External hard drive not staying 'connected' via usb ?

1. Plug in Seagate FreeAgent external hard drive (EHD) to Dell Latitude D830 Laptop (LT)
2. EHD is recognized by LT and shows up on MyComputer (MC)
3. Reboot LT and EHD is not recognized and does not show in MC
3a. When replug in EHD get message that there is a usb device 'mal-function'
3b. But, if power off the EHD and replug in, it is recognized
4. EHD works fine on old (while talking with Seagate tech) LT so called Dell support for fix
5. Downloaded new Bios and Chipset
6. All seems to work fine while on phone with Dell
7. Connect new Belkin 7-port hub (B7H) to one of (2) LT usb ports
8. Connect EHD to other of (2) LT usb ports
9. Same problem as with step 3. above
10. Will re-call Dell after holiday
11. In meantime, any ideas on what is the problem ?

 

I don't know exactly what the problem is, but I had similar problems with a FreeAgent drive. I found out about the problem after I had moved about 350GB of data to it. I was getting a Delayed Write Failure error notification and then I could no longer access the drive.

I don't know if FreeAgent has a Prolific chipset in it but I think the chipset is the problem.

I solved my problem by buying a third party external SATA enclosure and pulled the drive out of the FreeAgent. Trying to get technical help from Seagate is a challenge I had not patience for.