Problems With All USB Devices Connected to Dimension 8300

I am having a problem with virtually every USB device I have
connected to my Dell D-8300. Am not using a USB hub, and
all devices are connected directly to the available USB
ports on the back of the PC. The problems, and frequency of
the problems seems to get worse over time. Until now, it is
almost intolerable.

I have an HP USB-2 Printer (Photosmart 7960), and HP USB-1
Scanner (Scanjet 5300), a Maxtor One-Touch II USB-2 external
hard drive, a Logitech USB-2 web cam, and an ATI Remote
Wonder USB remote.

I also have three PNY Attaché flash drives, all USB-2, which
I use the front-two USB ports to connect to. Am using
Windows XP Pro-SP2, 2 GIGs RAM.

In Device Manager, there are no errors shown on the main USB
controller. But I think the controller has intermittent
problems detecting USB devices.

Here's the problems:

1. Printer - About 50% of the time I boot my PC, the
printer is not detected. I have to right-click the system
tray icon, and choose RECONNECT PRINTER, and it will
connect. BUT when printing documents or powering-off the
printer, about 25% of the time, the printer will lock up
during printing or power-off. The LED display goes
hay-wire, and you cannot turn the printer off. None of the
buttons on the printer will work. The only way to fix the
problem is to disconnect the power and USB connectors from
the back of the printer, then re-connect them. Then, the
printer resets and I can print for awhile longer until the
problem re-occurs.

2. Scanner: 100% of the time when i try to scan something,
I always get a blank scan (black screen) and the scanner
does not power up. I then have to select RE-SCAN. On the
second scan, you can hear the scanner powering up and
scanning the document, and the scan completes normally. But
IT ALWAYS TAKES TWO TRIES TO SCAN ANYTHING, REGARDLESS OF
THE SOFTWARE PROGRAM I USE TO INITIATE THE SCANNER.

3. Maxtor One-Touch II USB-2 External Hard Drive:
I use this for backing up my hard drive, and it probably the
most important USB device I have. Even though the drive is
always detected, when I try to back up my hard drive,
nothing happens. It's as if the Maxtor software DOES NOT
SEE the drive. I have to power on/off the Maxtor drive
about 3-4 times, before I can perform a backup. I called
Maxtor and they sent me a new replacement drive. I was
hoping it was just the drive. But after replacing the
drive, and un-installing/re-installing all the Maxtor
software, I'm having the exact same problems. Backups won't
run until you turn the drive on/off 3-4 times, until the
system finally detects the drive. So, I've eliminated that
this is a hard drive problem.

And when recording TV programs to the hard drive, only a few
minutes gets recorded, then the connection is lost and the
recording stops and my PC is locked up (have a new ATI AIW
X800XT 256MB video card).

4. Logitech Web Cam Quick-Cam Zoom:
In Device Manager and Control Panel/Scanners and Cameras,
this web cam shows as Logitech Quickcam Zoom #7. It shows
as #7 because whenever it isn't detected during boot-up, it
re-detects is, and adds a "number" to the end. I'm now up
to #7. This is the # of times the web cam wasn't detected,
and had to be re-detected, and each time it gets a different
name. I have other friends with Dells and the exact same
web cam, and after a year, their's still shows as Logitech
Quickcam Zoom (no numbers) after hundreds of re-boots.

New PNY 4-Gig Flash Drive:
There are two USB connectors on the front my D-8300. Just
bought this PNY Flash Drive. When I first plugged it into
the first USB port on the front, got an error that Windows
could not detect the device due to some unknown error. So,
I plugged the flash drive into the 2nd (back) connector on
the front of the Dell, and it was detected without problem.
Every time I plug it into the first one, I get an error
that Windows cannot read from the device. But it always
works fine on the 2nd connector.

I have plugged this same flash drive into 3 different USB
connectors on my laptop and it installed/worked perfectly on
all 3 USB connectors. Then, took it to my office, and it
worked perfectly on both of my USB connectors at the office
PC. It just doesn't want to work on the first (one facing
me) USB connector on my home D-8300.

IS IT THE CONTROLLER?
If it is the controller, is this built on the motherboard,
and would a replacement of the USB controller require a new
motherboard?

IS IT "SOME" OF THE USB CONNECTORS?
Can some USB connectors "go bad" after a certain amount of
time? In other words, would plugging a USB device into a
DIFFERENT USB connector make a difference? Or is it an "all
or nothing" with the available USB connectors? Meaning, if
one should work, they all should work? Has anyone had a
problem with one or more USB connectors not working, but
others working fine?

