Question Usb keyboard not working when external harddrive is plugged into front case usbs

[El2016]

My usb keyboard stopped working when i plugged in an external harddrive to move data. They are both plugged into the front usb case. I've had two seperate things plugged in before and they have been fine. This drive also does not have its own power, so its powering through the usb hub.

I already unchecked all the power management options in the device manager universal buses. Also updated them.

Would the drive requiring power from the usb hub cause the other usb to shut off?

 

[Paperdoc]

That drive VERY likely uses MORE power than any other USB device. I suspect it is one of those "laptop hard drives" designed for use with USB3.2 Gen1 sockets (the ones with blue inserts in them). Such units do work BUT they consume virtually all the power provided by a standard USB 3.2 socket, leaving none for other devices.

Now, you say these devices are actually plugged into a USB Hub. BUT does that HUB have its own power supply module, or is it connected ONLY to the computer's USB3.2 port? For this to work, that Hub MUST have its own power supply that can handle much more than one USB3.2 port. Otherwise the only power available is from the computer's host port, and that would JUST cover the needs of the drive with none spare.

 

[El2016]

That drive VERY likely uses MORE power than any other USB device. I suspect it is one of those "laptop hard drives" designed for use with USB3.2 Gen1 sockets (the ones with blue inserts in them). Such units do work BUT they consume virtually all the power provided by a standard USB 3.2 socket, leaving none for other devices.

Now, you say these devices are actually plugged into a USB Hub. BUT does that HUB have its own power supply module, or is it connected ONLY to the computer's USB3.2 port? For this to work, that Hub MUST have its own power supply that can handle much more than one USB3.2 port. Otherwise the only power available is from the computer's host port, and that would JUST cover the needs of the drive with none spare.

Thanks for replying.

Yes, the cables from the PC case were simply attached to the motherboard. I just built this PC and I am not familiar with ever doing any of this stuff, so I was a bit unsure.

It seemed to me, like you said, it was a power draw issue. Everything else works fine with both usbs being used. (external blu ray, mouse, usb sticks), but both my bigger 4tb external drives shut off the other usb port. It will make the windows sound that 'something' was plugged in, but wont allow it to be used.

That seems perfectly plausible to be the issue and its not really much of an issue anyway. I was just concerned I messed something up. The only thing that is odd is, my other 4tb drive has its own power supply it requires from an outlet, however it still wont allow the other port to work.

Either way, not a huge deal, just surprised me. Thank you!

 

[Paperdoc]

There's an important distinction among external drives. The larger ones sold as "desktop" drive units use HDD's internally almost identical to those you can mount inside a computer, and they do require MUCH more power than a "laptop drive". Moreover, most also require a 12 VDC supply line, which is part of a standard SATA power connector from a PSU. An EXTERNAL drive in a case with its own power supply module gets all the power it needs (in all required voltages) from that module. No USB3.2 port can provide that. That port can provide the power for the external unit's electronics including its communication subsystems so it CAN "talk" to a host USB3.2 port, but it can NOT pass any initialization tests because it needs the 12 V supply to spin the disks.

The smaller units marketed specifically as "laptop hard drives" for use with USB3 use smaller HDD units with a different drive system so that they CAN do all their work on a supply of 5 VDC not more than 0.9 A, and that IS available from a USB3.2 port. However, that consumes virtually ALL the power available at that port, so it cannot share the port with other devices. Further, it cannot get that much power from an older USB2 port (limit there is 0.5 A).

If you have an external HDD unit WITH its own power supply module connected to it, that SHOULD work properly with a USB3.2 port. It may even work with a USB2 port at a slower data transfer rate.