G4 800MHz, 768MB ram 37 G available.

My Aluratek AHDU350 USB external won't even show on disc utility after a friend cleared out some kind of ram cache problem to try and fix my freezing mouse which now seems to work ok for awhile (36 hours -- and I just fix it by reboot).
But back to the x HD - I had the problem when I first bought it then fooled around by changing cables and start up sequences, unplugging stuff etc. and then it suddenly mounted. Worked well for quite a while too (over a year) but now the red / green light flashes as if it looking for a way in but...?

Thanks so much for any help. :)

Anyone know?:)

Is this a straight USB external? Is it Bus powered or AC powered? Generally FireWire drives are more reliable, especially with pocket drives that use bus power.

Step 1 shut everything down, HD and computer. and remove cable connecting them together.

Step 2 Boot the computer holding down the "Apple,option,P,R" key combination. Keep it down till you hear the start-up chimes at least 3 times.

Step 3 Boot up the computer. Power up the HD. Reconnect them and see if it mounts.

If it does not mount it is quite possible that the HD itself is fine but the enclosure or the enclosure's power supply (if AC) is toast.

Is this a straight USB external? Is it Bus powered or AC powered? Generally FireWire drives are more reliable, especially with pocket drives that use bus power.

Step 1 shut everything down, HD and computer. and remove cable connecting them together.

Step 2 Boot the computer holding down the "Apple,option,P,R" key combination. Keep it down till you hear the start-up chimes at least 3 times.

Step 3 Boot up the computer. Power up the HD. Reconnect them and see if it mounts.

If it does not mount it is quite possible that the HD itself is fine but the enclosure or the enclosure's power supply (if AC) is toast.

THANK YOU eMacMan!!:)

I'll give this a try!

Yes it is just USB and backword compatible to 1.1

Just checked my internal USB power is ONLY 500 mA (could that be right on an old G4 !!! ) But it mounted before!! It only cut off immediately after I zapped the ram cache on the keyboard. The HD is AC powered. My Maxtor USB and Smartdisk firewire 400 have no problem.

I tried it eMacMan and no.

Again, thank you for trying and your time.:)