting to 4 different computers, and i still get the same error.

 

[IAntDemo]

after a USB port isn't used for a long while the USB driver built into the OS sets the OHCI controller to suspend. When you plug a device back in, it can sometimes fail to 'wake up' properly.

 

[Teny]

after a USB port isn't used for a long while the USB driver built into the OS sets the OHCI controller to suspend. When you plug a device back in, it can sometimes fail to 'wake up' properly.

but i only didnt use the port for 2 hours, and it shouldnt happen to all 4 computers.

if this does'nt work, try clicking start, run and type regedt32.exe , nopw go to HKEY_LOCAL_Machine\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Servic es\Usb , under this key, create a new dword value called DisableSelectiveSuspend, and set it to value 1, now restart the pc.

tried, and still doesnt work.

 

[IAntDemo]

then something is wrong with the hdd. btw these things have to be handled carefully, ive done it myself with my mp3 when i plugged it in my ps3 and its broke, theirs nothing I can do either, its crap but send it back, its now come down to a fault with the harddrive. I suggest going back to the store or sending it back of and complain and tell them their is important data on it, i'd say they will send you a new one at no cost and maybe refund you with something else such as a voucher, its an electrical goods so they have to be good to you.

goodluck

 

[Teny]

i would, but i bought it in Hong Kong when i was on vacation, so i got no receipt, and i threw away the box. So since now i am back in America, i cant do anything, unless you think i can.

 

[IAntDemo]

I don't want to help you anymore, you did'nt even say thnx or anything you ignorant

 

[Remeniz]

Mmmm.

Well with no other options I would pull the thing apart and remove the actual hard drive itself.

If it has the same interface as a standard internal hard drive then connect it to your motherboard, as you would with a normal internal hard drive.

Doing this you bypass the USB interface on the external hard drive and there's no reason why this wouldn't work as long as the connections on the hard drive are the same as a standard internal hard drive.

EDIT:

In fact i'm having a brief look at some specs and I think it uses a 2.5 inch hard drive. Similar to the hard drives in laptops. Again if this is the case you can buy this that allows you to connect the hard drive in your external hard drive to the motherboard inside your computer.

And they do mounting brackets for 2.5 inch drives to mount in 3.5 inch bays should you get it working.


So, don't throw it away yet...

 

[Teny]

i would take it apart, but theres a tine problem, how do i open it?
me and my friends thought of a way to open it, but the hard drive might be destroyed along the process.
i cant find the guides online either.
heres a link to my external
http://www.wdc.com/en/products/products.asp?driveid=391