USB hard drive causes my computer to restart

[Jeff]

I bought a new computer yesterday with Vista. When I plug in my USB external
hard drive to transfer my files the computer restarts. While using a thumb
drive this does not occur. I ran anti-virus on the external hard drive. It
was clean. Did I get a lemon or is there a quick fix?

 

[Richard Urban]

If you are using one of the self powered USB drives that derive their power
from the USB port itself that could be the problem. I have seen this problem
with the small drives from various manufacturers. My Maxtor pocket drive
does the same thing and I can't find the external power source for it at the
retail store where I bought it. It has been sitting on my shelf for over a
year now as it is just too much trouble to use.

I have three external drives that I have put together myself using Adaptec
cases and external power sources. They work fine.

 

[Synapse Syndrome]

If you are using one of the self powered USB drives that derive their
power from the USB port itself that could be the problem. I have seen this
problem with the small drives from various manufacturers. My Maxtor pocket
drive does the same thing and I can't find the external power source for
it at the retail store where I bought it. It has been sitting on my shelf
for over a year now as it is just too much trouble to use.

I have three external drives that I have put together myself using Adaptec
cases and external power sources. They work fine.

This is something that can happen with USB printers, scanners and external
HDDs. You need to go to the BIOS setup and disable the option for allowing
USB devices to wake up the computer.

ss.