USB 2.0 a Goner????

you but..

Lets say there are only two cars on the market- one runs well but is ugly the other crummy but looks good. You bought the crummy one - in fact 90% of the world bought the crummy one. Don't you think the guys driving the good car would get annoyed listening to the guys who own the bad car complain about car trouble? Especially when you say hey I'll help you pick out a good car - and by the way - it's free! They then respond "No I would rather pay to drive the bad car - can you give me a tow?" It's just a frustrating situation for the users of the "other" OS.

I installed some updates a while back and my USB 2.0 stopped working under XP Pro. This is my work computer and we have some developement servers with working USB ports so I just stopped using USB on my computer.

After reading several posts about this problem, I was encouraged to try and see if I could get it working again. What worked for me was:
1-plug the drive into the port
2-open device manager
in case you have forgotten I just went
2a-open control panel
2b-open system, hardware tab device manager
3-click + Universal Serial Bus controllers
4-if you see USB mass storage device
5-right mouse choose Uninstall
6-wait till Uninstall completes
7-USB mass storage should leave the list
8-remove flash drive from port
9-reinsert flash drive and let it install fresh driver
10-look in windows explorer to see if Removable Disk is now visible with first available drive letter

That is what fixed it for me. My best guess is that a bug update negatively impacted the driver. Uninstall removed the broken driver and reinstall put in place a clean working driver.

Add a post if this works for you.

Kanguru Solutions KFF-4G is a 4GB firewire flash drive. There are others, but since using the technology requires an Apple Computer license fee, Firewire devices will always be more expensive. There have been digital cameras, memory card readers, printers, and other such devices that have come out in Firewire versions. Of course camcorders, external hard drives & DVD writers, and some other items are either Firewire based or still come in Firewire versions.

My understanding of Firewire (400mb/s) is that it is better and faster than USB 2.0 (480mb/s) for transferring large amounts of data at a constant speed, while USB is better for more intermittent data transfer. When flash drives were first showing up, they were too slow and too small to work well with Firewire, so USB became the standard interface. Firewire will never develop the volume to compete price-wise in flash drives or many other areas.

Six-pin Firewire carries power, four-pin (Sony ILink) does not.
I do not see Firewire replacing USB. Two similar technologies aimed at two different targets.
USB 1.0 came out to replace and merge the low-speed serial ports in PCs (mouse, keyboard, serial, PS/2 are all low-speed serial.) Much more complex protocols, lots of overhead, but very flexible.
Firewire came out first, with a goal of moving large amounts of data quickly. Low overhead when used as intended, but not so effective when misused.

Phil B

This discussion thread is all about finding out a solution (or a work around)to a problem. Ok, MS created the problem and perhaps they'll come up with a solution sometime, in the meantime, we bright minded people of techrepublic must help!. Medicman made a point and I agree with it: linux users (or MS haters)that don't have the desire to help, please go to the linux blog and knock yourselves out there. Why is it that Hal, nighthawk and jmgarvin, among others, can't seem to be able to contain their desire of typing? Please make it easy for us to follow the thread!

That may be one of the best posts TechRepubic has ever seen. That should be required reading when signing up here. I know I could stand to reread something like that every once in a while.

Once upon a time, decades ago, there was a thing called the Internet. It was filled with all sorts of smart people talking about smart people things. You didn't have to be a genius to join a discussion, but you had to be at least smart enough to be able to tie your own shoes.

Then the dark times came: America Online was invented. It bore the number of the beast. Somehow that number was always busy, but it still did not stop the horde of intellectually-challenged, I-just-bought-my-first-computer sheep from overflowing into what had formerly been the domain of rather smart people.

And, lo, here was born the first "Me too!" post. Naturally, the smart people decried this abuse of discussion groups and the electronic detritus it brought with it, but to no avail. Inevitably, yet another Bobo would add his cry of "Me too!" as a response to someone who was responding to someone else's "Me too!" post. The recursion was unspeakable.

