Maxtor Personal storage 3200 suddenly not recognized

Hello,

So I installed my Maxtor PS 3200 external drive this afternoon without any problem--you basically just plug in the USB and XP recognizes instantly. I copied about 7 GB worth of data (I'm backing up in advance of a drive reformat). I then stopped backing up for awhile to attend to other stuff then had to restart the computer for a different reason.

Upon restarting, the PS3200 is now no longer visible anywhere--I went to add hardware, I've plugged and replugged everything, it's just not there. The light on the drive is on so I think the hardware is fine, but...I have no idea how this could have happened.

Does anyone have any clues??

Any info would be much appreciated.

Thanks,
Steve

Power down, make sure all is re-connected properly, and reboot and see if it works.

I have the same problem, my Maxtor 3200 External HD is not working and there is no power at all when I pluged it to the power supply. thanks

Worked on a clients PC with the same issue. Here's the fix!

The problem with all those folks who's drive will not spin-up or the drive is no longer seen by windows, is that your AC power supply has gone bad!! It's not supplying enough power to do anything but turn that silly little green light on...
I had a 2nd external drive with the same power adapter, plugged it in and the "supposed" dead drive spun right up & was recognized by XP!!
Now just need to find a replacement AC adapter...

After reading about the power source I swapped out the power plug with my modem's and sure enough I heard it start spinning. Oh so thankful..was very frustrated. I recently set up a new computer and maybe I swapped the power cords then. Thanks for the tip.

I'm so grateful for your post. My green light was working but neither computer would recognize the drive. Got a new power cord and all is wonderful with life again. My iTunes backup and pictures are all accessible again. You are brilliant!

You saved me from paying out big bucks to purchase new external drive and have Geek Squad transfer files to new hard drive. Most important was the bit about the power cord supplying enough power for the little green light but not to spin the drive. I've a happy girl!!

Contact your manufacturer or go to their website. They should sell the accessories.

Check disk management to see if it shows up there. Or try uninstalling the USB root hubs in the device manager, then restart.

I went to Radio Shack and bought a new power cord, and my external is working again!! Whew...I really thought I had lost all my data! Thanks to everyone that suggested this!

Thanks for your post!! I had the same Maxtor 3200 problem. I replaced my power supply from Walmart for $20. I tried at Radio Shack but it would have cost me $40! There is no such $10 AC adaptor at Radio Shack in California!! Thanks again!!

I was thrilled to find this site. I spent hours over the weekend trying to solve the same problem. I'm heading home right now to swap out the power supply. I update everyone if it works. That was the one thing I didnt try........Steve from Annapolis, MD

Well I wish I had read your reply a little earlier. I did the exact same thing. Maxtor fired right up.............It was all over in about 20 minutes.......One of my fellow workers had a think pad and the power suppley fit. Most of the specs were the same but the 3200 is 2 amps and the think pad supply was 4.5. While I had my tech support guy on the phone the 3200 started to get hot and smelled like electrical. I unpluged it right away but it was to late. Now no power and the silly green light will not come on. I hope I just fried the power suppy within the unit. I will hand it over to my support people to recover the data. That being said be sure to match up the specs of your power suppy cord before attempting this fix. I was a typical guy...more power must be better, right?

I'm sending the HD to my tech support people today to see if its just the internal power supply or if in fact the HD is fried. They will also see if the data is recoverable. If not I was told they have a guru that can recover just about anything but it could be rather costly. Maybe up to $200. Lesson learned. It may be several days before I get back to the forum with information. Regarding a new compatable power supply, you might want to walk it into a bestbuys and see if they will plug it into a supply they have to test it. They are normally pretty helpful.

Ok, Just looked and it was back mounted on my desktop... not sure if the cord fixed the issue... but am definitely going to copy anything I need off the drive just in case!

So what are the proper specs for this power supply.
Michael

Many Thanks for the power supply tip

Had tried many of the other fixes;

Uninstall/Reinstall
Update Drivers
Swap with newer computers
etc

It was the power supply
Had a similar spec one - swapped it all OK
saved me having to spend money as I swap 2 drives to do backups each night

Good on you and thanks for this forum

Hi, I had the same problem, "code 10 error, device failed to start". Low buzzing sound and hard drive heating up more than usual.

