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Windows 7 64 bit USB external hard drives lose its connection and stops working.

Answered Windows 7 64 bit USB external hard drives lose its connection and stops working.

  • Sunday, October 11, 2009 6:55 PM
     
     
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    This is a very serious error for users of WIN 7 64 bit only.
    I have read hundreds of posts about this problem an not a word about it from MS.
    We have tested this problem on four different computers and three different external hard drives using Win 7 Ultimate.
    Even tried the RTM version.
    If you connect "Any brand" external USB hard drive to "Any brand of computer" using Win 7 (64 bit only) and try to copy a large file like a movie from the internal drive to the external USB drive it loses the connection to the USB.
    We even reverted back to Vista 64 bit on two computers for testing but Vista 64 works fine.
    This occurs on all computers with different USB drives.
    We have tried all the suggestions posted and none work.
    It seems from all the posts that other USB devices are also having similar problems with the 64 bit. 
    Below is a more about this problem.
    http://windows7tipsonline.com/USB_Problem.htm
    If anyone knows how to resolve this please post a reply here.
    Thanks

     

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  • Sunday, October 11, 2009 7:26 PM
     
     
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    Get in line my man, we're all trying to resolve this.  And this is a BIG problem in my view and yours too probably, so why isn't the dev team get cracking to get this one problem fixed?  I don't know if they are or not but a post on progress would be nice to those who worry most. But seriously, in my honest opinion this should be an issue resolved as first acknowledgment, if this gets out in the final retail version then I'd think we'd all have the to say 'we told you so.'

    Please, this is so annoying, I use my external constantly for archiving work, media and various books. I find that Windows 7 seems to be the current overkill operating system for me at the moment, being fast and responsive, all these things make it great but with such a small problem I'm actually struggling to use this OS everyday.  I really like it, everyone does and I think this needs to be fixed immediately.
     
  • Sunday, October 11, 2009 8:20 PM
     
     
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    I am using a final release version of Windows 7 Ultimate which I received under Microsofts Windows Launch Party so it was not fixed for the final release. A very big problem and I only hope it will be fixed through an update shortly!! It also wont let me trnasfer any music files to my IPhone through Itunes - same issue!
     
  • Sunday, October 11, 2009 9:46 PM
     
     
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    The link only refers to USB problems with nVidia chips, so it's not a universal problem.  I have Win 7 x64 RTM installed and I just transfered 2 4GB DVD files and 1 18GB backup file from my internal SATA drive to my external USB drive with no problems - no time-out!

    Since nVidia chipsets seem to be the culprit, nVidia and the motherboard manufacturers need to be told about the problem so that nVidia can correct the problem and not Microsoft.  If it's a nVidia chipset driver/software problem, Microsoft is not going to fix anything since it's not a universal problem.
     
  • Sunday, October 11, 2009 11:51 PM
     
     
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    http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/w7itprohardware/thread/3aae3b66-6a1a-47e8-ad1b-b20b68eaecf8

    That's a thread you found a little while later where this issue is currently being discussed.  The temporary workaround that the site mentions is one I provided in that thread.

    No need for yet another thread for this issue, please add your comments to the one I linked to above.  Admins, please lock this thread.  Thanks!

    Want to know if your hardware will work on Windows 7? Check out these links: **Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor ** **Microsoft Logo'd Hardware List**
     
  • Wednesday, November 11, 2009 5:56 AM
     
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    Not sure if you are tracking that other Nvidia thread, but I wanted to let you know that a fix is available for this problem.

    http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/w7itprohardware/thread/38f25c1d-de67-4c74-8845-2cd3a15d8e41
    Want to know if your current hardware & software will work with Windows 7? Check out these links: **Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor ** **Windows 7 Compatibility Center**
     
  • Saturday, November 14, 2009 4:21 AM
     
     
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    I found a temporary fix.   Well it worked for me. 

    1.  Goto control panel/system and security / power options

    2.  Change power setting.

    3.  Change advanced power settings

    4.  Scroll down to USB settings and disable the USB selective suspend setting.

    Don't know why this did it but it fixed my issues.

    www.ninjer.com
     
  • Saturday, November 14, 2009 7:40 AM
     
     
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    ckninja - What was the problem you were seeing?
    Want to know if your current hardware & software will work with Windows 7? Check out these links: **Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor ** **Windows 7 Compatibility Center**
     
  • Saturday, November 14, 2009 8:41 AM
     
     
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    Same problem as jh6284.  I couldn't copy/move any big files from my internal to the either external drives( i have 2 ) it would start and stop at 99%.  and just hang there.  and also quite often the drives would be recognized but not readable.  Seems to affect bigger files for some reason, files such word docs usually worked. 
     
