External Hard drive/USB Port Problem

[Penny Lane]

For Christmas I received a 180GB external hard drive. When I got it, I plugged it into my computer, set it up, everything worked without a problem. At some point,not long after, I had to restart my computer for some reason and I did not eject the hard drive before doing so, when I restarted the drive was not recognized and no series of plugging it in or restarting things would make it work in the port. Eventually I discovered that plugging it into another USB port would make it work (I have one USB port and 4 USB 2.0 ports). That worked until I needed to restart again, then the second port would no longer work with the hard drive. This has happened each time I have restarted, and the last time the hard drive was safely removed before restarting. I am down to my last working USB 2.0 port, none of the others will work with my external hard drive. I now have to restart and am scared that when I do the last port will no longer work with my external and I will no longer be able to use it on my computer. Any suggestions on what I can do or theories on why this is happening?

 

[PanicX]

Odd situation. Have you tried looking for a BIOS update for your motherboard or an updated driver for your USB?

 

[Penny Lane]

I have not done either of those. How would I go about doing the latter?

 

[PanicX]

You need to visit the manufacturors website and find the drivers listed for your system. If you have an OEM (HP / Compaq, Dell) visit their website and look for driver support for your model. If your system is custom built, visit the motherboard manufacturor's website.