help needed for external hard drive

nursemolly

hi,
i purchased a seagate 160gb external hard drive yesterday, which is supposed to just plug and play.
but its not picked up by my computer. i am using the usb point at the back of the computer. will it do any harm if i tried the usb ports at the front as i know they work. it says on the box not to.
where am i going wrong. i have used the seagate support guide without any luck.
i will be very grateful for any ideas as i am not a techie.
many thanx
molly
xx

espresso

What operating system do you have? I can't see how using a front USB port could do any harm but sometimes they are slower ports.

shammyjack

Just a thought but are you using the power supply that should be included with the hard drive. USB alone dosn't provide enough power to run an external hard drive .

shammy

nursemolly

its windows xp. when i check device manager all usb ports are fine!!!!!

nursemolly

shammyjack wrote: »

Just a thought but are you using the power supply that should be included with the hard drive. USB alone dosn't provide enough power to run an external hard drive .

shammy

hi, yes, all plugged in. its just not showing on the computer. the hard drive has all its lights lit up.

espresso

Do other USB devices work? Have you tried different USB ports? If you have not used USB ports before, they may need enabling in the BIOS.

shammyjack

Go to Start - Settings - Control Panel and select and run the Add Hardware Wizard , Run it without putting in any CD supplied and see if it picks it up .

shammy

nursemolly

how do i enable in bios??
i tried this last night, i hit f8 as the computer startedup, but bios wasn`t there. just start in safe mode etc.
sorry if i sound thick i am just not a techie.....lol
thanx
molly

nursemolly

shammyjack wrote: »

Go to Start - Settings - Control Panel and select and run the Add Hardware Wizard , Run it without putting in any CD supplied and see if it picks it up .

shammy

i will give this a go. no cd was supplied as its supposedly not required with xp!!!
thanks

espresso

mollytrundle wrote: »

how do i enable in bios??
i tried this last night, i hit f8 as the computer startedup, but bios wasn`t there. just start in safe mode etc.
sorry if i sound thick i am just not a techie.....lol
thanx
molly

You have not said if any other USB devices work but if they do, you should not need to enable in the BIOS. Getting into the BIOS varies from machine to machine. Some info here.

nursemolly

sorry yes my other usb devices work.....
thanx