  • Saturday, November 14, 2009 4:21 PM
     
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    Thank you so much mark! The hotfix absolutely works perfectly even though it's still experimental.  And to think, I went to my computer manufacturer, my board manufacturer and even my chipset manufacturer! So I was right from the beginning, my hunch was in fact the drivers themselves.  Thanks so much mark! It works.  Now that people see "thank yous" in my thread, they'll assume I've fixed the problem. And to makes less work for those immediately searching for the solution, I'll post a direct link to the knowledge database article for the fix: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/976972

    And also, I had an issue downloading the correct hotfix, even though I was on a 64-bit operating system, the browser I used, firefox, was 32-bit and allowed me to only download the 32-bit fix.  So word of advice before anyone downloads the hotfix, I'd use internet explorer since it's natively 64-bit or some other 64-bit browser to download the 64-bit version of the hotfix.

    And again, thanks Mark.
    • Proposed As Answer by MartySil Monday, November 16, 2009 1:21 AM
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  • Saturday, November 14, 2009 5:41 PM
     
     
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    Same problem as jh6284.  I couldn't copy/move any big files from my internal to the either external drives( i have 2 ) it would start and stop at 99%.  and just hang there.  and also quite often the drives would be recognized but not readable.  Seems to affect bigger files for some reason, files such word docs usually worked. 

    Thanks for the info.  I'm glad that you have a workaround that's resolved your problem, but I wouldn't have expected that to have any impact on your particular issue.  I'd like to get a better understanding of what's going on.  If you have the time, would you mind capturing some additional data for me please?


    1) Undo your workaround (turn selective suspend back on)

    2) Reboot the machine with the device disconnected

    3) Run this command from an elevated command prompt (right click on command prompt shortcut, select "run as administrator"):
    Logman start USBForumTrace -p Microsoft-Windows-USB-USBPORT -o USBForumTrace.etl -ets -nb 128 640 -bs 128

    4) Run this command from an elevated command prompt:
    Logman update USBForumTrace -p Microsoft-Windows-USB-USBHUB -ets -nb 128 640 -bs 128

    5) Execute your repro scenario (in your case, plug in the drive and then try a data transfer).
     
    6) After you have a repro, run this command from an elevated command prompt: 
    Logman stop USBForumTrace -ets

    7) Search on the machine for “USBForumTrace.etl”

    8) Post that file and c:\windows\inf\setupapi.dev.log on a public folder on http://skydrive.live.com and post the link here.

    Thanks,
    Mark

    Want to know if your current hardware & software will work with Windows 7? Check out these links: **Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor ** **Windows 7 Compatibility Center**
     
  • Tuesday, March 30, 2010 10:48 PM
     
     
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    Hello, there is a 64 bit version of fire fox, it's called Namoroka . It works pretty well

     

     
  • Friday, April 16, 2010 9:32 PM
     
     
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    I'm running a Dell Latitude E6400, originally it came with Vista x64 and I had no problems with external hard drives and portable music players.

    I did a clean install using Windows 7 Professional x64. Have all the updates installed, up-to-date BIOS and all drivers from Dell.

    Even thru my system doesn’t have a nVidia chipset (it has an Intel® 45 Express Chipset), I downloaded and installed the hotfix KB976972 but it didn’t work for me.

    I tried to disable the USB selective suspend setting, that didn’t work either.

    My system is running a Intel T9550 @ 2.66GHz, 4Gb of RAM and Windows 7 Professional x64.

    Here are the files you asked. Hope you can find a solution soon:

    http://cid-fdf8a24d31152a89.skydrive.live.com/self.aspx/USB%20Problem

    Regards,

     
  • Friday, April 16, 2010 10:21 PM
     
     
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    I have found if you plug in the power cord to the external hdd it will not lose connection.

    I have used 3 different external hard drives and all need the extra power cord plugged. Sort on inconvenient but until they figure out a fix for it.

     
  • Friday, April 16, 2010 10:44 PM
     
     
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    I hear you. The problem is that my hdd are 2.5" laptop drives. They don't have an AC input, just the power that comes from the USB itself.

    Thanks,

     
  • Friday, April 16, 2010 11:52 PM
     
     
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    Yeah it depends on what kind of enclosure you have.  The 2.5" hdd enclosures I have all have the additional ac capability. Don't need to have it plugged in for it to work but if in this case it needs to be plugged. 
     