My Dell is still under it's 3-year on-site warranty. When I
called Dell tech support, I got someone in India, which I
just hate (not the Indians, but the quality of tech support
they provide). They aren't well trained, and force you to
"jump through hoops" based on, not their own knowledge and
experience, but based on "scripts" that Dell has provided
them.

They wanted me to spend 3-4 hours disconnecting and
reconnecting every USB device, reinstalling it's software,
all while remaining on the phone with them. I told them I
would call them back when I had time.

But this sounds to me like the internal USB controller is
having problems, or at a minimum, some of the USB connectors
not all working correctly.

Sorry for this long message, but wanted to provide enough
info, so that ANYONE ELSE EXPERIENCING THE SAME OR SIMILAR
ISSUES, would understand, and hopefully provide some
help/advice, BEFORE I call Dell Tech Support back and spend
3-4 hours doing all the stuff they want me to do, when in
most cases, I have already done them.

I've disconnected and reconnected every USB device a number
of time. Doesn't help. I've replaced the Maxtor drive, and
reinstalled the software, but still didn't fix the problem.

Again, many thanks to anyone for help/advice on this issue.
It would be great (but unfortunate) if someone had similar
problems to mine, and to find out how it was resolved, e.g.,
DID DELL COME OUT AND REPLACE THE MOTHERBOARD CONTAINING A
NEW USB CONTROLLER? Or was it resolved by disconnecting
every device, one-by-one, and reinstalling the software
one-by-one, for every USB device?

Thanks again.
Gary

Gary,

Some thoughts.

Check device manager first. Look for (yellow) conflicts on any devices. You
may also wish to go into BIOS and ALT+F default those settings to be sure
something hasn't been inadvertently changed.

Also, the previous poster's suggestion is a good one. This link shows the
power management settings on my USB keyboard. You'll note the grayed-out
entry for "Allow the computer to turn off this device to save power." You
want to make sure that this box is NOT checked on your devices.

http://i2.tinypic.com/oqd7ux.jpg


Run the Dell diags on the system (custom/non-interactive) after booting to
your Resource CD. You may wish to test only the USB controllers and set the
diags to run overnight in the event that function is intermittent on those
ports - perhaps this will produce an error message you can easily convey to
tech support. It's been my experience when you can do so, the discussion
ends and service or parts are dispatched since there's no disputing errors
of their own diagnostics.

I would, however, run a few FULL non-interactive loops on the entire system
FIRST to see if there are any other devices creating problems. When you do
so, be sure to load media with readable files into all optical and floppy
drives, otherwise they will fail testing.

I have the same Dim8300 and fully utilize (4) separate USB devices -
including HP printer and scanner - along with a USB key. I'm not seeing
what you're seeing. I did have a quirky problem with my HP 3670 scanner
software a few weeks back when pulling multiple photos from a folder to the
HP photo album creator (pretty CPU intensive), but I got it cleared up.

Post back if we can help.

Stew

Thank you for responding. Much appreciated. And thanks for
the tips. In Control Panel/Power, everything is set to
ALWAYS ON mode. In Device Manager, I have 5 USB Root Hub
entries with Power Management tabs. I went into every one
and removed the checkmark by "Allow Computer To Turn Off
This Device To Save Power."

I'm not sure if this will help. I mean, would the computer
power off devices immediately after you power the computer
ON? Or immediately after you power the USB device on? We'll
see. You'll note in my original post, I have to turn some
USB devices on-and-off 3-6 times before they work properly.

And nothing in the BIOS has changed, except I've always
updated to the latest BIOS version. There hasn't been a new
version in a few years for my 2-1/2 year-old model.

Anyway, I THINK I FOUND THE SOLUTION. There is a thread on
DELL TALK about someone who is having the exact same
problems with his Maxtor One Touch USB II External drive,
AND other USB devices. Others wrote in saying they were
also having the same problems.

And IT IS THE USB Controller. It may be a common problem
with 8200 and 8300 machines and Dell doesn't want to admit
it, which is why their tech support wants you to spend 3-4
hours on the phone with them running tests, before they will
replace the motherboard (and USB controller) knowing it may
not fix a problem that is possibly inherent to these models.

