PC Problem

If the PC just dies when you plug it in, I would suspect the power supply is protecting itself by shutting down?

Is it self powered, USB or what??

It says it can be used to store photos etc... without connecting to the pc, but it needs a power supply, but when connected to the pc, no need for power suppy

how do you connect it to the PC via USB? and a harddisk with its own power supply mostly must be used, do you have a link to the manufacturers homepage?

I have seen this type of problem before. In my experience it is either a short on the external hard drive or in the USB port. If the same effect happens when you plug the hard drive into any USB port then it is probably in the hard drive. If it happens on one specific USB port then the USB port probably has the issue.

What is happening is that the short in the connection is causing the port to draw too much current. This trips the internal protection circuits and shuts the machine down.

Is the hard drive doing the same thing to other computers? If it is then I would recommend getting a replacement for that external HD. If not then you have a more complicated problem that I don't understand.

Good luck with your issue.

-Doug

I agree probably a poorly constructed usb port which is shorting out. We had some pcs that shut down when memory sticks were inserted.

Is it an orderly shutdown or a shutdown like you pulled the plug?

If it can run on an external PS the use it and see if it continues to shutdown.

OEM PS are notoriously close to the edge of adequate. However if using the external PS doesn't work, I agree the USB port may be in question.

Try some other USB device on your computer. If it continues to shutdown, it is your computer that is in question. If not, try the HD on someone else's computer and see if you still have a friend when it's over!