idontexist 0 Newbie Poster

Windows Xp crashed for some reason earlier and my external hard drive that I had hooked up to it wont work now. The power light comes on but I dont even get the 'bong' sound from putting in a USB device. Does anybody know any ways to troubleshoot this or any sources of info on fixing this problem? I have alot of important stuff on that drive and only some of it is backed up. Thank you.