[amityislander]

sorry if i've posted this in the wrong section.

basically, i've got a Sumvision Egem (WXT-E822-2) enclosure that i've had for a year now and had previously used an old hard drive as external memory for my laptop. recently, my laptop cable socket got damaged, so it's out of action until it gets fixed.

my other computer (nicknamed The Shed) is an old desktop PC running Windows XP service pack 2. i've taken my hard drive out of my laptop and put it into the Sumvision enclosure. i've done this before and had no problem plugging it into my friend's laptop. when i plug it into The Shed, the blue light on the front of the case flashes so i know it's connected but for some reason, the computer won't recognise it. it doesn't even display the USB logo in the corner of the screen.

i've tried different hard drives in the enclosure, but i get the same problem. i looked on the Sumvision site, but there are no drivers on there. other USB plugs work, my internet dongle and webcam connect fine too. i've searched to see if anyone else has had this problem, but found nothing.

i'd really appreciate it if someone could help me

thanks in advance!

[Megabite]

Have you tried updating to SP3

[amityislander]

Originally Posted by Megabite

Have you tried updating to SP3

no, the pc had SP2 already on it when it was given to me.

[amityislander]

bumping

i'm currently attempting to update to SP3, but it's taking forever on my lame internet connection, so it'll have to wait for now until i get a better connection.

is there anything else i can do?

[amityislander]

bumping

ok, i've now updated to SP3 and although my computer is running a lot faster, it still won't recognise the external hard drive. i can assure there is nothing wrong with the hard disk as i used it yesterday on my friend's laptop which is also running XP SP3.

[Megabite]

Does the enclosure have its own power supply?

[amityislander]

no, it's powered through the usb connection

[Triple6]

Does it have one or two USB connectors that plug into the computer? And are you using the front or rear USB connectors on the computer?

Also in Device Manager do the USB Controllers show up? Does the USB enclosure show as a USB device there? How about in Disk Management?

[amityislander]

the enclosure has a socket in the front that i can insert a mini usb cable plug into and the usb sockets are on the back of the computer, i don't have any on the front of the machine. it's pretty old and it only has two usb sockets.

the usb controllers do show up, but i've tried connecting the hard drive through 'add hardware' and also looking in device manager and disk management but it doesn't seem to be able to detect it the little green usb arrow doesn't show in the corner of the screen and the plug n' play window doesn't pop up when i plug it in either. the blue light on the front of the enclosure just blinks on and off and when i hold it against my ear, i can hear the disk moving inside so it must have power.

[Triple6]

So only one USB connector connects to the computer from the enclosure? That might be the issue, one USB port generally cannot supply enough power for an enclosure and hard drive, they usually come with a Y cable or an external power source. Here's the cable I'm referring too: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16812270226

[amityislander]

i knew i had one of those somewhere so i've just tried plugging in both the usb plugs into the back of the shed and the light has come on solid blue and it's working!

thankyou so much, i feel silly now that it was so easily solved

thankyou Megabite and Triple6!

[Triple6]

You're welcome