I have had some problems with my OS Vista not seeing me external hard drives whenever I set up for the night. When I power up the laptop depending upon which venue I'm at....the computer doesn't recognise one or both of the external hard drives. It wants to search for drivers.
I have to power off the computer and turn the hard drive cases off and on. Then restart the computer and it sees them.
I have narrowed the problem down to 2 jobs. At these jobs I have to share power with an outlet that has the neon beer signs plugged in and the other job I share with a dart board.
The only thing I can think of is the dart board may be cycling through it's attention grabbing mode. And the neons transformers could be wearing out causing something to spike or drop slightly. But enough to cause a burp in the hard drive cases during their power up. Does this sound like the probable cause?
But if that were the case why wouldn't it do it again and again ever time I fire up the laptop? This doesn't happen every time I'm at these jobs, just sometimes. But it did it tonight and Wednesday.
The computer shuts down OK. The power isn't interrupted until the laptop goes dark. Nothing is unplugged prematurely.
Hardware/software Issue.
Have you tried a mains suppression extension?
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Tacima-6-Way-Main ... 4a9f4a5752
I'm sure your local computer shop would have them.
Sandy
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Tacima-6-Way-Main ... 4a9f4a5752
I'm sure your local computer shop would have them.
Sandy
It appears that this unit is a UK exclusive. I can't find any US sites offering it.
I'm still not 100% convinced of the cause of my problem because it doesn't happen everytime at these places. Although I believe that any micro blip during the loading process could corrupt the process.
Several years ago I blew up a laptop voltage regulator from a radio frequency overload.
I'm still not 100% convinced of the cause of my problem because it doesn't happen everytime at these places. Although I believe that any micro blip during the loading process could corrupt the process.
Several years ago I blew up a laptop voltage regulator from a radio frequency overload.
Go www.ebay.com and type mains filter in the search box.
There are several listed in the States.
Any computer shop SHOULD stock this kind of thing.
Sandy
There are several listed in the States.
Any computer shop SHOULD stock this kind of thing.
Sandy
http://www.ce-mag.com/archive/2000/janf ... trong.html
According to this article you would have to have 10 college degrees to begin to figure out how and what to use. RF frequency blocking looks like it's a highly complicated subject. There doesn't appear to be one off the shelf fix for any one application. We could go around this for months of trial and error without paying an electronic genius to analyze our set up and each venue.
It also looks like very specialized equipment is needed to totally protect every wire. Know anyone that works for NASA?
According to this article you would have to have 10 college degrees to begin to figure out how and what to use. RF frequency blocking looks like it's a highly complicated subject. There doesn't appear to be one off the shelf fix for any one application. We could go around this for months of trial and error without paying an electronic genius to analyze our set up and each venue.
It also looks like very specialized equipment is needed to totally protect every wire. Know anyone that works for NASA?
Forget all the theoretical mumbo jumbo!!! 
A standard Hi Fi or PC mains filter usually consists of a couple of coils wound on ferrite toriods, plus a copule of mains rated capacitors and maybe a VDR (Voltage Dependant Resistor) or two.
You could build one yourself for less than $20, I reckon.
Have a look here;
Simple filter
http://wduk.worldomain.net/forum/showthread.php?t=149
More complex but better.
http://www.siliconchip.com.au/cms/A_30291/article.html
Remember mains voltages "bite", so be careful if you go this route.
I know you guys over there use wimply voltages compared to our much more "manly" 235v but I would imagine it would still tingle a bit
Sandy
A standard Hi Fi or PC mains filter usually consists of a couple of coils wound on ferrite toriods, plus a copule of mains rated capacitors and maybe a VDR (Voltage Dependant Resistor) or two.
You could build one yourself for less than $20, I reckon.
Have a look here;
Simple filter
http://wduk.worldomain.net/forum/showthread.php?t=149
More complex but better.
http://www.siliconchip.com.au/cms/A_30291/article.html
Remember mains voltages "bite", so be careful if you go this route.
I know you guys over there use wimply voltages compared to our much more "manly" 235v but I would imagine it would still tingle a bit
Sandy
I just looked at the very bottom of the link I posted. The guys that wrote that article are from the UK.
I can't really find anything in this country about a main filter, I think it's only a UK problem.