As time went on, the rabble got tired of having to look up the word "me" and the word "too" in the dictionary every time they wanted to use them, so they invented the acronym to end all acronyms: STFU. It was a convenient shorthand for "I have nothing of value to add, and I'm adding it right now".

You are a perfect example of how Linux is so easy to use, any idiot could do it. And it's nice to see America Online has come out with their first Linux distro. You must be one of their beta testers, I presume? What's it called--no, wait, let me guess: AOLinux?

If you can't think of more than four letters to respond with, do all of us a favor and don't clutter up the discussion. Thanks.

Missed the part of one of my above posts that goes, "At work, users like me so much they ask for me by name when they call", I presume?

After purchasing four new storage devices I removed the USB cord from one device that was installed with only a small amount of information on the device. I did this without using the Safely Remove Hardware Icon. When I plugged it back in later my computer called it an Unknown Device, or unsupported device. I tried a second device, same brand name, and it worked fine. Later I again forgot to use the Safely Remove Hardware Icon before removing the device and again got the Unknown or Unsupported device. Not using the Icon before unplugging some USB devices will disable the devise. Although most users already know this I thought it should be said. Some devices can be unpluged without this problem but they are the better made ones. This could be part of what you mentioned some users were having with the Unknown or Unsupported device problem. Hope this helps.

I assumed that's why any of us participate in these discussions, lately the forums have evolved into something that looks more like an elementary schoolyard: fights, name calling, flaming, trolling or whatever the term du jour is. Kind of makes me wonder if all the malicious posts made are just to improve your TR ranking (how high can I go by flaming others? obviously it sounds stupid but it does make you think)

I have to ask why is everyone so quick to get angry? We're all entitled to our own opinions but when they involve derogatory statements & less than honorable intent people should hold back. The old saying "if you don't have something good to say then maybe you shouldn't say anything" should still be applicable.

- just my 0.02 cents cdn, feel free to agree or disagree (although if you disagree try to keep the verbage to a respectable level)

;-)

The person who originally started this discussion provided us with info on his specific problem which involved an issue with M$ windows & USB 2.0 problem.

He didn't rant about how he hated linux, in fact I don't think the original post contained any reference to linux at all. He was just asking for help with his specific situation which involved M$ windows. He didn't attack anyone.

The fact that you may not use Windows personally since you run Linux shouldn't cause you to take issue with this person. Great - alot of people use Linux (I find Linux very interesting myself, I'm a linux newbie, I've thus far installed only a dozen or so different distro's to determine which I like best and I like the fact that it's open source, free for the most part and does offer an alternative to windows) and aren't affected by this problem that he's referring to, if you're one of those people and can't offer any assistance applicable to his situation, why bother posting a response to begin with? Did your post really help him, he didn't ask for a fight with you, he did ask for assistance. If someone were to fall infront of you & ask for your help to pick them up, would you help them back up or would you kick them when they're down? You're 1st original response to this discussion appeared to do the latter.

Your post was a little more than just "innocuous" as you put it, you're overly aggressive and borderline angry with this person. Do you know him personally, ever met face to face? Then how can you be so angry with a stranger who is just asking for some assistance with his USB 2.0 problem and wondering if others have experienced a similar problem & if so have they found a fix.

No one needs to join the Barney & Friends group on IRC (didn't even know one existed) and you don't need to suggest that people do that either - how does that help? A little immature don't you think?

The only advice I can offer you is that you tone down your posts, this forum isn't for haters, on the contrary it's a forum for those who enjoy discussing various subject matter (both professional & personal) with each other but don't enjoy abusive & argumentative posts. The last time I checked we aren't at war here.

- just my 0.02 cents cdn

One of my jump drive is a SANDisk 2GB and I plugged it into a WinXP box today and windows picked up a new USB device, however I could not see the drive at all. So I ended up going to another desktop computer. Keep in mind that USB in general is a flaky standard based on my experience anyway.

