FreeAgent Products

[doppess]

There are HUGE PROBLEMS with the FreeAgent Desk 500GB and laptops. The backup drive installs fine, first backup works great, but the next time they turn on the laptop the drive is not recognized. I have three clients with useless Seagate drives. Tech support has taken me in circles with this issue without success. The retailer will not issue a refund. Seagate will not issue a refund. Laptop brands include Dell Inspiron, Dell Precision, and Toshiba Satellite.  NO WHERE is there any warning that this product is NOT COMPATIBLE with laptops. What is the solution for this mess?

[coltmccoyisbomb]

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doppess wrote:
. The backup drive installs fine, first backup works great, but the next time they turn on the laptop the drive is not recognized.

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more information please?

os, computer, connection type, other devices, all that stuff

what troubleshooting have you tried   http://www.seagate.com/ww/v/index.jsp?locale=en-US&name=Operating_System_Detection_Issue&vgnextoid=1...

[doppess]

Dell Precision 2400 Laptop running XP Pro. Tried uninstalling and reinstalling the drive. Tried toggling off the USB power saving feature for that USB port. Tried the backup drive on a desktop (no problem), and on another laptop (same problem). Ran the drive diagostics and the drive seems to function fine until the computer is turned off, then the next time the computer is turned on it will not recognize the drive. I have to turn the computer off, unplug the backup drive, turn the computer on, uninstall the Seagate software, turn the computer off, turn the computer on and plug in the backup drive. Then the drive is recognized again. Any help would be appreciated.

[doppess]

Yes, I did go through the troubleshooter on the Seagate website ... more than once, but no luck so far.

[jeff92677 · Accepted solution]

In the BIOS there is a setting to turn off USB support (at the BIOS level), and this seems to fix the problem

on my Dell Precision M70 laptop.  Perhaps the BIOS interferes with the operating system support of the

drive.

When you have Windows running, and unplug power and USB cable from the drive, and reinsert the

plugs, the drive is probably recognized. This is a clue that the Dell BIOS is causing the problem.

Get into the BIOS settings and turn OFF USB support at that level (which is useful only if you have an

external USB mouse and/or keyboard and want to use it to edit the BIOS settings).

Use the touchpad and laptop keyboard once you turn off USB support during the BIOS editing,

but when you boot into Windows, it finds and uses the USB port, and the Seagate drive.

Hope this helps, but even more, I hope it solves the problem you and others are seeing.

PS: In DELL vernacular, what is called "Legacy USB support" on other computers is referred to as

USB support ON/OFF in the Dell BIOS.  The Dell bios does explain that when OFF, the USB

support is the responsibility of the operating system, which is really what you want anyway.

Jeff

[doppess]

Thank you for the information. I will try this fix and post the results here.

[sh136h]

There is a solution around, check this out, it works for me.

http://hk.myblog.yahoo.com/xiao-laba/article?mid=1861

[jeff92677]

FYI: The "solution" link provided by sh136h applies to an Apple computer using a firewire connector.

It has nothing to do with the USB port under Windows.

When a solution is posted, it might be helpful to indicate the relevance, such as applies

to XP or WIndows or USB, etc. I read the linked page and it has nothing to do

with the problems I found, or the solution that works on my Dell laptop.

[wenda]

Is this company kidding?  This obviously has been a problem for a long time and is still a problem with no resolution.  Why is this product still be sold in stores.  I bought the Seagate Free Agent external 1TB drive about a month ago, still haven't been able to backup my PC yet.  My computer won't recognize it and then if it does recognize it my USB gives me an error that it's not recognized.  This is totally crazy and somebody needs to do something to get this product off the market.  That somebody just might be me at this point because I am fed up.

The web is filled with people who are having the same problem  and not getting help from tech support.  If mine doesn't work and every other person who bought one can't get it to work what good is a replacement.  I don't have time to be bothered calling tech support after reading every single person's experience showing that it's a waste of time.  It looks like it's time for everyone to get busy blogging and twittering about this, I know I will be.  I don't like to be straight-up ripped off.

[jeff92677]

I have several FreeAgent drives, one hooked to a network server, another to an HP laptop,

and a new one to a DELL laptop.

The only system that gave me trouble was the Dell M70, and when I turned off the BIOS

support of the USB port, leaving it to Windows, that system is now stable.

Others are having good luck with the drive as well.

So one thing stays the same -- the Seagate drive.

Another thing changes -- different computers behave differently.

Use some scientific logic to help determine the locus of the problem, the evidence is there.