Buffalo HD-PE500U2 not working on front USB slots

**railfrog** · June 27th, 2011, 03:50 AM

It's as the title says.
It will not work through the front USB slots of compy (other flash drives have no problem) so i have to plug it into the back slots where it works perfectly well.
I sent one of these units back as i thought it was the Hard drive playing up but apparently not.
There are two front USB slots on the case and neither of them work for this drive.
All the front connections of the case are plugged in to the right places on the MOBO.

MOBO is a Gigabyte GA-EP45-UD3L
Case is an Antec 300

I have just done a fresh install of Win7 Pro 64bit.
It did not work before the fresh install and still does not now.

When it is plugged in to the front there seems to be power to the unit as the "Buffalo" logo lights up and the access light on the unit flickers momentarily. But then the access light goes out and the drive just seems to be dead.

When the unit is plugged in to the back USB slots all of the above happens but the access light does more after the initial flicker and i am able to access the drive.

**railfrog** · June 28th, 2011, 03:44 AM

Anyone?

**ShyguyXPC** · June 28th, 2011, 05:50 AM

Sounds like the front ports aren't fully powered, too low of a voltage for USB Bus powered devices. Versus the rear ports. Which is usually the case on most motherboards. Flash drives barely take up any power, but a dedicated USB based Hard drive in an enclosure requires a bit more power sometimes.

I'm not familiar with your board, but I know some Mobo's do have jumpers on them to enable more voltage to the USB ports, it could be your board needs this changed, if its even possible, so that the additional headers on the board can provide more power if needed. ( I don't remember if its just a voltage change, or if it changes from USB 1.1 to 2.0, which should also change voltage requirements along with the change in Spec)

Otherwise, a quick fix would be to just get a USB extension cable, or USB Hub with long cable, plug it in the back and then plug the External drive into that when ever you need to use it.

**ShyguyXPC** · June 28th, 2011, 05:55 AM

Found this related thread over at Maximum PC's forums via google.

No real solution, but its an almost identical scenario, similar motherboard as well.

View topic - Antec 300: Front USB Supplies Little or No Voltage - Maximum PC Forums

**railfrog** · June 28th, 2011, 10:25 AM

Thanks Shy....I reckon you could be right with that answer.

Will have a look later.

And the extension lead is a good idea aswell.

Edit:- Power consumption for the buffalo unit is 2.5W

**railfrog** · June 28th, 2011, 11:45 AM

Funny thing....

Changed the USB header from USB1 to USB2. Plugged the drive in to one of the front USB lots and it worked. Thought great, fixed it.

Unplugged the drive and re-inserted and ...... nothing. Same as before.

Changed the header back to USB1 and exactly the same happened. Worked for the first time and then nothing.

When i listen to drive when it is plugged in there is a "clicking" sound when it fails to boot. Otherwise there is a "whirring" sound.

**ShyguyXPC** · June 28th, 2011, 01:33 PM

if it was a repeated clicking sound, or grinding sound I'd worry about the drive being dead, but otherwise that sounds like normal operations. I can hear quite clear sometimes one of my 5 drives in my case with a clicking sound and then the whirring and a light scratching sound as the drive reads/writes, but the drive itself is fine.

With the USB thing, I wonder if it could be that the USB ports in the front of the case itself are loose, or wiring loose or something?

I know you can buy replacement front usb ports from Antec's Website, their like $8 or 9 bucks, but wonder if it could be something like that as well.

Reading something online here on Wikipedia...

Universal Serial Bus - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Some devices like high-speed external disk drives may require more than 500 mA of current[36] and therefore cannot be powered from one USB 2.0 port. Such devices usually come with Y-shaped cable that has two USB connectors to be inserted into a computer. With such a cable a device can draw power from two USB ports simultaneously.

Did your drive come with a similar Y-Adapter? Wondering if it could be something similar?

I don't see any mention online about it including one, so I would imagine the answer is no.

**railfrog** · June 28th, 2011, 06:47 PM

It is a single cable.

As for the clicking, it clicks all the time when plugged in to the front USB ports, but i don't think the drive is defective as it boots ok when plugged in to the rear USB's.