New 15" Powerbook, no USB drive support?

[gammamonk]

I just received my new 15" Powerbook. The only problem I have is that none of my 3 USB 2.0 external harddrives work with it. I have used them on other macs and they work just fine. What can the problem be?

If I start the disk utility while one is plugged in, it will just freeze up. I'm using a USB mouse, and I used my sony camera on USB, and that worked fine. I'm praying it's not a hardware issue.

I loaded all the software updates, but it didn't change anything. What should I do???


Thanks!

[solaris]

What filesystem do you have on the drives?
I ask because I experienced the same problems when connecting my NTFS formatted FireWire drive to my PowerBook.
I simply had to connect it to a Windows computer and delete the partitions, then it worked out perfectly! :)

[gammamonk]

Thanks for the reply solaris, all the drives have FAT32 on them. And I believe that should work fine. I've used them on a G5 tower at a store, and my friend's dual G4 tower. All my iTunes are on one of them, and I would hate to remove the partition. :P

One thing I should note: One of my drives is a 2.5" laptop bus-powered unit. I've used this thing on tons of machines with no problems. But when I plug it into my new Powerbook, it doesn't even spin up correctly. Like it's not getting enough power.

[atari1356]

Just to be sure... are you plugging the drives directly into the PowerBook, or going through a USB hub of some sort? If you're using a hub, try plugging the drive directly into the PowerBook.

Other than that, I don't know... I have a 15" powerbook but no USB drives to test on it.

[gammamonk]

Yeah, I'm plugging them directly in. I don't have a hub to try out.

[superbovine]

bad cable or plug?

[gammamonk]

3 different units. They all work on other machines... So the cables and stuff should be fine.

[superbovine]

does other usb device functioning in your usb port. i.e. mouse or keyboard or usb keychain memory?

[Threnody]

I'm having the same problem with my iBook G4. The USB works fine for everything except my USB 2.0 hard drive. Looks like I'm going to have to replace the USB 2.0 caddy with a firewire one.

[BrianKonarsMac]

this is horrible...the powerbooks have 2 USB ports and 1 firewire (my 12" does at least), so i wanted to buy an external usb 2.0 HD I don't look forward to having my one firewire port constantly occupied...

[superbovine]

I'm having the same problem with my iBook G4. The USB works fine for everything except my USB 2.0 hard drive. Looks like I'm going to have to replace the USB 2.0 caddy with a firewire one.

not all enclosurer that only support usb for mac. like i have an enclosurer that supports usb 1.1 and firewire for mac and firewire and usb 2.0 for pc. go figure.

[Sun Baked]

How is Apple System Profiler showing the device?

The drive could be asking for more power than the port is able to supply, the OS will turn the port off.

[XjeffX]

Do you have any AVID software installed? When I upgraded to 10.3.3 I had to uninstal some AVID drivers in order for my usb drives to work. Random, I know, but it fixed the problem. I can't remember which files needed to be removed but if you do have AVID (I had xpress dv 3.5) installed, search google and you'll find the solution.