Lacie Ext HHD computer lockup

[Andrew1001]

I have a Dell Latitude E6400 and an E-Port replicator all running XP SP3. I am trying to get a Lacie USB 1TB Ext HDD up and running. It installed and seemed to run OK for about 1 hour then things started going downhill. Most of the time the computer will not recognize the drive, on these occasions the system locks up when I click on anything, the mouse moves but I get the hourglass symbol. I have to do a hard reboot to get out; control/alt/Del does not work.

If it does recognize the drive I get the write fail error but it continues from there. I can see the drive letter in my computer but if I try to access the drive by storing something on it it tells me to put a disk in the drive.

The things I have tried so far to get it running are;

1) tried it on another computer - works OK
2) Removed the port replicator - Still a problem
3) Contacted Lacie - Not their problem as it works on another computer
4) Update Bios, Chipset and software - still not working
5) Contacted Dell by phone - unable to help
6) Tried different USB ports and devices and all work.
7) Tried to return it for another brand but the sellers says it OK

All I would like to do is get this drive running.

[Computer_Commando]

Does Lacie USB 1TB Ext HDD get power only from USB or does it have a power adapter?

[Andrew1001]

The Lacie drive has it's own seperate plug into the mains power supply. The power supply lights the drive and I can hear it turning also it runs fine on another computer.

[Computer_Commando]

The Lacie drive has it's own seperate plug into the mains power supply. The power supply lights the drive and I can hear it turning also it runs fine on another computer.

That's good, then it's not a power problem.  Recently, there was another thread about a Dell laptop with WinXP which required a fix for large external media.  Go to www.support.dell.com and enter your Service Tag and see if there are any updates.

[Andrew1001]

I was at the Dell site last night and downloaded all of the updates relevant to my Dell. Installed them all.

Rebooted but still have the problem(s)

[Computer_Commando]

I was at the Dell site last night and downloaded all of the updates relevant to my Dell. Installed them all.
Rebooted but still have the problem(s)

Sorry, I missed that you stated it before.
I can only think of 2 things right now which are long shots:
On that drive only, turn off System Restore.  Maybe turn off Indexing Service for that drive.
Something is accessing that drive, just need to find out what.  Next time the computer locks up, pull the USB plug on the drive.

[Andrew1001]

Thanks for the suggestion.

If I pull the cable out or turn off the drive while the system is locked up nothing happens.

I tried the restore and indexing but no fix.

I am going to plug the drive into the other computer and check all of the settings to try to locate what is different.

The outside of the box said "Plug & Play" To tell you the truth I am sick of "playing"

[Computer_Commando]

Do not allocate virtual memory to a USB hard drive.