2.5" HDD enclosure- Works on any pc but mine

[clone63]

Title explains most the problem. I've got a WD 2.5" hard drive in an external enclosure that is USB powered. It has a Y joint for 2 connections. It will not work on this PC. The LED comes on but it just sits there clicking. I thought it may be XP but it worked on different XP based comp. and a Vista laptop.
I've tried both connections off the front jumper powered usb ports and rear direct mobo ports. Same thing. My only guess is that my awesome amazing PSU isn't providing enough power. The only thing that leads me to believe otherwise is that I unplugged everything but the keyboard and still zip. Can a PSU provide that little power?

[gingerbee]

sounds like it's not getting enough juice to spin up. jmo, and it's rare but i have seen bad psu ( there were also dieing at the time) that would power teh system but nothing on the peripheral side would work like firewire/usb.

[clone63]

Is there anything I can do to confirm this?

[gingerbee]

change power supply's but that's a lot to check just usb power.

[clone63]

Yeah, not quite up for the trouble. More or less got it for laptop to laptop data transfers. I can just take it out of the enclosure if I need to. Thanks gingy

[bissa]

try plugging the first plug into the computer you are transferring data to and the other into another computer. I had the same problem with my laptop and doing that with my tower fixed it. if that works than it is probably the PSU, if not than it may be something to do with the OS; I had problems like that with my MP3 player before as well.

[gingerbee]

see i love it there always a work around, cool give it a try.

[clone63]

Indeed, clever. Bum PSU: Confirmed!

Worked when 1 plug was in a laptop. Then certainly a good thing a Neo Power 550 is on its way from a trade. Older model, but New in Box, supposedly.

Thanks guys, most helpful

[clone63]

OH NO

Soooo, the new PSU arrived today and works fine (oddly convenient timing) but STILL the same problem with the hard drive. I'd think maybe something to do with Windows but what?
The only other thing I can think of now is a motherboard problem.

[frontier204]

It does sound like you're not getting enough power through your USB ports. Just as a note, USB ports and hubs are supposed to limit their power consumption according to the USB specification: Universal Serial Bus - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
This is normally not an issue of the power supply, but of a USB hub / motherboard. E.g. I know for some reason that my desktop's Asus M3A78-T has "weaker" USB power than my laptop, and that has nothing to do with the SeaSonic M12 600W PSU that I have (considering my computer only draws 320W out of the wall at F@H load). I have a 2.5" USB HDD, and my desktop needs a Y-cable to power the HDD while the laptop does not.

Did you try ALL the USB ports on the computer? If you have a damaged header it may not be producing as much power as before. Another thing you can try is to try your HDD on a POWERED USB hub (with the extra AC adaptor plugged in of course). If the powered hub works on another computer but not on the one with issues, then there could be something stranger happening.