My subject line sums it up pretty well. I have a WD “My Book Essentials” 1-TB external hard drive connected to a desktop PC running Windows XP Home Edition, v 2002 SP3. The computer will not start up if the EHD is connected to it (via the standard USB 2.0). At startup, it halts at the initial blue “DOS” screen and will not go any further. It is then necessary to remove the USB connector and reboot, then reconnect the EHD after the computer is fully up and running.
Is this “normal” for the My Book? If so, it shouldn’t be on the market.
Go into the BIOS and make sure in boot devices USB is after HD the CD or DVD is frequently set before HD. It’s probably trying to boot off external now.
Yes, thanks very much, Joe. That link actually provided instruction on locating the USB Legacy Mode Support switch in BIOS. Once I changed that to Disabled, the problem was solved and the PC now boots up with My Book connected. So now I can keep the My Book and not throw it in the trash.
Please keep in mind that you’re not providing help unless you give users real instructions. It is not sufficient to say
“…in the BIOS I think there is a setting for legacy USB devices try changing that.” That doesn’t count as help.
But at least you were able to do much better than WD’s telephone technical support. I talked to two different “advisors” there, and neither was able to get past checking the boot device order. You were the last resort. If I didn’t get help from WD yesterday, I was going to throw my WD My Book into a nearby dumpster (no exaggeration) and go buy myself a Seagate EHD (and tell everyone I know to buy anything but Western Digital).
