Do you mean the hub is unpowered? if so, try using a powered hub. The USB standard requires devices to tell the host how much power they require. If you plug a high-power device into an unpowered hub, the port may choose not to power the device up if it's asking for too much power (up to 500 mA) or if the cheapo hub is reporting the power requirement incorrectly.
Somewhat generalizing, devices make their power requirements known in either an intelligent manner or stupid manner. Hubs likewise, handle the requirements in either an intelligent manner or stupid manner. There are also some devices that simply won't connect through a hub of any kind. They're the the stupid kind. Any kind of "stupid" in the loop is going to mess things up.
Finally, even if all the power requirements are OK, there are issues with how some hubs handle cascading.
The short answer is, try another hub which can use a power adapter. If both hubs don't work with the device, give up because there is either no solution or there is an arcane solution.