Thinkpad shuts down when external HDD connected to USB por..

[pc]

Archived from groups: comp.sys.laptops (More info?)

G'day experts,

I've got an older Thinkpad 600X with a 12g drive that I'm trying to
upgrade to 30g.

Simple I thought, purchase cheap 2.5" external case and plug it into
the USB port on the Thinkpad and clone the existing drive.

BUT as soon as I plug the external case into the USB port the computer
shuts down instantly like its been shorted out.

Major panic but after taking the battery out, all is well and the
laptop fires up again as normal.

The external case says it works fine on any "normal USB port with a
0.5A output".

Fair enough but I can't find anything that tells me how much power the
USB port on the Thinkpad puts out. Does anybody know?? Neither the
manual nor the specs on IBMs website say anything about this issue.

Is a lack of power from the USB port even likely to be the problem?
If it is, will an externally powered USB hub fix the problem??

All ideas gratefully accepted.

Cheers,

PC

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: comp.sys.laptops (More info?)

caseyp_l@hotmail.com (PC) writes:
> Is a lack of power from the USB port even likely to be the problem?
> If it is, will an externally powered USB hub fix the problem??

It's worth a try. Some of those USB enclosures have an auxiliary
power input so you don't have to use USB power. You could try that too.

 

[Benny]

Archived from groups: comp.sys.laptops (More info?)

Have you also bought a USB 2 bus card for the PCMCIA port? This increases
your speed.
Does your external drive cable have a second USB plug for power only, or an
external power supply?
Have you thought about using your existing drive as your O/S and the
external drive for your data? This makes your data completely mobile, you
can plug it into any other computer to work on it, like a giant flash drive.
--
Benny
*******
"PC" <caseyp_l@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:83b5124b.0504071914.44e38ef@posting.google.com...
> G'day experts,
>
> I've got an older Thinkpad 600X with a 12g drive that I'm trying to
> upgrade to 30g.
>
> Simple I thought, purchase cheap 2.5" external case and plug it into
> the USB port on the Thinkpad and clone the existing drive.
>
> BUT as soon as I plug the external case into the USB port the computer
> shuts down instantly like its been shorted out.
>
> Major panic but after taking the battery out, all is well and the
> laptop fires up again as normal.
>
> The external case says it works fine on any "normal USB port with a
> 0.5A output".
>
> Fair enough but I can't find anything that tells me how much power the
> USB port on the Thinkpad puts out. Does anybody know?? Neither the
> manual nor the specs on IBMs website say anything about this issue.
>
> Is a lack of power from the USB port even likely to be the problem?
> If it is, will an externally powered USB hub fix the problem??
>
> All ideas gratefully accepted.
>
> Cheers,
>
> PC

 

[woody]

Archived from groups: comp.sys.laptops (More info?)

If you go to the usb hub properties in device manager you can find the power
available to the port.


"PC" <caseyp_l@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:83b5124b.0504071914.44e38ef@posting.google.com...
> G'day experts,
>
> I've got an older Thinkpad 600X with a 12g drive that I'm trying to
> upgrade to 30g.
>
> Simple I thought, purchase cheap 2.5" external case and plug it into
> the USB port on the Thinkpad and clone the existing drive.
>
> BUT as soon as I plug the external case into the USB port the computer
> shuts down instantly like its been shorted out.
>
> Major panic but after taking the battery out, all is well and the
> laptop fires up again as normal.
>
> The external case says it works fine on any "normal USB port with a
> 0.5A output".
>
> Fair enough but I can't find anything that tells me how much power the
> USB port on the Thinkpad puts out. Does anybody know?? Neither the
> manual nor the specs on IBMs website say anything about this issue.
>
> Is a lack of power from the USB port even likely to be the problem?
> If it is, will an externally powered USB hub fix the problem??
>
> All ideas gratefully accepted.
>
> Cheers,
>
> PC

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: comp.sys.laptops (More info?)

Thanks Woody,

Power shows as 500ma so that should be OK.

I did notice that the power management option allowed the computer to
switch off the power to the root hub so maybe connecting the device was
too much of an instant power drain....maybe.....

It might also be that the USB external case is faulty. Unfortunately
difficult to know.

There is no external power capacity to the case but I will try tne
powered hub idea.

Cheers,

PC
Woody wrote:
> If you go to the usb hub properties in device manager you can find
the power
> available to the port.
>
>
> "PC" <caseyp_l@hotmail.com> wrote in message
> news:83b5124b.0504071914.44e38ef@posting.google.com...
> > G'day experts,
> >
> > I've got an older Thinkpad 600X with a 12g drive that I'm trying to
> > upgrade to 30g.
> >
> > Simple I thought, purchase cheap 2.5" external case and plug it
into
> > the USB port on the Thinkpad and clone the existing drive.
> >
> > BUT as soon as I plug the external case into the USB port the
computer
> > shuts down instantly like its been shorted out.
> >
> > Major panic but after taking the battery out, all is well and the
> > laptop fires up again as normal.
> >
> > The external case says it works fine on any "normal USB port with a
> > 0.5A output".
> >
> > Fair enough but I can't find anything that tells me how much power
the
> > USB port on the Thinkpad puts out. Does anybody know?? Neither the
> > manual nor the specs on IBMs website say anything about this issue.
> >
> > Is a lack of power from the USB port even likely to be the problem?
> > If it is, will an externally powered USB hub fix the problem??
> >
> > All ideas gratefully accepted.
> >
> > Cheers,
> >
> > PC

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: comp.sys.laptops (More info?)

On 7 Apr 2005 20:14:43 -0700, caseyp_l@hotmail.com (PC) wrote:

>Simple I thought, purchase cheap 2.5" external case and plug it into
>the USB port on the Thinkpad and clone the existing drive.
>
>BUT as soon as I plug the external case into the USB port the computer
>shuts down instantly like its been shorted out.
....
>The external case says it works fine on any "normal USB port with a
>0.5A output".
>
>Fair enough but I can't find anything that tells me how much power the
>USB port on the Thinkpad puts out. Does anybody know?? Neither the
>manual nor the specs on IBMs website say anything about this issue.

First off, ThinkPads do have a "power off" feature if they detect a
short on the USB bus. I had a similar situation as yours recently,
but I quickly learned that mine was caused by accidentally shifting
the drive a pair of pins when I plugged it into the enclosure. This
meant that my drive was trying to draw power from a pin in the
enclosure that the enclosure/bus didn't expect such a high current
draw on. It happened no matter where I connected the drive on teh
ThinkPad.

As for USB power, the USB2 spec says that the bus will provide up to
500 mA (0.50 A) per port. I know that I have a drive that requires
1.0 A on spin-up and with some short cables, or very high quality
cables, I can run the drive powered from a single port on my ThinkPad
R50p. I don't like to do that with this drive, but I will run my
other drive (requires 2.7W or about 515mA) to spin-up. It works more
reliably when powered from my USB port.