Our wimpy 110 volts doesn't attract the RF interference problem. 
My problem occured again last night and I don't share a circuit with neons.
Does anyone else ever have problems on start up with the computer not finding the external hard drives? It wants to search for drivers.
Could this be a Vista thing?
I can't really find anything in this country about a main filter, I think it's only a UK problem.
Our wimpy 110 volts doesn't attract the RF interference problem. My problem occured again last night and I don't share a circuit with neons.
Does anyone else ever have problems on start up with the computer not finding the external hard drives? It wants to search for drivers.
Could this be a Vista thing?
I just looked at the very bottom of the link I posted. The guys that wrote that article are from the UK.
I can't really find anything in this country about a main filter, I think it's only a UK problem. Our wimpy 110 volts doesn't attract the RF interference problem.
My problem occured again last night and I don't share a circuit with neons.
Does anyone else ever have problems on start up with the computer not finding the external hard drives? It wants to search for drivers.
Could this be a Vista thing?
I can't really find anything in this country about a main filter, I think it's only a UK problem.
Our wimpy 110 volts doesn't attract the RF interference problem. My problem occured again last night and I don't share a circuit with neons.
Does anyone else ever have problems on start up with the computer not finding the external hard drives? It wants to search for drivers.
Could this be a Vista thing?
I just looked at the very bottom of the link I posted. The guys that wrote that article are from the UK.
I can't really find anything in this country about a main filter, I think it's only a UK problem. Our wimpy 110 volts doesn't attract the RF interference problem.
My problem occured again last night and I don't share a circuit with neons.
Does anyone else ever have problems on start up with the computer not finding the external hard drives? It wants to search for drivers.
Could this be a Vista thing?
Bet you never saw dupe post before....
I can't really find anything in this country about a main filter, I think it's only a UK problem.
Our wimpy 110 volts doesn't attract the RF interference problem. My problem occured again last night and I don't share a circuit with neons.
Does anyone else ever have problems on start up with the computer not finding the external hard drives? It wants to search for drivers.
Could this be a Vista thing?
Bet you never saw dupe post before....
Seen plenty of dupe posts but this is my first "triple".Bigdog wrote:Bet you never saw dupe post before....
As you lot use lower voltage, your current is correspondingly higher to keep the power the same, so any "current" glitches you get will be much worse than we get over this side of the pond.
I know Vista can screw up with external hard drives but as a general rule, I still think I'd go with RF interference first.
Certainly wouldn't hurt to get some suppresion sockets for your kit.
Sandy
Wednesdays I share the electric with the dart board. I figured the dart board could be causing some glitches during the start up process causing the external hard drive/s to not be seen by the OS.
Last night I started the computer while people were playing darts. The computer loaded perfectly fine. So I think I can rule out the dart board as a cause. I can probaly rule out neon lights too.
I'm now leaning toward the Vista as the sole cause.
Last night I started the computer while people were playing darts. The computer loaded perfectly fine. So I think I can rule out the dart board as a cause. I can probaly rule out neon lights too.
I'm now leaning toward the Vista as the sole cause.
They are fan cooled and have their own power supply. The problem could happen several times a week or not for several months. There is no way to tell when or where it will happen.wiseguy wrote:Do you use the USB powered hard drives or the ones that use a separate power supply?
Turning them off and on and rebooting seems to fix the problem.
Last night I had a dead computer. It would not launch a normal start up I kept getting a black screen. After several attempts to restart...I used the safe mode to send it back in time. That fixed the problem
Every six months this seems to happen. Something won't load right and the only fix is time travel.
Good thing we had to wait for the hockey game to end...
Actually I was surprised how fast the restore took. It seemed like 2 minutes. Normally I've seen them on my other computers take 5-10 minutes.
Anyone that thinks they only need one computer to do a show is goofy. Had system restore not worked I was going to plan "B". My back up laptop. The show would have gone on.
Every six months this seems to happen. Something won't load right and the only fix is time travel.
Good thing we had to wait for the hockey game to end...
Actually I was surprised how fast the restore took. It seemed like 2 minutes. Normally I've seen them on my other computers take 5-10 minutes.
Anyone that thinks they only need one computer to do a show is goofy. Had system restore not worked I was going to plan "B". My back up laptop. The show would have gone on.
