problem with usb.....

Check for USB driver downloads?

Regards JD.

I bought a USB extender or hub some time ago. My laptop only had one USB port and I had several USB devices. I noticed that when I used it to connect my printer, webcam, and flashdrive, and USB keyboard, one of them would disappear every now and then. My suspects:

• Bad USB hub » cheap = low quality
• Bad flash drives » the 8MB one disappears often, the 1MB one never disappeared. Big memory maybe uses more power.
• Overloaded USB port » I don't know what's the capacity of my port. Maybe it doesn't like having several loads on it. I think this is most likely.

I thinking of buying a USB hub with its own power supply. That might address the power capacity thing.

Never suspected the drivers though I'm not knowledgeable enough to know if I should.

regards,

Vulcan

are you referring to your USB *port*? or the USB memory stick?

if the port, try cleaning it by vacuuming and tightening the cable.

if the memory stick, try another one. if it is consistently detected, then it's your memory stick that's defective.

my pc is only 1 month old.....

You've still not answered my question.

Is it the USB port you are referring to?

or, the USB Flash stick?

please clarify your question.

usb port

if it was recently purchased, the best solution is to take it back to the vendor and have them fix the problem. it should still be under warranty.

Is your XP fully up to date?

Is it "Home" or "Professional"?

What antivirus software do you have?

Is it up to date?

Do you have both a hardware and a software firewall?

Do you have any USB devices that also needed(?) a driver to be installed?

How many USB sockets do you have on your PC?

Are they all (if more than 1) affected?

Who made your Hub (if you have one)?

This is only a start and should give you an idea of what you need to have....

ya my xp professional is up to date...

and all my usb devices are not working at time's.....

i dont use hub...

I have had a similar problem and it seems to have something to do with the fact that all the USB slots are not the same to the chip. I can have problems when I change the slot for my modem so I always use the same one. It is not the case for all USB devices - some are more finicky than others. I try to always plug back into the same slot each time.

Isn't it strange that the brain that designed the slot could not make it so that it is easy see which end is up?

I am not pretending that I am a USB expert, but many devices, once "installed" on a particular USB slot, are looked for again at that point and nowhere elese. This fooled me sometime ago for the same reasons....

As far as I can tell, this happens mainly with Scanners, printers and the such like.....

Try to avoid using different usb devises in the same usb slot....

Classical problem with XP.

Go to the device manager, display all devices (included the hidden/ghost/disconnected ones). And remove all relevant "ghosts devices" (grayed-out/transparent icon): usb hub, usb device,portable storage volumes...

This should restore your usb reactivity.

Oh, plug you usb not too slowly.

If you are using external hubs, make sure you have enough energy (amperage) to feed everything.

Hello sathieshgnanam,

I would delete all of the USB items and then reboot and the computer should find all of them again and reinstall them. Here is how you remove them all before reinstall:

• Unplug all USB items
  
  
• Start
  
  
• Control Panel
  
  
• System
  
  
• Hardware
  
  
• Device Manager
  
  
• View
  
  
• Show Hidden Devices
  
  
• Scroll down to the USB area and open it with (+)
  
  
• Right click on each item and Uninstall all that you have with that option
  
  
• Reboot and let the computer find them
  
  
• Plug items back in and test it.

*This could be a warning of a greater issue:

1. dirt accumulation inside case; heat can cause the system to be quirky.

2. badly fragmented drives

3. need for hardware updates

XP SP2 ? Good luck with any windows system. There are no proprietary drivers, so every time you have a new USB device, hub, mouse, keyboard, flash drive, you have to download a driver. Go to the manufacturer's site for usb driver download.

Good point about using powered usb hub too. I have two such animals, and two firewire hubs. Once you have many devices hooked up, you NEED powered USB.

Non powered USB only works well with keyboards, because there is only small bits of data involved. USB flash drives and other devices require more power, and the more sophisticated it is, the more stability and power a device needs.

Also, you must make sure you are capable (compatible with) of USB 2.0 or not.

For future reference, Windows systems are not set up to do any thinking on its own, so no matter what type of device you hook up to it, you most likely will have to download drivers.

What's wrong with XP SP2?

I have a cheap 1.0 unpowered hub plugged into a five year old Dell. Into that I have two flash drives, a printer and another cheap unpowered 1.0 hub. Into that are plugged three flash drives and a Kodak camera dock. The only thing that has happened after installation of a device is the prompt that my system would act faster if I had 2.0 hubs, but only for a few boot-ups and not again. I have not experienced any slow operation pertaining to anything I had plugged in. I do not disturb or unplug any device unless it is absolutely necessary. You must remember that ANY connector has a service life based on the number of times it slides into a mating connector and I don't think that the average USB can be considered mil spec by any means, although there surely are mil spec USBs.

When did you last run an XP update from Uncle Bill?

Myself, I never do. If it updates automatically, I don't know about it. As long as my system operates without debilitating problems (I only occasionally see minor slowdowns that usually go away when I reboot) I leave it alone. I'm not one to seek out and download the fanciest crap out there. No betas for me. Each of us creates our own hell.

Thats good. Basically thats what I do too.....many people do not allow updates and that is a real bad failure....

So you are not really at SP2, you are at SP2 + current updates, that is quite a lot different!!! SP2 is several years old at least!!!

I find it amazing that many users have not seen this problem which

sathieshgnanam has highlighted.

I have this problem all the time.

I am at my wits end trying to solve it.

I have finally given up. My IT guys are all stumped and have no solution.

I think it needs someone with very indepth knowledge of how the operating system software works.

I just reboot my computer and plug the USB memory stick in again.

And I have checked , it is not the port and not the memory stick.

I observe though, that it does not happen very often with a particular brand of memory sticks. Maybe it is a manufacturing quality issue.

...or mainboard or mainboard BIOS level?

I don't ever experience it with LEXAR sticks

Could be your power supply is on its way out. I've had similar problems and when I decided to replace the power supply because the machine was randomly rebooting itself, the USB issue went away also. Also in a past life, I've seen multiple unexplained PC errors that were always cured by upgrading the power supply.

this would not be the case for OP. his is a *new* PC!

for the many days this has been discussed in this thread, his problem would have been solved already had he reported it to the vendor.

OTOH, there's also joy in solving a technical problem, "with a little help from my friends"...