The solution was the person's D-8200 ran out of it's
warranty, so instead of dealing with tech support and
requesting a new motherboard/USB controller, he went and
bought a PCI card-based USB 4-port hub and plugged all his
USB devices into that. He said the EXTERNAL HARD DRIVE
WORKED PERFECTLY AND MUCH FASTER EVER SINCE, NO PROBLEMS AT
ALL. All other USB devices worked perfectly, no "flaky"
detection problems, etc.

Once he by-passed the internal USB controller on the Dell
motherboard, and used a PCI-based controller, the problems
with every USB device went away.

You can read about the problem (and solution) he
http://search.dell.com/results.aspx?...s&l=en&subcat=
Article entitled: "Disappearing Maxtor External Drive"

Since my PC is still under warranty, Dell should replace the
USB controller without my having to spend 3-4 hours on the
phone with them, running tests I have already run. They
only make you do this to discourage people from calling
them, so they won't have to spend any money sending a tech
support person to your house.

Now I have to decide whether to spend the 3-4 hours on the
phone with Dell (will have to take a half-day off work, or
cancel plans just for this tech support call which I'm
dreading, and which may not even result in getting the
problem fixed), or should I just go buy a PCI-card USB
hub/controller and plug everything in there so my USB
devices will all work properly?

DELL NEVER USED TO BE THIS WAY. Their "expert" technical
reps from the pre-India days could tell whether or not you
had a "known, documented" problem (like the one I'm having)
and they would dispatch someone without question.

And there was a certain amount of trust involved, and
whether the tech support rep could tell if you knew what you
were talking about. And they didn't force you to comply with
a "script" that came from Austin, to run test after test,
spending hours on the phone.

Those were the days when Dell was #3 or #4 in PC sales. But
it was THAT kind of service that got them to where they are
today (#1, and without a merger). Now that they are #1 in
PC sales, they are getting greedy, moving everything to
India, and refusing to provide on-site support unless the
customer "jumps through hoops" on their own time. (I did
hear Dell was building a new 1,000 employee call center in
Oklahoma City, but I think they will only provide support
for high-end models, and only during the initial
Dell-provided warranty period).

Dell can afford to pay someone from India to spend 3-4 hours
on the phone with you. But can YOU afford to spend 3-4 hours
with them, running tests you've already run a dozen times
yourself?

It's just crazy. Appreciate any comments, advice, etc.,
especially from anyone having similar problems with an 8200
or 8300 machine, or anyone who is fed up of the quality of
tech support now being provided.

I have a known, documented problem that others have
experienced. Yet Dell refuses to acknowledge that. My last
3-4 PCs have been Dells. But I'm not sure my next one will
be. I would like to buy a PC from a company who's tech
support is NOT in India or outside of the U.S..

I don't want to have to spend hours on the phone with tech
support reps who can barely speak English, who are not
"experienced" with computers, and who will force you to run
unnecessary tests for hours on end EVEN FOR KNOWN PROBLEMS,
JUST TO SAVE A FEW BUCKS WHEN BUYING MY PC. It's not worth
it in the long run. Does anyone agree (or not)?

Thanks again for the tips.
Gary
=================
S.Lewis wrote:
Gary,

Some thoughts.

Check device manager first. Look for (yellow) conflicts on any devices. You
may also wish to go into BIOS and ALT+F default those settings to be sure
something hasn't been inadvertently changed.

Also, the previous poster's suggestion is a good one. This link shows the
power management settings on my USB keyboard. You'll note the grayed-out
entry for "Allow the computer to turn off this device to save power." You
want to make sure that this box is NOT checked on your devices.

http://i2.tinypic.com/oqd7ux.jpg


Run the Dell diags on the system (custom/non-interactive) after booting to
your Resource CD. You may wish to test only the USB controllers and set the
diags to run overnight in the event that function is intermittent on those
ports - perhaps this will produce an error message you can easily convey to
tech support. It's been my experience when you can do so, the discussion
ends and service or parts are dispatched since there's no disputing errors
of their own diagnostics.

I would, however, run a few FULL non-interactive loops on the entire system
FIRST to see if there are any other devices creating problems. When you do
so, be sure to load media with readable files into all optical and floppy
drives, otherwise they will fail testing.

I have the same Dim8300 and fully utilize (4) separate USB devices -
including HP printer and scanner - along with a USB key. I'm not seeing
what you're seeing. I did have a quirky problem with my HP 3670 scanner
software a few weeks back when pulling multiple photos from a folder to the
HP photo album creator (pretty CPU intensive), but I got it cleared up.

Post back if we can help.

