I recently purchased a new laptop through Sager, a NP9262. I have a
Western Digital 320GB passport USB external hard drive. The external
hard drive worked great when I used with my old machine (it had Windows
XP), but for some reason it is not working with my new machine (it has
Vista Home Premium 64). I also have a Western Digital Elements 250GB
external hard (with its own power supply) that works fine on both
machines. I have contacted Western Digital and their support team told
me that it was a power issue and that I needed to purchase a Power Boost
Cable. I already had one of these cables from a different external
drive, but even when using this cable the drive still does not work.
Would some please point me in the right direction or help me resolve
this issue? If there is someone with the same problem what did you do to
fix it?

Thanks for your time,
Kenneth


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HtenneK29

Does the drive show up in the device manager. Also check your usb ports
in the device manager and see if any of the ports under the power tab
and see if the drive shows there.


--
mansrm81

If you think I helped you fix your problem give me some rep . Click on
the scales. [image:
http://www.vistax64.com/members/mans...-untitled.jpg]

The drive does not show up in the Device Manager. I am not sure what you
mean by "see if any of the ports under the power tab and see if the
drive shows there".


--
HtenneK29

under the [image:
http://www.vistax64.com/attachment.p...=122577244 5]
in the device manager.


+-------------------------------------------------------------------+
|Filename: Untitled.jpg |
|Download: http://www.vistax64.com/attachment.p...achmentid=7697 |
+-------------------------------------------------------------------+

--
mansrm81

If you think I helped you fix your problem give me some rep . Click on
the scales. [image:
http://www.vistax64.com/members/mans...-untitled.jpg]

No it does not show up in any of the USB Root Hub under the power tab.


--
HtenneK29

I don't under stand why it doesn't show up for cause on western's site
it says it will work with vista.


--
mansrm81

If you think I helped you fix your problem give me some rep . Click on
the scales. [image:
http://www.vistax64.com/members/mans...-untitled.jpg]

Just because a plug fits doesn't mean the power supply will work. The
polarity may be reversed or the output voltage may be different. Get the
correct supply from W.D.

--

Richard Urban
Microsoft MVP
Windows Desktop Experience


"HtenneK29" wrote in message
...

I recently purchased a new laptop through Sager, a NP9262. I have a
Western Digital 320GB passport USB external hard drive. The external
hard drive worked great when I used with my old machine (it had Windows
XP), but for some reason it is not working with my new machine (it has
Vista Home Premium 64). I also have a Western Digital Elements 250GB
external hard (with its own power supply) that works fine on both
machines. I have contacted Western Digital and their support team told
me that it was a power issue and that I needed to purchase a Power Boost
Cable. I already had one of these cables from a different external
drive, but even when using this cable the drive still does not work.
Would some please point me in the right direction or help me resolve
this issue? If there is someone with the same problem what did you do to
fix it?

Thanks for your time,
Kenneth


--
HtenneK29

Ok I have changed around to the different USB ports on my laptop (there
are 4)

[ ] [ ]
[X] [X]

With the Power Boost cable in the bottom 2 ports (as I tried to show
above) the External Drive will show up for a min and then go away and
keeps doing this. This is more than I have had it do in the past.


--
HtenneK29

It is not a power supply, but rather a cable. I understand what you mean
and some of the wiring in the cable could be reversed/not the same. It
is from an older Western Digital product (I don't remember which though)
and my friend was going to throw it away so I kept it. I have placed an
order for a new cable and will update when it arrives and can test it
out. This could take a few weeks I am deployed to Iraq and it takes
stuff a while to get here. I mainly only use the drives to store my back
up DVDs so it isn't that big of a problem, but really very irritating.
Thank you both for your help and taking your time. It is very much
appreciated.


--
HtenneK29