cancel
Showing results for 
Search instead for 
Did you mean: 

Odd USB problem

penfold
Aspiring Pro
Posts: 2,280
Thanks: 25
Fixes: 5
Registered: ‎01-08-2007

Odd USB problem

I hope you can offer some advice to an issue I am having difficulty resolving. My father has 3 USB devices, a Canon MP160 Multifunction printer, Labtec Webcam, and a wireless Keyboard and mouse, connected via a USB receiver. Just recently, with no warning, whenever he switched on his printer, the mouse and keyboard froze, the only way to get them back, was to switch off the printer, and remove and reinsert the USB receiver. They have 4 USB ports on the back, direct on the MOBO, 2 on the front, via a motherboard header, and also previously I fitted them a PCI USB2 card, as they had more USB devices at that point. The Webcam is plugged into the PCI card, and the printer and scanner into the Back Motherboard ports. Odd thing is, if we plug the printer into the PCI card, it refuses to work at all, and is not recognised, and if we use a front USB port it works fine, and the mouse does not freeze.We have tried uninstalling and reinstalling the printer to no avail, and I plugged in a PS2 mouse, and completely uninstalled all USB controllers, and let windows redetect them all.  This appeared to cure the fault, but after a couple of days it has reappeared, and again plugging the printer into a front port as been a temporary fix. I am at a loss really, and am suspecting either a power supply issue, or possibly a corrupt profile. I would appreciate any advice you could possibly give.
4 REPLIES 4
samuria
Grafter
Posts: 1,581
Thanks: 3
Registered: ‎13-04-2007

Re: Odd USB problem

It could be you are using to much power. first step is download usbdview free from
http://www.nirsoft.net/utils/usb_devices_view.html and then delete any usb you are not using as they maybe corrupt.
The card may be grabbing a shared IRQ check in the bios and set PCI to auto for all devices.
You could try logging in as a new user or create one if there isnt one and see if the problem is still there to test if the profile is corrupt.
What make is the keyboard there is  a lot of problems if you Google for these errors but a lot are specific to the make.
7up
Community Veteran
Posts: 15,824
Thanks: 1,579
Fixes: 17
Registered: ‎01-08-2007

Re: Odd USB problem

Quote from: samuria
You could try logging in as a new user or create one if there isnt one and see if the problem is still there to test if the profile is corrupt.

In honesty I suspect this won't make much difference as the usb system and drivers operate at a system level not user. Still... might be worth a try..
I need a new signature... i'm bored of the old one!
penfold
Aspiring Pro
Posts: 2,280
Thanks: 25
Fixes: 5
Registered: ‎01-08-2007

Re: Odd USB problem

Thanks Chaps....
I did wonder as samuria, about profile corruption, but not had a chance to try.  Cant understand why uninstalling USB as completely as I can, and letting windows redetect all the usb ports, and then reload the drivers didnt work. The device with the issue, a canon MP160 I think, worked perfectly for months after initial install. I did wonder about the cable but using the front USB ports, ruled that out. Will try other things, but TBH the oldies system is running at a crawl anyway, and may be in need of a good refresh and reinstall anyway.  Would rather like to solve this issue first though, hate having unsolved issues, that a reinstall fixes.......
samuria
Grafter
Posts: 1,581
Thanks: 3
Registered: ‎13-04-2007

Re: Odd USB problem

unless you used the program I suggested all you are doing is removing the usb ports not the usb devices as half of them dont normally show up if they are not plugged in were as this util shows the old ones even if they are not connected.
While the devices may be system level from each profile you can disable them hence the reason to test a dodgy profile