2TB external drive connectivity Win10

[EXCellR8]

I have a desktop external drive at home that is finicky when it comes to being detected by the OS. Sometimes it's fine, and my cloud folders sync without issue on startup, but other times I need to turn it off and then back on 2 or even 3 times before I can actually use it.

When it doesn't work, I believe I get the "Code 10" device malfunctioning message in Device Manager. The drive is plugged into the USB 3.0 hub on the back of my Acer XR341CK, but it does the same thing when connected directly to the motherboard. It has its own power supply so it's not a power issue, at least I don't think so.

Anyone else have similar issues? I'm thinking it could be an interface driver that needs to be updated.

 

[dave_the_nerd]

Did you try a different USB3 cable?

Code 10 usually means Windows had trouble initializing the device. The intermittent nature has me thinking bad cable or bad USB/SATA bridge (if one is present), not a bad driver (or it would never work.)

 

[EXCellR8]

i think i have a spare cable, so I'll try that... but once it's working it won't just stop working out of the blue. just occasionally an issue at startup.

 

[dave_the_nerd]

Hummm... that's weird, alright.

Maybe see if you can duplicate the issue booting from a Linux LiveCD, then? (To eliminate possibilities of driver issues.)

 

[UsandThem]

There was another user here having the same issue with a new Acer laptop. The drive worked fine on other computers.

I suggested it might not getting enough power from one USB connection (They all provide different amounts of power), so he ordered a USB cable that plugged into two USB ports to provide power, and it still did not work. I don't think he ever got it to work as he only responded to say that it didn't work with the new cable either.

I'll link the thread here when I find it.

 

[EXCellR8]

Interesting... like I said it has its own power brick and it always spins up, so I kinda figure it was a hub driver or software related matter.

Also, when copying data I see the correct speeds; there are never any errors that point to the drive itself. I've also tried powering up the drive before the computer... pretty much hit or miss as well.

 

[UsandThem]

Interesting... like I said it has its own power brick and it always spins up, so I kinda figure it was a hub driver or software related matter.

Also, when copying data I see the correct speeds; there are never any errors that point to the drive itself. I've also tried powering up the drive before the computer... pretty much hit or miss as well.

I found the thread, but I guess my memory is starting to play tricks on me. It was actually a Lenovo laptop, and he ended up seeing in disk management. So it probably won't be of any help to you.

Getting old sucks

https://forums.anandtech.com/threads/wd-my-passport-not-recognized-by-windows-10.2492247/

My only suggestion for you would be to try using the drive manufacturer's utilities (like WD Drive Utilities if it is a Western Digital drive) to test the drive and make sure it doesn't detect any issues with it. What drive is it, and you say it has its own power? Is the power source part of the drive retail package, or is it an after-market one?

 

[EXCellR8]

That's alright I appreciate you taking the time... the drive worked fine today when I booted up the computer.

One of those issues I'm lazy about fixing until it reappears lol

 

[BonzaiDuck]

That's alright I appreciate you taking the time... the drive worked fine today when I booted up the computer.

One of those issues I'm lazy about fixing until it reappears lol

I can only say from your description that I've had the same issue with USB keyboards connected to my Skylake. Sometimes, upon restart, I'd have to plug in a separate USB keyboard just so I could either get past the logon or restart a second time. These problems seem to have mostly disappeared, but I cannot say what I did to fix it. If the system is your 6600K, we have the same chipset. And -- Oh! By the way . . . I flashed a new BIOS to the system and updated the drivers to December 2016.

Right now, my keyboard is connected via USB3. The troubles occurred when it was connected to a USB2.

 

[EXCellR8]

There's a BIOS for my board that is dated Jan 2017, so I might look into that but I'm not having any other issues with the computer at all.

Last night, when I turned on the external hard drive before the PC, my keyboard turned on...

 

[BonzaiDuck]

Huh?!

Today, I had a stop-code BSOD with dump file when I was testing hibernation with my disk-caching utility. Instability for this system basically stopped the first day or so after I began to overclock it. I ran BlueScreenView against the dump file, which turned up the conflict between my Hauppauge WinTV driver and the OS. So I looked for a driver update for Windows 10, easily found it and installed it. Voila. That problem resolved.

I used to update BIOS to the first revision that eliminated any issues I had. I would then avoid it if I could. Since I'm now updated through the December revision, I'm going to "review my BIOS update policy."

I can't say how conclusive this is, but at minimum we may have exposed a problem with either USB2/USB3 in BIOS. I ran enough tests and experiments that I think I"ve eliminated my own problem, but it isn't the kind of thing one can be sure of until the system has continued in use for a sufficient amount of time to guarantee "Solved." It's been a couple weeks with sleep/hibernates, wakes and restarts as one usually will have over such time.

I'd say just keep track of what happens with it over some foreseeable length of time, maybe take notes for yourself. Maybe plan to update the BIOS first, then the drivers that fit the category of your problem.