Issue with onboard USB 1.0

[sycho3wd]

My wife uses a Power Spec, model 4981. The mobo installed is an FIC FR33e. The OS is Windows XP Home Edition with SP3. The issue she's having is with her two USB ports. Before the HDD (Western Digital) was formatted the other day she had no problems using her USB printer (Epson Stylus CX5000). Now when she plugs in the printer into any of the two on board ports the system beeps one long and three short before powering down.

I run Windows 98 SE on an eMachine 400i2 and I have no problems using her printer at all. So it can't be an issue with the printer or USB cable.

After using a PCI/ISA POST diagnostic card, the motherboard and memory test ok. The only recent hardware added was a stronger power supply (300 watt) which tested (using a 20-pin power supply tester) good before installing.

I am at a loss as to why this is occurring with her USB ports since they worked fine in the past.

The only solution I can come up with is replacing the motherboard but I can't find an OEM for her system. After market brands won't work. I've already tried to no avail.

Any suggestions out there??

 

[GhislainG]

Did you install the Windows XP drivers for that motherboard?
ftp://ftp.fic.com.tw/motherboard/driver/1stUtilities_v1.27/USB2/INTEL/

 

[sycho3wd]

Did you install the Windows XP drivers for that motherboard?
ftp://ftp.fic.com.tw/motherboard/driver/1stUtilities_v1.27/USB2/INTEL/

Yes I did. The discs I used were the Power Spec system restore discs.

 

[GhislainG]

If you installed the drivers from the FIC site and it still doesn't work, then you'll have to contact FIC.

 

[sycho3wd]

If you installed the drivers from the FIC site and it still doesn't work, then you'll have to contact FIC.

I don't think you understood me in my previous reply, so I'll go into a bit more detail..

The system restore discs contains drivers for all the hardware that's installed on that particular brand Power Spec model... USB, video, NIC, audio, modem, etc.. So there is no reason to download other drivers from the manufacturer's web site since the CDs contain them already.

I.E.. It's like trying to put a good tire on a car that has a good tire on it already. I know, bad analogy, but pretty much tells the tale.

Checking the hardware settings in Control Panel doesn't show that there are any missing device drivers nor are there any conflicts with the drivers/hardware.

The only thing I have NOT done, however, was to do another system restore without formatting the hard drive. In other words, overwrite Windows XP on top of itself. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't.

That may be an option that I'm willing to explore. If worse comes to worse I'll just reformat the thing and be done with it since all her files are already backed up on a spare 160 GB drive.

 

[GhislainG]

I understand what your issue is. You'd lose nothing trying what I suggested. It won't break your installation and it specifically says that it enables USB 2.0.

Excerpt from the beginning of the .inf:

; Copyright 2001
; Microsoft Corporation
; USB 2.0 Add-On Driver support
; For Windows XP
;

If the registry entries defined in that file already exists, then reinstalling again probably won't help.

 

[sycho3wd]

I understand what your issue is. You'd lose nothing trying what I suggested. It won't break your installation and it specifically says that it enables USB 2.0.

Excerpt from the beginning of the .inf:

; Copyright 2001
; Microsoft Corporation
; USB 2.0 Add-On Driver support
; For Windows XP
;

If the registry entries defined in that file already exists, then reinstalling again probably won't help.

Even though the board supports USB 1.0? I understand that she CAN use USB 2.0 devices, they just run a little slower than they would if the USB port supported 2.0.

Power Spec's web site isn't very helpful in obtaining in depth specs on the system or the board itself other than it has "2 USB ports". Um, not very helpful at all.

At any rate, I'll give the USB drivers a shot. If I still get the same issue after the install then my other alternative to use plan A; over write Windows will be performed. There's always plan B; format and reinstall. I'll use that as my last resort.

 

[sycho3wd]

As I had expected, the drivers from the FIC web site didn't help. The system beeped then entered standby mode.

So time for plan A.

 

[sycho3wd]

After a few hours formatting and reinstalling the OS and other programs I resolved the issue with the USB printer. The problem wasn't with the USB ports themselves or the drivers..

The problem was caused by having "Hibernate" enabled.

Now, I don't know if it was ever enabled before at any other time since the printer was working as it should and not causing any problems.

So if anyone else out there has the same issue with their printer that I had, go to Control Panel > Power Options > Hibernate and disable it.

I'm surprised no one else had suggested that at the beginning. Of course it never dawned on me either to check.

At any rate, it's fixed, she's happy, I'm happy.. It's all good.

 

[sycho3wd]

Well it seems there is still a lingering issue with the PowerSpec. I've replaced the RAM (PC133 133 MHz SDRAM Non-ECC max 1 GB), upgraded the power supply from a 300 watt to a 400 watt and the system still continues to go into standby mode..

I've tried looking in the CMOS setup utility for a way to disable the integrated video adapter but I have yet to locate it.

I inserted a PCI Radeon 7000 video adapter to see if the issue still occurred and it does, but with a lot more frequency than before.

At present I am installing Red Hat 9, or at least attempting to and the problem is getting worse. I tried server 2003, same issue. I tried Windows 7 RC, same thing occurs. The system continues to enter standby mode on its own.

The unusual thing here is that if I use a live Windows or Linux disc I don't have any issues at all.

All I can determine at present is that the mainboard should be replaced to correct this issue.

I'm willing to entertain any suggestions at this point since I have never in the 12 years of doing PC repair encountered a more puzzling situation like this before.