If I have to load the opperating system, the Microsoft Mouse and Keyboard will not work while the install is loading the Device Drivers. I have an old PS2 Keyboard that saves the day. This is typical of Microsoft, if it is good for Microsoft, it is good for everyone else"

Thank you for the kind words of approval.
Regards
Aaron ;)

Did you get the USB.2 resolved?
I've run into this before and still do ocassionaly,
I usually fix this by going into the computer management/storage/disk management. The USB drive will try to use a drive letter already assigned to a networked drive or another removeable drive. I assign an unused drive letter and it is now findable. also, about the "not enough power" issue. there is a setting in some systems for a "power saver" mode, but usually it's in a laptop. but I've seen several systems that have the laptop power configuration loaded.

I would really like to know if you've resolved this. Thanks,

PS I run 165 M$ machines and 153 Linux machines, and have had problems with updates on both os's.

I agree with your post Aaron, well written.

However I disagree with Nighthawk808's initial post, its a post which offers no solutions and intended as a flame.

"USB 2.0 works fine in Linux. Just because M$ screwed the pooch doesn't mean the end of the world. There are real operating systems out there that don't have problems like this. I know; I'm typing this message on a SuSE box."

The young one clearly pointed out that this issue exists with what he believe to be Microsoft's patch, does it mean everytime some experience anything wrong with Microsoft products, we should all pack up and go to Linux? Linux may not have this problem, but that does not make it the only "real world operating system". Linux have problems as well as any other OS.

After a windows xp update, no dial-up connection could be established, giving the 678 error. But, fortunatly, I had to make a 5 min. search in googleto find the correct answer, which was posted on microsoft.com. It said that in some cases, after an update, some modems could get a series of errors. They suggested updating the driver - it worked fine, for a few days. The error appeared again, and no modem driver update could help. Then I serched for a modem driver not on the modem manufacturer's website, but on the laptops manufacturer. It started to work and still works fine.

I think that Security has trumped Usefulness once again. (Yeah, That's it. That's the ticket.........)
All of those unsecure devices are compromising security.
Microsoft will be introducing a Thumb-Drive "Condom", to be placed between the machine and the offending device to prevent virus transfer. There will be a $100.00 per-year subscription/ransom.
Your Security is only a concern when there is money to be made!!!

Thanks for the reply, you write a good post, I have to remember that a sense of humor is sometimes required to read these posts and not get offended. You probably could have yourself a lucrative career as a stand up comedian. (you definitely can contribute to the friday yuk with that quick wit)

Yes I am a rational human being (and also a smarta$$, 2 for the price of 1) and I appreciate that you're not targeting me specifically. (p.s. what's wrong with Bryan Adams - the guy rocks, you want a name problem how about a friend of mine: Ron McDonald, tall guy with curly afro'ish hair and big feet - geez)

I guess I can also see your point about the Linux folk (or M$ Bashers as the term has been coined around these parts). It is similar to the group that routinely bashes G.W.Bush, those who are pro Bush take those comments negatively and I guess us Windoze folk can get a bit sensitive as well.

I can be passionate about a given subject matter as well so I would never call you (or anyone else for that matter) a degenerate. My first instinct would be to assist rather than berate but that's me, no one else needs to assume that standard.

You're allowed to be sarcastic - don't ever stop because being sarcastic just means you have an opinion on the truth du jour - however I will still hold on to my original point though about the tone that can be projected, the guy was asking for help not a shootout at the OK Corral and you should try to forgive him for living in this M$ world and not converting to Linux yet, maybe he's not ready ;-)

In hind sight, he should probably have posted his query under Tech Q&A and gotten some focused support on his issue. Some of us here at TR are noob's, others are seasoned (some salt & pepper) veterans.

I'm not a fan of slashdot probably because of the reasons you specified, and thank god I can move faster than that poor groundhog with the broken leg. If calling PETA gets me an interview with Pam Anderson I may consider it.

Aside from your rough exterior you seem pretty rational too and your post that I'm replying to here is exactly what a discussion is all about.

... just my 0.02 cents cdn ;-)

After trying this forum for the first time I have learned three lessons:
1. A way to get the USB functioning again, even though one has to repeat the process every time a USB device is plugged in.
2. How little help Microsoft offers in such matters. Still I haven't seen a solution that completely removes the problem.
3. TechRepublic discussions can be of great help in solving various problems. However, also here one have to wade through a lot of very boring postings from people who doesn't even try to solve the problem, but have quite another goals in mind.

