Asus Z170-A Motherboard not showing external hard drives

[matthewcroton]

I have a new custom build which I have built and have installed Windows on. The issue I'm having is that when I plug in an external drive, they are not appearing on the PC.

They work on other laptops which I've tested and all the USB ports work on the new PC which I tested with the keyboard and mouse so I'm not sure what the issue is.

When I plug the drives in I get a light on them so it's being powered but not showing up.

I've read about having to use a switch to 'power' the drives but I'm not sure if such a switch is on this motherboard.

Any suggestions would be appreciated .

 

[Solarstarshines]

Hit start go to my computer Right click Manage and you should be able to manage the hard drives to appear on the system

By the way this is called Disc Management

 

[matthewcroton]

I have tried this before but for some reason the drives do not show up in Disc Management despite being plugged in.

 

[essenbe]

Matthew, I don't have a Z170 board, so I am not familiar with them. But, go into Bios and make sure Legacy USB is enabled, then try. If that does not work, try plugging the drives in and shutting down the computer then restarting it and see if the drives are detected.

 

[matthewcroton]

Thanks for the reply, I will try this later today when I'm next at the PC.

 

[essenbe]

Ok, have you also installed your Motherboard drivers? Go to Device Manager and see if you see any yellow triangles there too.

 

[matthewcroton]

I haven't had chance to install any drivers yet so this could be why. I plan on installing them tonight/tomorrow.

 

[AddRAM]

You have to install all your drivers, then it`s play time.

As suggested, open up device manager, it`ll show you all your problems.

All your drivers are on the motherboard cd.

 

[essenbe]

I haven't had chance to install any drivers yet so this could be why. I plan on installing them tonight/tomorrow.

You'll get more current drivers from your Motherboard's web site plus you can avoid installing most of the 'junk' included on the CD.

 

[ThrashZone]

Hi,
According to the manual the mobo cd is second item after os install :/
Being it's z170 the drivers are probably fairly recent
Third is load all windows updates
Then your security
Then any third party software so it seems you skipped some steps.

 

[AddRAM]

Yes, I`d be shocked if there are any newer drivers at the website for a Z170.

Drivers are drivers, you can check for updates later, just get the install done, then play.

What I would like is comments on your 6700K when you`re up and running and testing.

What cooler are you using ? (Not listed) idle temps, highest temps etc, Thanks.

 

[ThrashZone]

Yes, I`d be shocked if there are any newer drivers at the website for a Z170.

Drivers are drivers, you can check for updates later, just get the install done, then play.

What I would like is comments on your 6700K when you`re up and running and testing.

Tommie's is tainted by win-8 & 10
We need some win-7 benchmarks

 

[matthewcroton]

Thanks for the help, this is a bit of a novice question but it's my first build so I want to get it right.

Do I only need to install the drivers for the motherboard and graphics card or other components also?

 

[ThrashZone]

Oh yea been there recently
All I can say is look at the asus site for your board and they will list all of the drivers for it
Lan/ usb/.....
Most basic drivers are loaded by windows if you want to check out if they are new/ old
Open Device manager
Click start and type that in there and expand all entries
Then look for any yellow flags
Post screen shots after expanding the entries for more help there.

 

[essenbe]

Be sure to install the chipset drivers.
https://www.asus.com/Motherboards/Z170-A/HelpDesk_Download/

There are 6 BIOS updates, 2 chipset drivers and 2 sata drivers on the website.

 

[AddRAM]

Thanks for the help, this is a bit of a novice question but it's my first build so I want to get it right.

Do I only need to install the drivers for the motherboard and graphics card or other components also?

You need to install drivers for every piece of hardware on your pc, windows does 90% of it for you.

Network drivers
Chipset drivers
Audio drivers

are all on the MB cd.

Did you open Device Manager yet ?????????????????????

What is a driver? - Windows Help

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Device_driver

How do I update the drivers on my computer? - HowStuffWorks