Dimension 8300 & USB 2.0

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.sys.pc-clone.dell (More info?)

Hello all...

I have an interesting problem with all of the USB 2.0 ports on my Dimension
8300. It seems that the USB 2.0 ports, when used with some USB 2.0 devices,
are just not reliable. Intermittent operation seems to be the biggest
problem, but both attached devices and the computer have "locked up" from
time to time. These are not usually hard lockups where I lose control of the
whole computer as stopping the device from within Windows or just power
cycling the troublesome device will bring things back online--for a while.

I do have some devices that work fine. One is a SmartDisk USB 2.0 hard drive
that would not work reliably until I plugged it in to one of the USB ports
under the onboard Ethernet plug. The other is a SanDisk 8-in-1 USB 2.0 media
reader that seems to be happy in any of the machine's USB ports. I can also
"force" any troublesome 2.0 device to work perfectly using the USB 1.1 side
of the ports by way of a USB 1.1 hub. All of my 1.1 level devices (the hub
and a few other things) work just fine. I have tried disconnecting all
devices except the ones that have trouble, and still I am experiencing
problems.

I'm thinking at this point that something is wrong with the onboard USB
controller at this point. What I cannot figure out is why a mix of some
ports and some devices work fine, as do all USB 1.1-level devices and USB
2.0 devices "forced" to work at USB 1.1. Is there anyone else out there who
has experienced similar problems with their Dimension 8300 and its USB 2.0
hardware?

Just for the record, my operating system is Windows 2000 Professional,
upgraded to Service Pack 4. (No comments about choice of OS, please.) I do
not have any problems with device drivers that I am aware of and the OS was
installed fairly recently.

Thanks in advance for any help!

William

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.sys.pc-clone.dell (More info?)

"William R. Walsh" <newsgroups1@saveyourspam.walshcomptech.com> wrote in
message news:HDpsd.134583$V41.94599@attbi_s52...
> Hello all...
>
> I have an interesting problem with all of the USB 2.0 ports on my
> Dimension
> 8300. It seems that the USB 2.0 ports, when used with some USB 2.0
> devices,
> are just not reliable. Intermittent operation seems to be the biggest
> problem, but both attached devices and the computer have "locked up" from
> time to time. These are not usually hard lockups where I lose control of
> the
> whole computer as stopping the device from within Windows or just power
> cycling the troublesome device will bring things back online--for a while.
>
> I do have some devices that work fine. One is a SmartDisk USB 2.0 hard
> drive
> that would not work reliably until I plugged it in to one of the USB ports
> under the onboard Ethernet plug. The other is a SanDisk 8-in-1 USB 2.0
> media
> reader that seems to be happy in any of the machine's USB ports. I can
> also
> "force" any troublesome 2.0 device to work perfectly using the USB 1.1
> side
> of the ports by way of a USB 1.1 hub. All of my 1.1 level devices (the hub
> and a few other things) work just fine. I have tried disconnecting all
> devices except the ones that have trouble, and still I am experiencing
> problems.
>
> I'm thinking at this point that something is wrong with the onboard USB
> controller at this point. What I cannot figure out is why a mix of some
> ports and some devices work fine, as do all USB 1.1-level devices and USB
> 2.0 devices "forced" to work at USB 1.1. Is there anyone else out there
> who
> has experienced similar problems with their Dimension 8300 and its USB 2.0
> hardware?
>
> Just for the record, my operating system is Windows 2000 Professional,
> upgraded to Service Pack 4. (No comments about choice of OS, please.) I do
> not have any problems with device drivers that I am aware of and the OS
> was
> installed fairly recently.
>
> Thanks in advance for any help!
>
> William
>
>


Well, you've got *some* USB 2.0 devices that are immune to the
inconsistencies. That suggests to me the other devices may have software
driver issues as a bad or intermittent USB hardware hub would be so no
matter the device - generally speaking.


Stew

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.sys.pc-clone.dell (More info?)

"William R. Walsh" <newsgroups1@saveyourspam.walshcomptech.com> wrote:
>I have an interesting problem with all of the USB 2.0 ports on my Dimension
>8300. It seems that the USB 2.0 ports, when used with some USB 2.0 devices,
>are just not reliable.

Try booting the diagnosic partition and running the ping test on the
offending device an infinite number of times (crank the iterations
down from 1). I've got an HP OfficeJet 7110 that fails after a while,
though I've got some more debugging to do before I can determine
exactly where the problem is...

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.sys.pc-clone.dell (More info?)

Just a wild guess, but have you tried to see if it is a power issue? In the
past, I had similar problems with 2 machines and both were solved by
connecting all USB through a powered USB 2.0 hub. As said, just a wild
guess.

Good luck!
"William R. Walsh" <newsgroups1@saveyourspam.walshcomptech.com> wrote in
message news:HDpsd.134583$V41.94599@attbi_s52...
> Hello all...
>
> I have an interesting problem with all of the USB 2.0 ports on my
> Dimension
> 8300. It seems that the USB 2.0 ports, when used with some USB 2.0
> devices,
> are just not reliable. Intermittent operation seems to be the biggest
> problem, but both attached devices and the computer have "locked up" from
> time to time. These are not usually hard lockups where I lose control of
> the
> whole computer as stopping the device from within Windows or just power
> cycling the troublesome device will bring things back online--for a while.
>
> I do have some devices that work fine. One is a SmartDisk USB 2.0 hard
> drive
> that would not work reliably until I plugged it in to one of the USB ports
> under the onboard Ethernet plug. The other is a SanDisk 8-in-1 USB 2.0
> media
> reader that seems to be happy in any of the machine's USB ports. I can
> also
> "force" any troublesome 2.0 device to work perfectly using the USB 1.1
> side
> of the ports by way of a USB 1.1 hub. All of my 1.1 level devices (the hub
> and a few other things) work just fine. I have tried disconnecting all
> devices except the ones that have trouble, and still I am experiencing
> problems.
>
> I'm thinking at this point that something is wrong with the onboard USB
> controller at this point. What I cannot figure out is why a mix of some
> ports and some devices work fine, as do all USB 1.1-level devices and USB
> 2.0 devices "forced" to work at USB 1.1. Is there anyone else out there
> who
> has experienced similar problems with their Dimension 8300 and its USB 2.0
> hardware?
>
> Just for the record, my operating system is Windows 2000 Professional,
> upgraded to Service Pack 4. (No comments about choice of OS, please.) I do
> not have any problems with device drivers that I am aware of and the OS
> was
> installed fairly recently.
>
> Thanks in advance for any help!
>
> William
>
>