The use of forums such as these is for helping with solutions.

If I ask you what colour the sky is I expect you to say blue which answers my question.

If you ramble on about how the sea is better than the sky, read the question again, because you've obviously missed the point big time.

I was about to apologise and make peace, but I think I will leave that now and go off to a forum that does not waste time and is perhaps more exclusive and useful.

For those who have assisted me in this or posted helpful comments, I apologise to you as you have wasted your time. The few people who have made a mockery of Techrepublic and the community know who they are, and those who are fed up of this will agree with me that the bigger person will walk away. So adieu Tech Republic, thank you to those who have previously been of help and I hope those I have helped experience a long and successful career in technology.

I was having problems with 2.0 devices. XP was telling me that I should plug em into a faster port. So they were working, just as 1.1 devices (I do have a Sandisk Cruzer Mini). While troubleshooting, I found that it wasn't MS related for me, cause when I ran Acronis True Image from the boot disk (which runs from a Linux pre-install environment) and devices were plugged in, I would get USB errors. I tried installing both XPSP2 with no updates and 2000 on my PC (no big deal since it takes under 2 minutes for AcronisTI to restore my C: partition to my latest image) and there was no change to the problem. Fortunatly, the USB 2.0 add-in card was still working fine, so I rewired one front USB port to plug into the cards internal port to still have USB 2.0 in the front. Not an ideal workaround, but it will tide me over until I get around to getting a new Mboard that supports a dual-core. Unusual hardware failures get the best of us.

Pride and conceit usually get the worst of us as evidenced by earlier posts.

If you irritate certain individuals on this site you'll be placed on their ignore list and you can forget about getting help after that. It doesn't matter whether you meant what they think you said or not. Of course if your OK with that than say what you think is right.

Errors with USB 2.0 devices after installing XP SP2

SYMPTOMS:
1. USB Mouse will rarely work after rebooting when SP2 is installed. Neither switching usb ports, nor buying a new mouse, nor consulting the professionals at tech support websites (or Microsoft for that matter) for any useable advice make any difference. Current Workaround in place: Unplug it & plug it back in. Unplug it & plug it back in again. (Repeat this procedure (x) number of times while at the same time applying random mouse clicks/deskslams until mouse works.

2. Perfectly good operating Printer/Scanner combo (Dell) will not work when hooked up after SP2 is installed. Neither reinstalling drivers from CD, nor Downloading updated drivers or firmware from manufacturer, nor replacing cables, nor consulting professional IT tech sites (or Microsoft?s) for 'expert' advice result in the printer getting any recognition at all when attempting to install via add New Hardware wizard.

============

FINDINGS (from Microsoft.com):

[MS ARTICLE 892050]: "A USB device that is connected to a USB 2.0 hub is not detected in Windows XP Service Pack 2, Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 1, or Windows Server 2003 x64 versions"

CAUSE: Microsoft Windows XP SP2 USB 2.0 driver causes an Enhanced Host Controller Interface (EHCI) specification violation.

RESOLUTION: (ahem) To resolve this problem immediately, contact Microsoft Product Support Services to obtain the hotfix. For a complete list of Microsoft Product Support Services telephone numbers and information about support costs, visit the following Microsoft Web site:

===================

MY OPINION (warning, I'm not a professional, but it worked)

SOLUTION: Since installing SP2 caused the problem, then revert necessary files back to the SP1 (working) version.

HOW:
After rebooting, the new hardware wizard will say it found new hardware. Normally, if you allowed it to automatically find the right files, it would take forever to search without finding the right files, and hardware will not be added. Instead, when new hardware wizard asks whether you want it to automatically search for files, don't let it. Do it manually.

