"Jethro" wrote in message
news
I have an external hard drive connected via USB. It is supposed to
automatically be picked up by the computer's XP PRO SP2 when I turn it
on. Sometimes it is, sometimes not. Many times I have to unplug the
drive and plug it up again to get the computer's PnP to detect it. I
wonder why XP is missing its presence? It is getting tiring to do all
the connects/disconnects.

Anyone?

Jethro

I have seen this problem caused by a partially defective USB cable, a bad
solder joint at on the USB connector at the PC or hard drive, a power supply
not providing enough 5 volts to the USB port, and a partially corrupted XP
system software.

You will need to identify the problem using the process of elimination.
Unless you have two computers I'd start by trying a different USB cable and
go on from there.

Intermittent problems are some of the hardest to identify since the problem
can not be made to occur on demand.