external Seagate 200GB Hard Drive unable to maintain connection!

I have the external Seagate 200GB Hard Drive, connected via USB, using
Windows98 SE. For the first few months it was working fine. Now theres
a problem with the connection to my computer, or lack of connection; it
loses it within a minute.

The only way to prevent this is to load up winamp and continuously
play, as odd as that sounds.

I have been into System/Device/Disk/Properties/General ("device is
working properly") Settings (everthing is checked but "Removable") and
Driver (4-23-1999, no drivers are required or loaded for this device).

When I try to Update Driver, and let Windows search for a driver,
it says "The best driver is already installed on this device
DISKDRV.INF. If I browse to the location (folder with the drivers from
the disc AND from the website, I tried both) it says "The specified
location does not contain information about your hardware" with the
driver.

There is nothing to "uninstall or reinstall" either, I think this was a
plug and play device and I never installed a driver.

In any event, how do I keep it from disconnecting?

Seagate tech-support was no help at all, this was their response: "To
determine if the problem is with the drive, install our drive onto an
operating system that does not require USB drivers such windows XP. If
the drive shows up fine in that operating system then it becomes a
driver-related issue in windows 98 SE."

I dont have an XP system, so what now?

You might try some Tuner Cleaner from Radio Shack on the cable
connections. Sounds like an intermittent connection if it worked fine
before and now that they are dirty they don't connect so well. No
explaination for WinAmp situation.

You are aware that the best way to reinstall a driver is to remove the
device in the Device Mangler and then reboot to allow Windows to detect
it and reinstall the proper driver? That would also do some rewriting
to the registry concerning the device, perhaps correcting a setting
there? This should work even if there is no driver for it per se, give
that a try.

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oups.com...
I have the external Seagate 200GB Hard Drive, connected via USB, using
Windows98 SE. For the first few months it was working fine. Now theres
a problem with the connection to my computer, or lack of connection; it
loses it within a minute.

The only way to prevent this is to load up winamp and continuously
play, as odd as that sounds.

I have been into System/Device/Disk/Properties/General ("device is
working properly") Settings (everthing is checked but "Removable") and
Driver (4-23-1999, no drivers are required or loaded for this device).

When I try to Update Driver, and let Windows search for a driver,
it says "The best driver is already installed on this device
DISKDRV.INF. If I browse to the location (folder with the drivers from
the disc AND from the website, I tried both) it says "The specified
location does not contain information about your hardware" with the
driver.

There is nothing to "uninstall or reinstall" either, I think this was a
plug and play device and I never installed a driver.

In any event, how do I keep it from disconnecting?

Seagate tech-support was no help at all, this was their response: "To
determine if the problem is with the drive, install our drive onto an
operating system that does not require USB drivers such windows XP. If
the drive shows up fine in that operating system then it becomes a
driver-related issue in windows 98 SE."

I dont have an XP system, so what now?


There's a few updates for 98SE regarding USB, are these installed and
working on your PC? You should have an icon in the system tray that will
allow safe removal of the USB hard drive while the system is on. The
general description appears correct for the HD that you noted, and no driver
is needed for it.

http://www.usbman.com/win98seusbguide.htm

Lee wrote:
You might try some Tuner Cleaner from Radio Shack on the cable
connections. Sounds like an intermittent connection if it worked
fine
before and now that they are dirty they don't connect so well. No
explaination for WinAmp situation.

I think the Winamp situation is because its not a cable issue, its a
data issue. ie when there is no data flowing between the drive, it
disconnects (it NEVER disconnects when music or videos are playing)

You are aware that the best way to reinstall a driver is to remove
the
device in the Device Mangler and then reboot to allow Windows to
detect
it and reinstall the proper driver? That would also do some
rewriting
to the registry concerning the device, perhaps correcting a setting
there? This should work even if there is no driver for it per se,
give
that a try.

I've done that, with the same results: it disconnects within a minute
after re-starting the computer. This whole problem started after I
installed a program that was doing intensive work between the drives
(software on C: drive was editing all mp3s from external drive), and
crashed.