• Finding and losing USB storage devices

    From Steve Hayes@21:1/5 to All on Mon Jul 11 14:43:07 2022
    XPost: microsoft.public.windowsxp.general

    I'm running Windows XP Professional (Service Pack 3), and my computer
    is frequently losing contact with USB storage devices.

    Keyboard and mouse work OK in the same slot, but if I plug in a USB
    flash drive or external hard drive, or even a printer it often doesn\t
    work, and reports that the storage device is not found, or that the
    printer is offline.

    Is there any way of remedying this, short of getting a new
    motherboard?


    --
    Steve Hayes from Tshwane, South Africa
    Web: http://www.khanya.org.za/stevesig.htm
    Blog: http://khanya.wordpress.com
    E-mail - see web page, or parse: shayes at dunelm full stop org full stop uk

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Paul@21:1/5 to Steve Hayes on Mon Jul 11 10:12:07 2022
    XPost: microsoft.public.windowsxp.general

    On 7/11/2022 8:43 AM, Steve Hayes wrote:
    I'm running Windows XP Professional (Service Pack 3), and my computer
    is frequently losing contact with USB storage devices.

    Keyboard and mouse work OK in the same slot, but if I plug in a USB
    flash drive or external hard drive, or even a printer it often doesn\t
    work, and reports that the storage device is not found, or that the
    printer is offline.

    Is there any way of remedying this, short of getting a new
    motherboard?

    The motherboard may have expansion slots.

    You can get various kinds of plugin cards, to
    take the place of blown motherboard ports.

    On WinXP, a plugin USB2 card needs no driver.
    There are class drivers for USB2.

    For USB3, I would recommend a card with a
    NEC/Renesas chip on it, as it's one of the few
    to have WinXP drivers. The XHCI driver must be
    on the CD in the box, for a USB3 to work there.
    Some Asmedia products, may mention Win7 minimum.

    Paul

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Carl@WhoCares.net@21:1/5 to hayesstw@telkomsa.net on Mon Jul 11 13:57:48 2022
    XPost: microsoft.public.windowsxp.general

    On Mon, 11 Jul 2022 14:43:07 +0200, Steve Hayes
    <hayesstw@telkomsa.net> wrote:

    I'm running Windows XP Professional (Service Pack 3), and my computer
    is frequently losing contact with USB storage devices.

    Keyboard and mouse work OK in the same slot, but if I plug in a USB
    flash drive or external hard drive, or even a printer it often doesn\t
    work, and reports that the storage device is not found, or that the
    printer is offline.

    Is there any way of remedying this, short of getting a new
    motherboard?

    Don't feel like the Lone Ranger. I have the same setup with the same
    recurring problem.

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Paul@21:1/5 to Carl@WhoCares.net on Mon Jul 11 16:39:46 2022
    XPost: microsoft.public.windowsxp.general

    On 7/11/2022 2:57 PM, Carl@WhoCares.net wrote:
    On Mon, 11 Jul 2022 14:43:07 +0200, Steve Hayes
    <hayesstw@telkomsa.net> wrote:

    I'm running Windows XP Professional (Service Pack 3), and my computer
    is frequently losing contact with USB storage devices.

    Keyboard and mouse work OK in the same slot, but if I plug in a USB
    flash drive or external hard drive, or even a printer it often doesn\t
    work, and reports that the storage device is not found, or that the
    printer is offline.

    Is there any way of remedying this, short of getting a new
    motherboard?

    Don't feel like the Lone Ranger. I have the same setup with the same recurring problem.


    You should check your RAM, every year to year and a half,
    for correct operation. I had two sets of RAM go bad on
    the WinXP machine.

    (Standalone test media, current OS is not a factor)

    https://memtest.org/

    There was one motherboard, which accepted 0 to 8192MB of
    RAM, and if you installed exactly 4096MB (2x2GB), the
    "USB Overcurrent" would put a notification on the screen,
    even though LEDs on the USB devices remained properly lit.
    This was an address map bug in the BIOS.

    Check google for the history of your motherboard/chipset,
    to see if that may be a factor.

