[SOLVED] External HDD keeps disconnecting while gaming / intensive CPU load ???

[Ryflick]

Hey guys, I would like to know what causing my External Hard Drive keeps disconnecting while I'm opening some heavy apps like Unigine Heaven benchmark, GTA V, or any kind of games?

My specs are :
AMD Ryzen 5 4650G with Radeon Vega 7 Graphics
Motherboard MSI B450M-A PRO MAX
Netac Technology DDR4 RAM 3200MHz CL16 2x8GB
SSD ADATA SU650 480GB
HDD Seagate 7200RPM 1TB

The external Hard Drive is Toshiba 1TB

Everytime I tried to open External HDD directory while I'm gaming or either or doing any heavy load stuff it keeps disconnecting and re-connecting multiple times, is it caused by after I overclocked my APU?
I already did reset the BIOS configurations to default (stock speed and voltages) through CMOS reset, but it doesn't help.

Did I do something wrong here? What things should I do to fix this?
Apologies if my English is bad, I'm not a native speaker.

 

[JohnBonhamsGhost]

is this external drive powered by USB or does it have its have it's own separate power cable?

make sure your power plan is set to not use USB selective suspend settings.

 

[Ryflick]

is this external drive powered by USB or does it have its have it's own separate power cable?

make sure your power pan is set to not use USB selective suspend settings.

My HDD drive powered through USB 3.0, no separate power cable.
USB Selective suspend settings is disabled.

 

[Bob.B]

My HDD drive powered through USB 3.0, no separate power cable.
USB Selective suspend settings is disabled.

Look in device manager.
Usb controllers/power management.

 

[Ralston18]

PSU: make, model, wattage, age, condition (original, new, refurbished, used)?

History of heavy use for gaming, video editing, or bit-mining?

My thought is that the PSU may be starting to falter and fail. Thus can no longer keep up with system power demands.

 

[Ryflick]

Look in device manager.
Usb controllers/power management.

Okay wait, I'll check through Device Manager

 

[Ryflick]

PSU: make, model, wattage, age, condition (original, new, refurbished, used)?

History of heavy use for gaming, video editing, or bit-mining?

My thought is that the PSU may be starting to falter and fail. Thus can no longer keep up with system power demands.

I'm currently borrowing the PSU from my uncle's PC. It's OEM from built-up PC.
Brand = Power Up
Model & Wattage = 500W
Age = I don't know, probably 4-5 years? It's kinda old, my uncle rarely use the PC so I borrow it for a moment until I buy my own personal PSU next week
Condition = Used

 

[Ryflick]

Look in device manager.
Usb controllers/power management.

In Device Manager it shows this

https://imgur.com/a/JVALax3

View: https://imgur.com/a/JVALax3

 

[Ralston18]

That old PSU is a likely suspect...

Here are three links to help explain:

Best Power Supplies of 2022 - Top PSUs for Gaming PCs | Tom's Hardware (tomshardware.com)

8 Technical Specifications of PSU Explained - The Power Supply of PC - BinaryTides

https://www.lifewire.com/how-to-manually-test-a-power-supply-with-a-multimeter-2626158

Not that you should immediately go out and buy a new PSU or go about testing the existing old PSU.

Objective being to simply gain a bit more knowledge about PSUs and get a sense of what all may be or could be happening.

 

[Bob.B]

In Device Manager it shows this

https://imgur.com/a/JVALax3

View: https://imgur.com/a/JVALax3

Go through each usb device and make sure power management is not allowed to turn off the device.

 

[Ryflick]

Go through each usb device and make sure power management is not allowed to turn off the device.

Done that, I tested again after restarting but the problem still occurs while there's heavy CPU load

 

[Ryflick]

That old PSU is a likely suspect...

Here are three links to help explain:

Best Power Supplies of 2022 - Top PSUs for Gaming PCs | Tom's Hardware (tomshardware.com)

8 Technical Specifications of PSU Explained - The Power Supply of PC - BinaryTides

https://www.lifewire.com/how-to-manually-test-a-power-supply-with-a-multimeter-2626158

Not that you should immediately go out and buy a new PSU or go about testing the existing old PSU.

Objective being to simply gain a bit more knowledge about PSUs and get a sense of what all may be or could be happening.

Thank you, I've been suspecting about the power supply lately and it seems the PSU is the culprit, I'll check your links and learn more about PSU and how to fix the current problems.
I'll update this post again later, thank you guys!

 

[Mu7eD83]

The important word I read in your post was overclock and APU in the same sentence. May I ask you to be honest about the temperatures it ran at maximum, voltages and whether you had disabled any of the safety features.

