Gigabyte Z97 not powering up my external usb 3.0 seagate drive upon restart/boot up.

iratemonkey

Reputable
Sep 15, 2014
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This seems to be OS independent and happens on the hardware/BIOS level. I have an external Seagate USB 3.0 harddrive (flat/thin) that connects directly to one of the usb ports on the motherboard (Gigabyte Z97). This external usb drive gets its power from the usb itself and does not have a separate power source. I also have a brand new 750 Watt PSU, and only one graphics card and nothing else that consumes power.

Whenever I reset my computer, I notice the light indicator on my external usb does not come back on, and even when Windows 7 loads, it does not pick up the usb drive. However if I unplug and plug it back (regardless of whether from the usb port side or the other side) it immediately shows up and is usable without any further issues. But the next time I reset my computer, it doesn’t see it anymore.

The only way I can get it to see it and to power up itself on restart is if I hit the switch on my PSU to turn off power completely, turn the switch to ON on the PSU, and then power up my computer from a cold dark reboot. Then I heard a lot of whirring noises and it seems a lot of juice is being sucked up and everything is powering on, and it is only in this cold start that I see my external usb drive light comes back on, and then when Windows loads it picks up and recognizes the drive without issue.

However if I soft reset the machine, or power down the machine without power cycling the PSU, the next time I boot up the sound is noticeably MUCH quieter, and also the light on the external USB does NOT come back on. However, I can immediately unplug and plug the usb drive back into the same usb port and it will come back on… But if I do a warm boot or soft reset it never seems to pick it up itself without me having to unplug it and plug it back in.

How can I set the BIOS or whatever to get this to work without having to power cycle the PSU or unplug and re-plug the external usb cable each and every time I reboot or shutdown and start the PC back up?

Is there a way to force the motherboard to shutdown for good, so that when I power it back up it does the cold boot each and every time?


 

norsestar

Honorable
Apr 8, 2014
339
1
10,960
Are you using a USB 'Y' cables with two connectors on the computer end and one on the drive end?

I have a pair of external Seagate USB 320GB drives. One of the two powers up reliably with a simple USB A <-> USB mini-B cable, but the other reliably fails to. Using the 'Y' cable, both drives power up reliably (at least as long as I plug in the two computer-end plugs before the drive-end one).
 

iratemonkey

Reputable
Sep 15, 2014
97
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4,640
1) I have to powercycle my entire PSU each time to get the Seagate to work:
10.06.2014_16.50.26
https://mega.co.nz/#!VQUxHZTD!JQdqw_H-Vg_iF8Ymz9zysY82aO8N8PfgTYbIV2UECqg

2) Otherwise if I do not do a complete PSU powercycle each time I restart/reboot the computer, the Seagate will not work at all!
https://mega.co.nz/#!VNM2kDiA!ago9Qg9zl4ExY1AnYGtcKhhYmYRVs67n5c2FsL2c4pk

3) I used the same Seagate usb drive, tested it on a much older machine, the same methods, and never had an issue! So that rules out the drive itself.
https://mega.co.nz/#!1Ydw1KzJ!6gKX21bQDaH7M1ApIn4QuZKdL4hf-BpAf1if5oiI-OQ