    The ICH5 seemed to have a USB latchup problem. If the
    USB Power contacts on the ICH5 were involved, it would
    burn a hole right in the chip (system = dead). But
    other failure modes would give lesser USB symptoms.
    The ICH5 should be heatsink-free, so the label can be read.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I/O_Controller_Hub#ICH5

    82801EB (ICH5) Base
    82801ER (ICH5R) RAID

    I had a board with ICH5R, and it's dead. It died between
    one interval of usage, and a couple years later, attempting
    to boot it. PSU was OK. Mobo was not. Not an overclocked system.
    USB port behavior was "normal". It seemed to be a Southbridge
    issue, but... no burn mark.

    Paul

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Carl@WhoCares.net@21:1/5 to All on Mon Jul 11 17:28:21 2022
    XPost: microsoft.public.windowsxp.general

    On Mon, 11 Jul 2022 16:39:46 -0400, Paul <nospam@needed.invalid>
    wrote:

    On 7/11/2022 2:57 PM, Carl@WhoCares.net wrote:
    On Mon, 11 Jul 2022 14:43:07 +0200, Steve Hayes
    <hayesstw@telkomsa.net> wrote:

    I'm running Windows XP Professional (Service Pack 3), and my computer
    is frequently losing contact with USB storage devices.

    Keyboard and mouse work OK in the same slot, but if I plug in a USB
    flash drive or external hard drive, or even a printer it often doesn\t
    work, and reports that the storage device is not found, or that the
    printer is offline.

    Is there any way of remedying this, short of getting a new
    motherboard?

    Don't feel like the Lone Ranger. I have the same setup with the same
    recurring problem.


    You should check your RAM, every year to year and a half,
    for correct operation. I had two sets of RAM go bad on
    the WinXP machine.

    (Standalone test media, current OS is not a factor)

    https://memtest.org/

    There was one motherboard, which accepted 0 to 8192MB of
    RAM, and if you installed exactly 4096MB (2x2GB), the
    "USB Overcurrent" would put a notification on the screen,
    even though LEDs on the USB devices remained properly lit.
    This was an address map bug in the BIOS.

    Check google for the history of your motherboard/chipset,
    to see if that may be a factor.

    The ICH5 seemed to have a USB latchup problem. If the
    USB Power contacts on the ICH5 were involved, it would
    burn a hole right in the chip (system = dead). But
    other failure modes would give lesser USB symptoms.
    The ICH5 should be heatsink-free, so the label can be read.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I/O_Controller_Hub#ICH5

    82801EB (ICH5) Base
    82801ER (ICH5R) RAID

    I had a board with ICH5R, and it's dead. It died between
    one interval of usage, and a couple years later, attempting
    to boot it. PSU was OK. Mobo was not. Not an overclocked system.
    USB port behavior was "normal". It seemed to be a Southbridge
    issue, but... no burn mark.

    Paul

    I'm a comp "user", not a comp "fixer". I don't much give a hoot
    what's causing a problem. If I can't work around it - or live with
    it, I take it to my local comp shop a few blocks down. A day or two
    and a C-Note or two later and the comp works again.

    "Machines" were made for users. "Fixers" fix 'em for users. The two
    are separate worlds as far as I'm concerned.

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Steve Hayes@21:1/5 to All on Tue Jul 12 09:07:17 2022
    XPost: microsoft.public.windowsxp.general

    On Mon, 11 Jul 2022 10:12:07 -0400, Paul <nospam@needed.invalid>
    wrote:

    Is there any way of remedying this, short of getting a new
    motherboard?

    The motherboard may have expansion slots.

    You can get various kinds of plugin cards, to
    take the place of blown motherboard ports.

    On WinXP, a plugin USB2 card needs no driver.
    There are class drivers for USB2.

    Thanks very much -- will look into that.


    --
    Steve Hayes from Tshwane, South Africa
    Web: http://www.khanya.org.za/stevesig.htm
    Blog: http://khanya.wordpress.com
    E-mail - see web page, or parse: shayes at dunelm full stop org full stop uk

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)