hi yes i'm a newb at computers... well these days anyways..

i have an old asus a7v333 which i still use and is my main computer LOL!!!

I have recently bought a new 320gig Removalable usb hard drive... whenever i plug it in it makes these wierd ziiit ziiit noise like its trying to read.. works on other computers fine tho... so maybe i'm thinking its my bios ? tried updated usb drivers no luck... any ideas?

downloaded a bios from the asus website, its in AWD format... got the awd flash.exe but i don't know what to do then?

Will you be happy to help an arab out?

I'd suspect it's more likely to be you're drawing too much current with other USB devices.

Also, as it's an Asus board, grab Asus Update and see if that works with your board, it beats the f*** out of DOS flashing.

open the .awd in the awdflash.exe and update bios. It checks the bios, then updates it, then verifies afaik.

Boot into a dos environment (say off a thumb drive or something), go to the directory where your AWDFLASH.exe is located and run this:


AWDFLASH version.ext /py /sn /cc

========================================================================
version = filename and .ext = etension (usually .ROM or .BIN)

My old A7V333 used to update the BIOS via a Windows app I was pretty sure.

I'd suspect it's more likely to be you're drawing too much current with other USB devices.

hmm but i've only got 1 usb mouse running thats it..

so i ran the update (thanks montoko) still no luck..

i've updated the usb, so the drivers should be usb 2.0... i've tried a different windows xp install... does the same thing, so its the computer hardware!

Could be PSU or USB issue.

Make sure the USB slot you are plugging into is definitely USB2.0 (go to Device Manager and check it says "Enhanced" USB controller.

Make sure your PSU has enough power to power whatever peripherals you have. If it's only 300W for example, suspect the PSU straight-away. In one case I had recently I just unplugged an inactive CD-ROM and that simple action gave me enough power for my wireless network card to work properly :-/

ok its def the psu.. i unplugged a hdd, and a rom drive... detected it straight up with less noises..

whats a decent psu these days?

antec or coolmaster modular ones are good
you only plug in the cables you are actually going to use

thanks fellas... i was about to go and buy a new computer tomorrow!

qgl to the resque! :)

Doh.. my bad...
Didn't read your post properly (hey, have had a few beers). For some reason I thought you said you were plugging in a HDD an getting that issue an I was thinking "wtf? how can the 5v be messing with the 12 volt?". PSU should always be the first thing you check on an old system when you have USB issues.

If it's that old a system, just grab a Thermaltake 430w. CA have em for $59