External USB HDD makes touchpad mouse malfunction

Byron172Byron172 Adelaide, South Australia Member
edited December 2007 in Hardware
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.......:confused:

Comments

  • CBCB Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ Der Millionendorf- Icrontian
    edited November 2007
    At what point does the pad start to malfunction? As soon as you plug the drive in?

    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?
  • Byron172Byron172 Adelaide, South Australia Member
    edited November 2007
    The pad malfunctions immediately as soon as the drive is plugged in and the drivers are installed. The fourth laptop has nothing remarkably different about it, it was also a Dell (slightly more modern than the other Dell, but I don't remember the exact models) and now that I think about it it worked OK on a fifth laptop which was an Ipex (HP).
    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.:thumbsup:
  • LeonardoLeonardo Wake up and smell the glaciers Eagle River, Alaska Icrontian
    edited November 2007
    as soon as the drive is plugged in and the drivers are installed
    Are you referring to the Windows-native USB "mass storage" drivers that are automatically installed?
  • Byron172Byron172 Adelaide, South Australia Member
    edited November 2007
    Yes
  • LeonardoLeonardo Wake up and smell the glaciers Eagle River, Alaska Icrontian
    edited November 2007
    Wow, I've never seen this before. Wish I had an idea for you.
  • Byron172Byron172 Adelaide, South Australia Member
    edited November 2007
    I know it's weird as hell!!!
    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........
  • Byron172Byron172 Adelaide, South Australia Member
    edited December 2007
    Hi Jokke,
    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?
    :thumbsup:
  • JokkeJokke Bergen, Norway Icrontian
    edited December 2007
    I'm sorry, I just said you might try upgrading your mousepad drivers, but when I reread the original post, I saw you already had :blush:
  • Your-Amish-DaddyYour-Amish-Daddy The heart of Texas
    edited December 2007
    Ok here's a shot for you. Are the laptops plugged into their chargers while you do that?
  • Byron172Byron172 Adelaide, South Australia Member
    edited December 2007
    Thanks, I have some intersesting developments to share:

    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??
  • LeonardoLeonardo Wake up and smell the glaciers Eagle River, Alaska Icrontian
    edited December 2007
    I think you are on the right track. There may not be enough power supplied to the USB circuit (bus?). Is this a 3.5" enclosure or 2.5?
  • Byron172Byron172 Adelaide, South Australia Member
    edited December 2007
    It is 3.5"
  • Your-Amish-DaddyYour-Amish-Daddy The heart of Texas
    edited December 2007
    Who made your enclosure?
  • LeonardoLeonardo Wake up and smell the glaciers Eagle River, Alaska Icrontian
    edited December 2007
    It does have a separate power supply, right?
  • Byron172Byron172 Adelaide, South Australia Member
    edited December 2007
    It's made by "Gigabyte" and has an external power adapter.
  • KentigernKentigern Milton Keynes UK
    edited December 2007
    Byron172 wrote:
    The unit is powered but the on/off switch on the enclosure is OFF. The problem with the mousepad starts!!!

    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.
  • Your-Amish-DaddyYour-Amish-Daddy The heart of Texas
    edited December 2007
    Um...Enclosures that don't have 2 usb connections are powered externally, and 5v can't be upped to 12v without some serious capacitors.
  • Byron172Byron172 Adelaide, South Australia Member
    edited December 2007
    Kentigern, I have had it ON in the past (it has to be for the HDD to to run) - I was pointing out that it doesn't need to be ON for the problem to occur in my previous post. I will try plugging it in whilst it is running though and see if that rectifies the problem but I doubt it (famous last words huh......)
    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
  • Your-Amish-DaddyYour-Amish-Daddy The heart of Texas
    edited December 2007
    I was talking to Kent. I'm thinking that the enclosure may be iffy, if not on the way to the junk heap.
  • Byron172Byron172 Adelaide, South Australia Member
    edited December 2007
    I am hoping not......... it's brand new from a reputable Computer shop. BTW it does work OK on a PC and it isn't the actual HDD because the same thing happened even after swapping it out.

    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.............
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