Hard drive causes immediate shut-down

sfarrelly · 08-26-2009, 03:55 PM

Ok. first post, and i'm not sure if i'm in the right forum.

Situation is this. I have a laptop, specs follow:

AMD Athlon Dual core QL-60
2 GB RAM
NVIDIA GeForce 8200M G (graphics card)
Windows Vista Home Premium (32 bit, i think, but not really important)

The problem comes from an external hard drive, that up until about 2 weeks ago, always worked fine (with this exact same computer, no changes made).

The drive in question is a Packard Bell 120 GB "Store and Save" drive. It uses a USB 2.0 connection and up till now has worked fine.

2 problems arose. first. about 2 weeks ago, it was acting EXTREMLY sluggish when transfering data. We're talking about 3 hours to transfer 2 GB of data.

Now, I CAN live with that, although it's not ideal, then came the second problem. Now, if i attempt to connect this drive to my laptop, it causes an instant shutdown. I may not be using the correct term here so just to explain I mean that the laptop goes from being on to being completely off in less than a second, no shutting down screen nothing (as if a blackout occured and you had no battery for the laptop). Also, if I attempt to reboot the laptop with the drive connected nothing happens. If i disconnect the drive, it boots up.

Any help would be much appreciated.

Regards

DT Roberts · 08-26-2009, 10:22 PM

Possible power issues? The laptop may not be able to generate enough power through the USB, and so the error could cause the entire laptop to shut down...I'm not sure. Never heard of anything like this.

Is it possible to test the hard drive in another computer? Preferably one that isn't necessary. I'd like to search it for a virus of some sort.

sfarrelly · 09-03-2009, 09:42 AM

ok, i took your advice and tested the drive on another computer (a Dell desktop in this case).

The following error message came up when i booted up the drive:

"A USB device has malfunctioned and exceeded the power limits if it's hub port. You should disconnect the device."

This was followed by a list of USB ports and the recommendation to remove the drive and reset the port. It didn't cause the computer to shut down.

As regards a virus, i don't "think" that that's the case. I should have mentioned in my previous post, but this shutdown was caused regardless of whether the external drive was turned on or not. (I've tested both cases), and the USB port does still work as i tend to use it for connecting memory sticks etc..

It looks like the drive is knackered, and i may have to replace it. Does anyone know if there's a way to either fix a drive in this condition or at least to retrieve / transfer the data on it to a new drive.

Thanks in advance.

**raptor_pa** · 09-03-2009, 09:48 AM

A good possibility there is a failed TVS Diode on teh PC Board of the drive inside the enclosure. On a 2.5 inch drive they can be even tougher to identify. Best bet at this point is to get the 2.5 inch drive out of the external enclosure and connect directly to the sata port of a desktop. It also coule be the drive is just pulling more current to spin up than the USB port can provide, tho with the shutdown on one PC it sounds like a short on the 5V line.

sfarrelly · 09-03-2009, 09:57 AM

ok, i guess i'll try and test it with a different adaptor first and see if thats whats causing the problem. Should be able to get one from somewhere.

Thanks for the reply.

**raptor_pa** · 09-03-2009, 10:27 AM

If you have a desktop it will connect directly to the sata port as an internal drive.

08-26-2009, 03:55 PM	#1 (permalink)
sfarrelly Registered User Join Date: Aug 2009 Posts: 3 OS: vista home premium	Hard drive causes immediate shut-down Ok. first post, and i'm not sure if i'm in the right forum. Situation is this. I have a laptop, specs follow: AMD Athlon Dual core QL-60 2 GB RAM NVIDIA GeForce 8200M G (graphics card) Windows Vista Home Premium (32 bit, i think, but not really important) The problem comes from an external hard drive, that up until about 2 weeks ago, always worked fine (with this exact same computer, no changes made). The drive in question is a Packard Bell 120 GB "Store and Save" drive. It uses a USB 2.0 connection and up till now has worked fine. 2 problems arose. first. about 2 weeks ago, it was acting EXTREMLY sluggish when transfering data. We're talking about 3 hours to transfer 2 GB of data. Now, I CAN live with that, although it's not ideal, then came the second problem. Now, if i attempt to connect this drive to my laptop, it causes an instant shutdown. I may not be using the correct term here so just to explain I mean that the laptop goes from being on to being completely off in less than a second, no shutting down screen nothing (as if a blackout occured and you had no battery for the laptop). Also, if I attempt to reboot the laptop with the drive connected nothing happens. If i disconnect the drive, it boots up. Any help would be much appreciated. Regards

08-26-2009, 10:22 PM	#2 (permalink)
DT Roberts Windows Tech Team Join Date: Jun 2009 Location: Massachusetts Posts: 1,174 OS: Windows 7 RTM (x64), Vista SP2, XP Pro, Windows 7, Ubuntu 9.04 My System	Re: Hard drive causes immediate shut-down Possible power issues? The laptop may not be able to generate enough power through the USB, and so the error could cause the entire laptop to shut down...I'm not sure. Never heard of anything like this. Is it possible to test the hard drive in another computer? Preferably one that isn't necessary. I'd like to search it for a virus of some sort. __________________ A+ Certified Technician Using Device Manager Shrinking Partitions

09-03-2009, 09:42 AM	#3 (permalink)
sfarrelly Registered User Join Date: Aug 2009 Posts: 3 OS: vista home premium	Re: Hard drive causes immediate shut-down ok, i took your advice and tested the drive on another computer (a Dell desktop in this case). The following error message came up when i booted up the drive: "A USB device has malfunctioned and exceeded the power limits if it's hub port. You should disconnect the device." This was followed by a list of USB ports and the recommendation to remove the drive and reset the port. It didn't cause the computer to shut down. As regards a virus, i don't "think" that that's the case. I should have mentioned in my previous post, but this shutdown was caused regardless of whether the external drive was turned on or not. (I've tested both cases), and the USB port does still work as i tend to use it for connecting memory sticks etc.. It looks like the drive is knackered, and i may have to replace it. Does anyone know if there's a way to either fix a drive in this condition or at least to retrieve / transfer the data on it to a new drive. Thanks in advance.

09-03-2009, 09:48 AM	#4 (permalink)
raptor_pa Mod Hardware Team Join Date: Dec 2008 Location: Central PA Posts: 4,843 OS: XP	Re: Hard drive causes immediate shut-down A good possibility there is a failed TVS Diode on teh PC Board of the drive inside the enclosure. On a 2.5 inch drive they can be even tougher to identify. Best bet at this point is to get the 2.5 inch drive out of the external enclosure and connect directly to the sata port of a desktop. It also coule be the drive is just pulling more current to spin up than the USB port can provide, tho with the shutdown on one PC it sounds like a short on the 5V line. __________________

09-03-2009, 09:57 AM	#5 (permalink)
sfarrelly Registered User Join Date: Aug 2009 Posts: 3 OS: vista home premium	Re: Hard drive causes immediate shut-down ok, i guess i'll try and test it with a different adaptor first and see if thats whats causing the problem. Should be able to get one from somewhere. Thanks for the reply.

09-03-2009, 10:27 AM	#6 (permalink)
raptor_pa Mod Hardware Team Join Date: Dec 2008 Location: Central PA Posts: 4,843 OS: XP	Re: Hard drive causes immediate shut-down If you have a desktop it will connect directly to the sata port as an internal drive. __________________