Problem With Edimax EW-7711UAn USB Wireless Adapter

[Yoss80]

Hi, this is my first post here so I hope it's in the correct forum. Apologies in advance if it should be somewhere else.

I'm having a minor problem with the USB wireless adapter on this computer. Nothing major - just an annoyance really. Basically, when I switch the computer on it doesn't activate (no power LED), even though it's plugged into a USB port (on the PC, not a hub).
If I then pull the USB cable out and plug it back in it switches on immediately and is up and running in a few seconds. Afterwards it works fine even if I soft-reboot the computer. It doesn't need to be unplugged-and-plugged again til next time I start the machine from cold.

I also have a USB scanner and a USB printer attached and they both start just fine.

Anyway, here's the tech specs:

Adapter is an Edimax EW-7711UAn USB
Computer is running Windows XP Home SP3

If you need any further details or have any ideas then please let me know. All help greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Yoss

 

[eibgrad]

In my experience, USB can be mighty flakey, and in many different ways. I've seen all kinds of USB problems I could never explain. I have a Toshiba laptop that for some reason will only recognize any USB flash drive the first time it's inserted. Do a clean (as in “safely remove hardware”) removal, reinsert, and it's no go, returns an error of unidentified device. Only a reboot will fix it. Same USB flash drives, different computer, work flawlessly.

So nothing surprises me when it comes to USB.

I would stay away from either the front USB ports of your case, or any PCI/PCIe add-on USB adapters, at least for this device. Only use the USB ports on the back of the case attached directly to the motherboard. These tend to be a bit more reliable.

What you might also try is using USB hub (a powered one even better). Maybe having some distance between it and the PC might actually help.

 

[Yoss80]

Thanks for your reply. I'm afraid I know quite well how tempermental USB can be but I went ahead and bought a USB wifi adapter anyway... My other USB niggle just now is a Dell Inspirion 1501 laptop which only detects USB devices literally a minute after they've been inserted. God knows what's wrong with that but I'll deal with it another time.

Getting back to the wifi adapter - I'm afraid it's already plugged directly into a motherboard USB port and is already positioned a couple of feet away from the computer (using an extension cable + base that came with the USB adapter and yes, I have tried it without the extension - same problem).

I think the moral of the story is if you know what you're doing to the extent that you can fit a PCI card then don't be a lazy ah heck and buy a USB one! *sigh*

 

[eibgrad]

I try to avoid both PCI and USB wireless adapters, at least for non portables, just too many headaches and compatibility issues. I use wireless Ethernet bridges exclusively.

[wireless router]<--wireless-->[wireless ethernet bridge]<--wire-->[pc]