External USB HDD makes touchpad mouse malfunction
Hi Guys,
Wonder if anyone has any ideas about this little dilemma I am having. I bought an external USB HDD enclosure the other day and for some reason when I plug it into most laptops (3 out of 4 so far), it makes the touchpad mouse malfunction. The mouse will continue to work but it pauses and jumps all over the place. Now, this has happened on XP and Vista Ultimate. When I unplug the HDD (safely remove hardware etc.) it continues to happen, EVEN after reboot.
Now heres the kicker, on the first laptop (Toshiba with Windows XP) I used it on I was actually doing a reinstallation of Windows XP for a friend so I went ahead with a clean install and the problem persisted after I WIPED the internal HDD and reinstalled Windows!!!
I thought maybe drivers for the Touchpad so reinstalled etc no go. Then I rebooted for about the tenth time and it was as if nothing had ever happened. Same scenario with the next laptop (Toshiba with Vista Ultimate) except no clean install, it just came good after about a day of pulling my hair out!!!
Same again for Laptop number 3 (Dell with XP), came good after about a day. Nothing to do with updates as the Vista box was not connected to Internet........drivers are all correct, straight from the manufacturers.
I am truly puzzled, and worst of all the main reason for having this external HDD is for when I work on Laptops.......
Wonder if anyone has any ideas about this little dilemma I am having. I bought an external USB HDD enclosure the other day and for some reason when I plug it into most laptops (3 out of 4 so far), it makes the touchpad mouse malfunction. The mouse will continue to work but it pauses and jumps all over the place. Now, this has happened on XP and Vista Ultimate. When I unplug the HDD (safely remove hardware etc.) it continues to happen, EVEN after reboot.
Now heres the kicker, on the first laptop (Toshiba with Windows XP) I used it on I was actually doing a reinstallation of Windows XP for a friend so I went ahead with a clean install and the problem persisted after I WIPED the internal HDD and reinstalled Windows!!!
I thought maybe drivers for the Touchpad so reinstalled etc no go. Then I rebooted for about the tenth time and it was as if nothing had ever happened. Same scenario with the next laptop (Toshiba with Vista Ultimate) except no clean install, it just came good after about a day of pulling my hair out!!!
Same again for Laptop number 3 (Dell with XP), came good after about a day. Nothing to do with updates as the Vista box was not connected to Internet........drivers are all correct, straight from the manufacturers.
I am truly puzzled, and worst of all the main reason for having this external HDD is for when I work on Laptops.......
0
Comments
What are you doing with HDD? Are you running some software from it, installing something?
Is there anything different about the fourth laptop, or anything you did differently?
The main use for the drive is backing up and transfer of files so it is basically reading and writing.
Worth a mention is the fact that a USB mouse will work fine whilst the External HDD is plugged........
The HDD I am using is a Seagate 160GB. I might try putting a different HDD into the enclosure and see if the same problem occurs, at least this will narrow down the potential cause. I'll keep you posted, and thanks for any input you provide it is very much appreciatted.
What compounds the problem is that I don't particularly want to go experimenting with my laptop as it is so frustrating when it happens and I don't know what makes it resolve itself. Therefore it might have to be filed under "unsolved mysteries".
I will post back once I get they chance to try and different HDD in the enclosure.
Cheers........
I received an email alert that you responded to this thread but it is not appearing when I open the page. Do you mind reposting your response?
Firstly, Y.A.D. - The laptops have all been plugged into mains power, great thinking though - you are definitely on the right track.
Second, I decided to try a different HDD in the enclosure today to ascetain if that was the cause of the problem and in the process found some vital information.
OK so the HDDs are swapped out and I plug the enclosure into the power point and the USB cable into the laptop. The unit is powered but the on/off switch on the enclosure is OFF. The problem with the mousepad starts!!!
Now because once this starts to happen it usually takes a day to rectify everything else that I did from here on is not reliable, but I'll post it anyway........I switched the USB cable thinking perhaps a problem there but no fix. I unplugged the enclosure and the problem seemed to cease slightly (however this could be wishful thinking).
Therefore I AssUme it is almost definitely a power issue. Perhaps the enclosure is drawing power from the laptop's USB port which is affecting the touchpads power (I don't know enough about the inner workings of touchpads / laptop mobo's to verify this). What do you all think??
Hi Byron, I may be a bit dumb here - but when I use my enclosure I have the on/off switch ON
That way the enclosure is fully powered and not draining through the usb cable.
YAD - I don't know if your post is to me or Kentigern, but to reiterate - the enclosure is self powered by it's own power adapter........12V
I reckon the enclosure is drawing power through the USB even though it is getting powered externally and the touchpad (maybe) needs power also. Otherwise the reaction of the mouse pointer is purely a reaction to the massive draw of power (hang on, can't be that cos a USB mouse works)........sorry just thinking out loud...........
I just don't have enough of an indepth knowledge of the inner workings of a laptop to be sure.............