hello and happy new year!

I have a compaq desk top with windows XP. I have used an external hard drive (western dig) for about 6 months via my USB port. Suddenly when I plug it in now, I do not get any errors or sounds and the computer just stays silent. Then it freezes up and I can not reboot or anything and must unplug the main plug from the wall. Now, I brought the HD to my work computer and plugged it in there and it works great. I also scanned it from there too and it is clean. All of my other usb devices work just fine. i have tried it in all of the other ports, front and back too with the same result. Please help!

Try the following steps taken from the Wetern Digital web site to connect the drive;

1. Turn on your computer and allow Windows to load.
2. Plug in the power to the external hard drive and let it spin up.
3. Connect the data cable to the drive first and then to the computer.
4. You should see a new icon appear in the system tray and the drive should appear in the Device Manager.

The idea is to let the drive spin up before connecting the data cable to the USB port.