Took it down to a local repair place where they took the case off and tried to plug it directly into the internal power yokey in a desktop tower.. same response. They concluded that the motor inside was seized and referred me to a data recovery specialist who said it would cost at least €700 to repair.

So then I took it home, moderately p***ed off, figured i had nothing to lose (also i think i had read mcookaz post on this thread ) so i plugged it in to the power and just shook it! I shook it, while holding it flat, in a semi-violent kind of clockwise and anticlockwise rotation kind of way for about 10 seconds. Then i heard the low buzzing sound speed up and become a healthy working hard drive sound!

I guess it kind of push started the motor or dislodged something that was stuck, either way I'm very relieved.

So, if you've tried everything else and your about to shell out big bucks for data recovery, try shaking the bejeezus out of it! It's not a very sophisticated solution but it's cheap!

My Maxtor 3200 / ul200h0140101 also failed to be recognized and failed to spin-up. The green light was on but no noise or a faint pulsing sound could be heard in the case. I checked the power supply and it was fine. I ended up swapping the 200 Gig PATA drive into another External USB enclosure and was able to access my data and use the drive again. I installed a test drive into the Maxtor case and found that one of the surface mount capacitors was bad at C34 near the power connector. How did I find it? I tapped on all the Surface mount parts with an insulated probe until C34 sparked. After it sparked the drive spun up and the unit worked again. Conclusion: They have problems with the cheap SM capacitors and a lot of people have defective drive enclosures that work on and off until the capacitors short out completely or burn open and the unit will actually work again. This particular drive didn't spin up and acted intermittently for months previous and started doing so after the warranty was up.

I had the same issue "code 10 error, device failed to start." I stuck a meter on the power adapter and found 12V, so I figured the power supply was good. I was wrong.

I plugged in another 12V 2amp power supply and the drive came up and I'm able to access it.

This site was very helpful.

I am experiencing a similar problem.

Let me post the message I sent to my cousin, who is a computer tech.

"I am having some issues with my external hard drive. It is a Maxtor 3200 and should be plug and play, in Windows XP. The hard drive is detected by my computer and is acknowledged upon plugging/unplugging, however does not show up in My Computer. When I use "Safely Remove Hardware", it recognizes it as the Maxtor 3200, but still will not show up in My Computer. I have tried to find drivers for it in XP, but everywhere I look, I am told that it is plug and play and no driver is needed. Up until now I have never had this problem, but have just reformatted my computer. Upon reformatting the problem began, and I have all of my backed up files on the HD. Any tips?"

Can anybody please help me resolve this? I am at a dead end here, and have endless amounts of music and necessary files to recover.

Thanks all!!

Same issue as everyone else - Maxtor 3200 just stopped working! After reading all these comments I had Radio Shack test my power supply and they said it was working fine. I came home, read this blog again and decided to go back to Radio Shack and ask to try a new power source - sure enough, the hard drive fired right up & all files found! Amazing it still worked since I had already tried the "wack it a few times" & "shake the beejezus out of it" methods! So, thank goodness I tried the new power supply for $40 and hadn't opted for the $1500 data recovery place! I wonder how many data recovery labs see these Maxtors coming in the door, rub their hands together, get out their new power cords, retreieve people's data and laugh all the way to the bank with your $1500? Thanks to all who had posted here to help me find the cheap fix! I immediately bought a new hard drive - and it is not a Maxtor or Seagate!

OMG... it worked for me too...Shake Shake Shake!!!!

Can anyone tell me where I can purchase a new AC Adapter? I purchased a Rocketfish adapter at Best Buy, but when I plug it, the light on MPS doesn't even illuminate. I tried shaking the MPS as suggested above and still nothing. I'm desperate, we have baby pictures and iTune songs on this hard drive and I would be heartbroken if I can't recover these memories. Thank you.

I realize that this is an old thread, but I have to tell what I did to correct this problem.
First I determined that the power cord was causing the problem. (With help in here).
I had an old printer with a 12 volt power supply unit. I had to splice the 3200's power jack to the printer's transformer cord, and that did it. Be aware that the output voltage is DC, and you must get the polarity correct.
Bob