Failing USB is one of the first signs of a bad overclock, The way to check this is to identify if any of the USB ports run off the chipset as opposed to CPU. These will normally be a generation lower. I have checked your boards manual and the 4 3.1 ports on the back are direct to CPU and the Gen 2.0 run through the B450 chipset. To eradicate overclocking as the issue switch between these two ports and check to see the same behaviors on both. If one cannot sustain a connection its controller is failing, if both cannot the drive is failing.

I have to agree professionally with checking a PSU. This should always be a place of inspection when issues particularly during heavy load, however unless you have a spare one hanging around this isn't helpful.

So step one is to change the port to the slower one and see if the same behaviors exists. This should also eradicate the PSU temporarily as you are connecting to a more stable power source. The chipset gets it power regulated by the VRM's on the mainboard and is far less likely to fluctuate during heavy load. You are also not touching the current supplied to the CPU either, as if you are using the controller embedded within the CPU to power the drive this is extra current that has to pass through the CPU.

 

[Ryflick]

The important word I read in your post was overclock and APU in the same sentence. May I ask you to be honest about the temperatures it ran at maximum, voltages and whether you had disabled any of the safety features.

Failing USB is one of the first signs of a bad overclock, The way to check this is to identify if any of the USB ports run off the chipset as opposed to CPU. These will normally be a generation lower. I have checked your boards manual and the 4 3.1 ports on the back are direct to CPU and the Gen 2.0 run through the B450 chipset. To eradicate overclocking as the issue switch between these two ports and check to see the same behaviors on both. If one cannot sustain a connection its controller is failing, if both cannot the drive is failing.

I have to agree professionally with checking a PSU. This should always be a place of inspection when issues particularly during heavy load, however unless you have a spare one hanging around this isn't helpful.

So step one is to change the port to the slower one and see if the same behaviors exists. This should also eradicate the PSU temporarily as you are connecting to a more stable power source. The chipset gets it power regulated by the VRM's on the mainboard and is far less likely to fluctuate during heavy load. You are also not touching the current supplied to the CPU either, as if you are using the controller embedded within the CPU to power the drive this is extra current that has to pass through the CPU.

Yes, before this I overclocked my APU to 2400MHz with 1.35Volt, that causing my External HDD goes nuts and I revert everything back to default / stock configuration.
About the temperature, I checked through HWiNFO64 and it ran at maximum of 65° C / 149°F. And also I remember the safety features is still on default setting / enabled.
I'll try to plug my External HDD through USB 2.0, if the problem still persist I'll update the problem again here.

From what I've check and test few days ago it really may be caused by the recent overclocking I've made and/or caused by the bad PSU.
My new PSU is arrived today and I haven't test my External HDD with it, I'll update my post here again later if it really caused by the bad PSU I used before.

Thank you so much for the help!

 

[Ryflick]

Hi all, sorry for the very-very late update.
I've tested yesterday with a new PSU and turns out it works normally
Well it seems the old PSU isn't capable to supply the power for USB 3.0 I use, everything is normal until now, no USB failure.

Once again thank you all for the help!

 

[Doubs]

Hello everyone, I am experiencing this same issue. Just got a new psu so I know that's not the issue, I do currently have an oc on my cpu but I have reverted many times and the issue has still persisted. I have recently tried the answer above about going into device manager and the power plan to make sure that the drive and USB power isn't being cut unexpectedly.I have tested and the issue only happens if I run a stress test or nicehash with all core full usage as far as I can tell. My last theory is maybe my cpu is seated wrong? I kinda doubt this though CPU R7 5800x, mobo b550 aorus elite ax v2, PSU corsair RM850. I have been having this issue for awhile now and can't really remember when it started. I'm dying over here I just want to run nicehash in peace, or maybe render something idk. Oh lastly I using an 360mm rad aio so I really don't want to reseat the CPU but I guess I will if I have to.

 

[USAFRet]

Hello everyone, I am experiencing this same issue. Just got a new psu so I know that's not the issue, I do currently have an oc on my cpu but I have reverted many times and the issue has still persisted. I have recently tried the answer above about going into device manager and the power plan to make sure that the drive and USB power isn't being cut unexpectedly.I have tested and the issue only happens if I run a stress test or nicehash with all core full usage as far as I can tell. My last theory is maybe my cpu is seated wrong? I kinda doubt this though CPU R7 5800x, mobo b550 aorus elite ax v2, PSU corsair RM850. I have been having this issue for awhile now and can't really remember when it started. I'm dying over here I just want to run nicehash in peace, or maybe render something idk. Oh lastly I using an 360mm rad aio so I really don't want to reseat the CPU but I guess I will if I have to.

Please start a NEW thread for your particular situation.