Stew

"gary" wrote in message
ink.net...
Thank you for responding. Much appreciated. And thanks for the tips. In
Control Panel/Power, everything is set to ALWAYS ON mode. In Device
Manager, I have 5 USB Root Hub entries with Power Management tabs. I went
into every one and removed the checkmark by "Allow Computer To Turn Off
This Device To Save Power."

I'm not sure if this will help. I mean, would the computer power off
devices immediately after you power the computer ON? Or immediately after
you power the USB device on? We'll see. You'll note in my original
post, I have to turn some USB devices on-and-off 3-6 times before they
work properly.

And nothing in the BIOS has changed, except I've always updated to the
latest BIOS version. There hasn't been a new version in a few years for my
2-1/2 year-old model.

Anyway, I THINK I FOUND THE SOLUTION. There is a thread on DELL TALK
about someone who is having the exact same problems with his Maxtor One
Touch USB II External drive, AND other USB devices. Others wrote in
saying they were also having the same problems.


(snip)


It may be the controllers on the system. Then again it might be one of the
devices.

I believe that you believe that it is the system.

A more scientific approach would be to disconnect all of the devices and add
them individually until the problem re-appeared. Or try them all
individually first.

A new motherboard shouldn't really help, but you have warranty so go for it.
Submit the request by e-mail.

I posted a link to the e-mail request page just a few days ago in this
group. Do a search.


Stew

gary wrote in
ink.net:

Now I have to decide whether to spend the 3-4 hours on the
phone with Dell (will have to take a half-day off work, or
cancel plans just for this tech support call which I'm
dreading, and which may not even result in getting the
problem fixed), or should I just go buy a PCI-card USB
hub/controller and plug everything in there so my USB
devices will all work properly?


Just to add something, have you used the Dell online chat? I used it and
it worked very well. On the keyboard you don't have to strain to
understand the tech support person. The help I received was right on the
mark. I had to have the video card replaced and a person was here to do
the install the next business day. The online chat took maybe 20 minutes
at most.

Ed

gary wrote:
I am having a problem with virtually every USB device I have connected
to my Dell D-8300. Am not using a USB hub, and all devices are
connected directly to the available USB ports on the back of the PC.
The problems, and frequency of the problems seems to get worse over
time. Until now, it is almost intolerable.

I have an HP USB-2 Printer (Photosmart 7960), and HP USB-1 Scanner
(Scanjet 5300), a Maxtor One-Touch II USB-2 external hard drive, a
Logitech USB-2 web cam, and an ATI Remote Wonder USB remote.

I also have three PNY Attaché flash drives, all USB-2, which I use the
front-two USB ports to connect to. Am using Windows XP Pro-SP2, 2 GIGs
RAM.

In Device Manager, there are no errors shown on the main USB
controller. But I think the controller has intermittent problems
detecting USB devices.

Here's the problems:

1. Printer - About 50% of the time I boot my PC, the printer is not
detected. I have to right-click the system tray icon, and choose
RECONNECT PRINTER, and it will connect. BUT when printing documents or
powering-off the printer, about 25% of the time, the printer will lock
up during printing or power-off. The LED display goes hay-wire, and you
cannot turn the printer off. None of the buttons on the printer will
work. The only way to fix the problem is to disconnect the power and
USB connectors from the back of the printer, then re-connect them.
Then, the printer resets and I can print for awhile longer until the
problem re-occurs.

2. Scanner: 100% of the time when i try to scan something, I always
get a blank scan (black screen) and the scanner does not power up. I
then have to select RE-SCAN. On the second scan, you can hear the
scanner powering up and scanning the document, and the scan completes
normally. But IT ALWAYS TAKES TWO TRIES TO SCAN ANYTHING, REGARDLESS OF
THE SOFTWARE PROGRAM I USE TO INITIATE THE SCANNER.

3. Maxtor One-Touch II USB-2 External Hard Drive:
I use this for backing up my hard drive, and it probably the most
important USB device I have. Even though the drive is always detected,
when I try to back up my hard drive, nothing happens. It's as if the
Maxtor software DOES NOT SEE the drive. I have to power on/off the
Maxtor drive about 3-4 times, before I can perform a backup. I called
Maxtor and they sent me a new replacement drive. I was hoping it was
just the drive. But after replacing the drive, and
un-installing/re-installing all the Maxtor software, I'm having the
exact same problems. Backups won't run until you turn the drive on/off
3-4 times, until the system finally detects the drive. So, I've
eliminated that this is a hard drive problem.

