[sliver]

Well, the title about sums it up.

I just purchased a brand new Seagate external hard drive this evening (st300003u2) and was hoping to put it to good use. My computer is getting a bit long in the tooth and this was supposed to help out until I could afford to upgrade.

Anyhow, onto the details.

This is a pseudo flow chart of how things have gone tonight:

1. Computer off
2. Plug in HD
3. Turn on computer
4. Turn on HD
5. XP recognized USB external storage device
6. Computer restarts
7. Computer restarts
8. Computer restarts
9. Turn off external HD
10. Computer stays on

I went to Seagate's website and was informed that the drivers that come with XP are up to date and new ones are not needed.

I am running XP without any service packs.
System is an AMD Sempron 2400 with 512mb of RAM

If anyone has any suggestions as to what the problem might be I'd love to hear them. I bought the HD from a CompUSA closeout sale so returns are not optional.. ie, I can't return it. Hopefully there is an easy fix to this.

Thanks in advance.

[Advertisements]

No Service Packs could be the cause. SP1 included an upate to the USB support in XP. The latest service pack (SP2) includes all of SP1 plus even more updates to security, so you don't need to install both service packs. If you can't get hold of SP1 , simply install SP2 instead to bring you up to date.
I'm running XP with SP2 and my external USB hard drive is working perfectly.

SP2 is a big download so ask around for a CD if you can. It was released as a free CD by MS and also supplied free with many PC mags. I think you can stll apply for it as free mailer from the MS website. I'd be very surprised if that doesn't cure the problem.

[pip22]

No Service Packs could be the cause. SP1 included an upate to the USB support in XP. The latest service pack (SP2) includes all of SP1 plus even more updates to security, so you don't need to install both service packs. If you can't get hold of SP1 , simply install SP2 instead to bring you up to date.
I'm running XP with SP2 and my external USB hard drive is working perfectly.

SP2 is a big download so ask around for a CD if you can. It was released as a free CD by MS and also supplied free with many PC mags. I think you can stll apply for it as free mailer from the MS website. I'd be very surprised if that doesn't cure the problem.

[sliver]

Thank you for the suggestion. I went ahead and downloaded SP2 today but I'm still having the same issue. When the computer restarts I get the "windows just recovered from a serious error" message. It says it's a "stop error" and is caused by a device driver. The only problem is on Seagate's website the only drivers available are for Windows ME. Supposedly XP needs no additional drivers.

I'm darn near ready to throw this computer out the window as it's been behaving oddly for a while now.. but unfortunately I can't do that until I get all my data backed up. Grr..

[peter99]

How do I troubleshoot a USB "drive not found" issue

http://www.seagate.c...al_usb_dnf.html

http://www.seagate.c...l/100371883.pdf

Warning: Do not connect the USB cable to any USB ports on the front of your desktop computer or monitor, as it could cause the external hard drive to malfunction.

Windows XP - If using Windows XP, service pack 1 added support for USB 2.0. If you are running Windows XP without a service pack then you may not see the full performance of the drive

I would turn on the drive then the computer

Turn off any option for booting from USB or external device in the BIOS


Could not find this number on Seagate site
ST300003U2

[austin_o]

I have several USB external drives that I use between multiple computers. The sequence of events I use (and it always works) is boot up the computer first, then connect the external drive, then power up the external drive. Windows XP should detect the device shortly after you power it on. WXP has all of the drivers it needs for the external drive to function.

[sliver]

peter99,

Windows does recognize the drive when I plug it in and turn it on.. it's after roughly 30 seconds that Windows suddenly reboots. So unfortunately that troubleshooter doesn't solve the problem And you're right.. I was reading the wrong number on the back of the drive.. the model number is ST3160203U2-RK (Seagate Website)

I did check the BIOS although I'm pretty computer illiterate with that sort of thing.. it said nothing about booting from USB or external drives. The only thing of note I could find is the fact that my USB device is set to "Full Speed" instead of the faster "High Speed" setting. I don't know if that would affect anything or not though so I didn't change it.


Austin O,

I've tried booting up in that sequence and XP recognizes the external drive just fine.. but before I can access the drive it just restarts. I was hoping downloading SP2 would sort out the problem but it hasn't.

My computer has been acting really odd lately though. In the past few months it suddenly stopped recognizing new dvd's when put in the dvd drive. I've found that I have to restart the computer every time I put in a new dvd to get the drive to recognize it. If I insert a different dvd with the computer still running it shows that the drive is empty. This happens in both my dvd drive and dvd burner. CD's work fine all the time though. Also when plugging in my digital camera to a usb port I also have to restart the computer each time. However, I can unplug my modem and plug it back in and it still works without restarting. I don't know what to make of the situation.. other than thinking my computer is fast becoming a very large, very annoying paper weight.

Thanks for all the help and suggestions everyone.

[Ryan_88]

i would recommend getting that new computer and taking out ur old PC's hard drive and putting it in the new one and then just transfer all of the data over to the new one!!!

ry