USB ports
 

This follows on from a thread about BT Openworld and ADSL modems.

I have a powered USB 4 port hub which has all 3 ports connected going into the USB on the back of the PC - on the ports are a Sidewinder joystick, an ADSL modem and a Creative webcam, the power that these use are 20ma,500ma and 500ma (the hub can supply 4 x 500ma)

The problem is that I keep getting a message from win 98SE that the USB port has exceeded its capacity and requires a reset.
To do this means a reboot as if one falls over all USB ports fall over !

Does anyone know if this is just because of the volume of data going into the USB port eg from the modem or the cam, or am I missing something here

Capacity likely means bandwith more than power, the following artical refers to Win ME, but applies here as well:
http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/Q25 5/9/54.ASP

Now if it were power related, ME gives an error stating so, an article here discusses it:
http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/Q25 4/9/01.ASP

I would go by the first article, as a capacity error to me would indicate a bandwith issue, you may have to isolate the device using the most to another port.

Here is a link to general troubleshooting of USB, as provided by MS:
http://support.microsoft.com/support...exceeded%20its %20capacity&rnk=38&src=DHCS_MSPSS_gn_SRCH&SPR=W98SE

[ 21 August 2001: Message edited by: RW-1 ]

Some useful USB gen here...


http://www.usb.org/

Thanks for the info, seems that the problem is a combination of things, the auto disconnect after 2hrs on BTopenworld and the fact that the drivers they supply for the Alcatel usb modem are downlevel.
Well thats what BT say, all I can do is try out their suggested resolution !
Power (certainly) and bandwith (possibly) on the hub could be Red herrings.
Ill be convinced when the drivers fix the problem.

If you're running a couple of (relatively) high-speed devices off a hub, you might want to look at getting an internal PCI based on instead.... can't for the life of me remember where I saw it though -- sorry! Don't think it was too expensive, somewhere around the 30 quid mark.

Bascially, it would add 4 USB ports to your system and let them ALL run at the max speed, so multiple devices aren't having to multiplex on one port.

On a side note, it's interesting to hear you're getting booted off Openworld every 2 hours... so far, Freeserve have been very good about keeping the line open. Although I must admit I do cheat by keeping MSN Messenger constantly running on the server (Win2k and a small 5-port ethernet switch to the "real" home PC). My installation engineer told me that the drivers supplied for the Alcatel modem were old and to grab some new ones straight away from alcatel.com.

I have managed to get the problem to go away, only time wil tell if its fixed or not.
Took the advice and got the new drivers from Alcatel, and also bought a USB / PCI card (£17)and spread the load of the devices over the ports and this seems to be doing the trick but it was still disconnecting after 2 hrs, called BT and it seems that there was a hang over from BT Anytime on the line at the BT end where it is set up to disconnect after 2 Hrs, after calling BT and them doing some black magic, I have had an almost perm connection to the net.
Thanks for all the useful advice.