Choose the device from the list then click 'have disk'. Browse to the folder on your C:\ where all drivers are stored (not sure if this folder is the same or exists on PCS other than Dell but my folder is c:\I386). First, The wizard finds the necessary USB Controllers (i.e., "USB Composite Device,? "USB Printing Support") but when continuing, it warns you that the files have not passed some logo test thing from MS . . . continue installing anyway.

IMPORTANT: Each device will have at least ONE missing file that it cannot find (i.e., usbccgp.sys, usbprint.sys). Do a search of your C:\ for this file name, and look at the detailed results for a folder having SP1 in the path. Point your Wizard to this folder for the requested file and VOILA! SUCCESS!

Once the USB controllers install a new (duplicate) device should show up (also with errors) in device manager. Follow the same steps to install drivers for these new devices and delete the original duplicate device from the list.

====================

Note to IT PROFESSIONALS . . . please forgive my ignorance in not knowing the proper terminology. I came here seeking assistance which I did not find so am only offering help to others like me who can care less what the population of China is.

For starting the war the crops up when some one mentions Linux in a discussion about Windows or Microsoft

It makes it so easy to find the answers

But anyway do you have any solutions or information other than changing the OS
That may actually help someone with this problem

Thanks again for any real answers that may really help some one with this problem

And try not to sound off about Linux

I do like and use Linux but most of my customers don?t

Than the Windows/Linux fanatics who seem to populate these forums

Have you noticed it?s the same people using the same tired arguments over and over?

I like to think of them mentally disabled not warriors

I helpful Linux and Windows community here on Tech Republic
That provides help and insights without it becoming an argument

At this moment in time it appears that Tech Republic is biased to the point of promoting Linux and heaven help anyone who asks for help on windows
Which by some people is seen as a attack on Linux

How many people use Linux or Windows is not the point

The point is people use Linux and/or Windows

And what is the best way to help them use those OS?s

Not to berate them about the good or bad choice they have made

Heres the simple thing to do

If the question at the start of the discussion does not mention Linux don?t introduce it into the discussion

If the question at the start of the discussion does not mention Windows don?t introduce it into the discussion

I guess some people will have nothing to argue about

Lets hope they get bored and bugger off to the real world

Do you know if this because of the Time Zone or Regional and Language option settings?

Or do you think it may be a worldwide update?

I find your question, and dilemma, interesting in that some of the PC's we have deployed here at work are Dell GX280's and IBM M55's. The point in mentioning this is that neither of these PC's have PS/2 ports, they ONLY have USB 2.0 ports. I noticed a couple of posts mentioning the BIOS, and that is a good point since some of the KVM switches suggest that you change the setting in the BIOS for the keyboard and mouse to USB from PS/2.

Based on these new systems (well, actually the GX280 has been around a while, but the M55 is new) and the fact that they have no alternatives for input devices...I'd say you have an issue with a BIOS setting, a Microsoft update that crashed, or an update that conflicts with something already installed on your system. Also check for updated drivers. If you have updated any drivers recently, roll them back. New drivers bring New problems. If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

Good luck.

You guys are so far off the issue standing on your soap boxes giving your speeches, that you've missed or forgotten that the point of these forums is to share ideas and come up with solutions. Most of what is in this discussion is the age old debate about "big brother Microsoft".

The problem was with a USB port and or device. The issue is NOT with the operating system since there are 10's of millions of machines working just fine. The problem has to do with some 3rd party software or driver that was installed on that system, that has an issue with the patch. We have a custom program at our company that has an issue with KB888111. As technicians, we identified the problem as "what changed?". We then removed the patch and we went on our merry way. We didn't waste 2 minutes worrying or blaming or trying to figure out "who's fault" it was. Fix the problem and get on with it.

I hate to piont out the obvious here, but the fact of the matter, is that Microsoft isn't going anywhere. And your not going to launch an overthrow with Linux. Get over it.

If you don't know how to troubleshoot? Fine. Not everyone can. But in the end, either troubleshoot it and fix it, or get out of the way of someone who can.

If someone looked at this discussion looking for answers or suggestions on a fix, it would take an hour to read through all this crap to find the solution.

This place has become more of a platform to piss and moan, than a constructive solution archive. It's too bad.