  • Thursday, August 05, 2010 9:34 PM
     
     
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    I am experiencing a problem similar to jh6284 only my chipset is not NVIDIA and the Windows solution for that will not even install on my Dell Inspiron 17R.  Can Microsoft revisit the issue and see if other chipsets may have similar problems with (hopefully) similar solutions?
     
  • Friday, December 10, 2010 6:41 PM
     
     
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    I am also having this issue while using an IEEE 1394 port connected to a FireWire 400 port on my external hard drive enclosure.

    In both cases (USB/IEEE 1394) I started copying files from the external drive into my hard drive and after a couple of minutes the drive will lose connectivity.

    I will go and buy an  eSATA enclosure today and see if it works, otherwise I will try the memory fix issue suggested in the other thread, but what a pain.

    Dell Precision M4500
    8GB RAM
    Windows 7 Professional 64-bit

    Alejandro Ramirez
     
  • Sunday, July 31, 2011 8:23 PM
     
     
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    I am having this same problem with an eSata drive.

    Brand new Dell XPS8300 computer with a built in eSata port.

    Returned the first computer, and purchased a second identical computer = same problem.

     

    The eSata drive always stops working usually at 1 pm everyday (I have nailed it down bewtween 12:30 and 1:15 pm) guaranteed.

    Every once in a while it will stop working at other times, but guaranteed at the above mentioned time.

     

    I have even replaced the external hard drive and same thing.

     

    Does anybody know what to do?

     

    My other computer did not have this problem and is was on Windows 7 Home 64 bit - and it was the same drive.

     

    I installed an eSata card on that computer.

     
  • Sunday, July 29, 2012 1:58 PM
     
     
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    I have the same problems but with Z77 Intel chipset, with USB 3 connected drive (with external power) reconnecting on large writes, mouse reconnecting without any reason, webcam freezing, and keyboard disconnecting sometimes as well. All these devices have worked OK with Windows 7 32-bit on another motherboard.

    Is there anything I can check/try?

     
  • Tuesday, November 27, 2012 4:16 PM
     
     
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    The link only refers to USB problems with nVidia chips, so it's not a universal problem.  I have Win 7 x64 RTM installed and I just transfered 2 4GB DVD files and 1 18GB backup file from my internal SATA drive to my external USB drive with no problems - no time-out!

    <text>Since nVidia chipsets seem to be the culprit, nVidia and the motherboard manufacturers need to be told about the problem so that nVidia can correct the problem and not Microsoft.  If it's a nVidia chipset driver/software problem, Microsoft is not going to fix anything since it's not a universal problem.</text>

    I think this answer is a smoke screen, here's why. The issue of a USB HDD losing its connection AND not being recognized on a booting Win 7 x64 in any of its incarnations is a Microsoft issue, not nVidia. I have three PCs (actually 4 but one is in storage so doesn't count) to see firsthand what happens with this issue. One, is a maxed out Toshiba with Windows Pro x64. Every now and then, it asks to format any number of my USB drives. I have Seagates, Iomegas, Western Digitals, and an OLD Maxtor. The Toshiba OS will from time to time claim the Iomega and WD drives need formatting or have a wrong parameter etc. It doesn't do this with the Seagates or Maxtor. does the Tosh have nVidia chipsets? Yes. OK, now I attach these dives to my Dell Inspiron run by Windows Vista Home Basic and intel Graphic Chip. The HDDs fire up right away. OK, I stick them into the ASUS G75VW-RS72, a DTR notebook on Windows 7 Ultimate x64. The machine has nVidia chipsets. Sometimes the HDDs fire up right away (Maxtor is never a problem), sometimes they don't. What do I do? Unplug, replug-sometimes works sometimes not.  Turn off the computer, turn it back on-sometimes works sometimes not. Unplug and put into another USB port-sometimes works sometimes not. Unplug and leave unplugged for anywhere from 10 seconds to half an hour-sometimes works sometimes not. Switched to different external enlosure or the same or different brand-sometimes works sometimes not. Remove the HDD and put into a NetStar portable dock with its own power supply(http://www.vantecusa.com/en/product/view_detail/295). Result? The computers NEVER, not EVER, even ONCE demonstrated an issue with the drive. Other times, I remove the HDD and employ a converter (http://www.sabrent.com/category/hard-drive-enclosures/USB-DSC5/). Result? The computers NEVER, not EVER, even ONCE demonstrated an issue with the drive. So I think the evidence suggests Windows is finicky and Microsoft is passing the buck on this.