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I'm facing a low power USB port issue on my desktop PC. I have a USB 2.5" external harddrive and it does not work with any of the USB ports on the computer case except for one.

Also if I use a extension cable with that port, the HDD will not work. I measured the voltage of the USB ports and they gave me about 4.60-4.70V. I updated the BIOS to the latest version. My motherboard is an AUS M4A785TD-V Evo and my power supply is Xilence 700W.

Is there any way to increase the voltage of the USB ports?

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  • does the port work with other devices?
    – user78429
    Jun 5, 2011 at 15:30
  • bckbck, obviously, I cannot say for sure, but it probably works fine with many devices that require less power. I got the sense that the external drive he is using might be powered solely by the USB port, making power critical. A mouse will use a lot less, and probably work fine.
    – KCotreau
    Jun 5, 2011 at 16:03
  • A)How are you measuring the voltage? B)Have you tried another PSU? Also, it is very silly that you didn't think about or didn't mention about 'B'.
    – barlop
    Jun 5, 2011 at 16:32
  • @bckbck yes wireless mouse and keyboard, and other usb devices are working on my pc. They require less power than usb hdd.
    – zforx
    Jun 6, 2011 at 14:35

3 Answers 3

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I doubt you can change it on your computer. You should probably buy a powered USB hub. Google "powered usb hub" without the quotes.

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  • I know external powered usb hubs but I want to know why my pc does not give 5V on usb ports.
    – zforx
    Jun 5, 2011 at 13:39
  • The specification for USB is +5 DC volts. I don't regularly (by that, I mean never have) measure the voltage on USB ports, but 4.7 seems like it may just not be working right, and the hardware is bad. I would probably call ASUS and ask them about it, and if it is a problem, as I suspect, have them RMA the board. Does the external drive have its own power source?
    – KCotreau
    Jun 5, 2011 at 14:05
  • External drive does not have it's own power source, and it is working with my laptop which give +5V when I measure it's usb ports.
    – zforx
    Jun 6, 2011 at 14:31
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They make usb Y cables that use 2 usb ports to properly power the drive. It draws power from 2 usb ports.

http://www.amazon.com/Apricorn-Power-Adapter-Cable-AUSB-Y/dp/B000JIOHDEenter image description here

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USB low voltage can impact a hard drive. I have an Apple (Fujitsu make) drive my brother gave me. I put it in an external USB 2 enclosure and used a USB connector with a Y (double USB ends)to plug into an nGear powered USB hub and then to my computer. The drive would mount and unmount and I could never complete a clone of my internal drive. I ended up just plugging it directly into one of my Mac Mini's USB port (just using one of the USB ends) and I didn't have any further problems. This leads me to believe that hard drives are especially sensitive to power sources as the Y connector didn't seemingly provide enough juice (even double plugged in with a powered HUB). Also, my 2012 Mac Mini has USB 3.0 which I understand provides more power (in the range of 900 mA verses 500 mA for USB 2). This boost may have helped things.

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