And when recording TV programs to the hard drive, only a few minutes
gets recorded, then the connection is lost and the recording stops and
my PC is locked up (have a new ATI AIW X800XT 256MB video card).

4. Logitech Web Cam Quick-Cam Zoom:
In Device Manager and Control Panel/Scanners and Cameras, this web cam
shows as Logitech Quickcam Zoom #7. It shows as #7 because whenever it
isn't detected during boot-up, it re-detects is, and adds a "number" to
the end. I'm now up to #7. This is the # of times the web cam wasn't
detected, and had to be re-detected, and each time it gets a different
name. I have other friends with Dells and the exact same web cam, and
after a year, their's still shows as Logitech Quickcam Zoom (no numbers)
after hundreds of re-boots.

New PNY 4-Gig Flash Drive:
There are two USB connectors on the front my D-8300. Just bought this
PNY Flash Drive. When I first plugged it into the first USB port on the
front, got an error that Windows could not detect the device due to some
unknown error. So, I plugged the flash drive into the 2nd (back)
connector on the front of the Dell, and it was detected without problem.
Every time I plug it into the first one, I get an error that Windows
cannot read from the device. But it always works fine on the 2nd
connector.

I have plugged this same flash drive into 3 different USB connectors on
my laptop and it installed/worked perfectly on all 3 USB connectors.
Then, took it to my office, and it worked perfectly on both of my USB
connectors at the office PC. It just doesn't want to work on the first
(one facing me) USB connector on my home D-8300.

IS IT THE CONTROLLER?
If it is the controller, is this built on the motherboard, and would a
replacement of the USB controller require a new motherboard?

IS IT "SOME" OF THE USB CONNECTORS?
Can some USB connectors "go bad" after a certain amount of time? In
other words, would plugging a USB device into a DIFFERENT USB connector
make a difference? Or is it an "all or nothing" with the available USB
connectors? Meaning, if one should work, they all should work? Has
anyone had a problem with one or more USB connectors not working, but
others working fine?

My Dell is still under it's 3-year on-site warranty. When I called Dell
tech support, I got someone in India, which I just hate (not the
Indians, but the quality of tech support they provide). They aren't
well trained, and force you to "jump through hoops" based on, not their
own knowledge and experience, but based on "scripts" that Dell has
provided them.

They wanted me to spend 3-4 hours disconnecting and reconnecting every
USB device, reinstalling it's software, all while remaining on the phone
with them. I told them I would call them back when I had time.

But this sounds to me like the internal USB controller is having
problems, or at a minimum, some of the USB connectors not all working
correctly.

Sorry for this long message, but wanted to provide enough info, so that
ANYONE ELSE EXPERIENCING THE SAME OR SIMILAR ISSUES, would understand,
and hopefully provide some help/advice, BEFORE I call Dell Tech Support
back and spend 3-4 hours doing all the stuff they want me to do, when in
most cases, I have already done them.

I've disconnected and reconnected every USB device a number of time.
Doesn't help. I've replaced the Maxtor drive, and reinstalled the
software, but still didn't fix the problem.

Again, many thanks to anyone for help/advice on this issue. It would be
great (but unfortunate) if someone had similar problems to mine, and to
find out how it was resolved, e.g., DID DELL COME OUT AND REPLACE THE
MOTHERBOARD CONTAINING A NEW USB CONTROLLER? Or was it resolved by
disconnecting every device, one-by-one, and reinstalling the software
one-by-one, for every USB device?

Thanks again.
Gary

Frankly, I think the problem is nothing more than inadequate power. Try
removing all but one device in sequence and see if the performance of
that device returns to normal. If single devices work, you might need
one or two externally-powered hubs to make up for the line power deficit.

Q

Thanks to all for the replies and suggestions. Much
appreciated. But now I can say: Hallelujah! Got the
problem with the external Maxtor OneTouch II drive resolved.

As mentioned, Maxtor sent me a new, replacement drive. I
totally uninstalled and reinstalled the Maxtor software, and
used a different USB port on the back of my D-8300. Exact
same problems. Drive wasn't being detected 90% of the time,
backups wouldn't work unless you re-booted and turned the
drive off/on several times, software would lock-up (forcing
a system hard-boot to resolve), repeated pop-up error
messages from Windows saying that it couldn't write to
Drive I: (the drive letter assigned to my Maxtor drive).

I still felt this was a USB Controller problem, since
everything was working fine 9 months ago, even the Maxtor
drive, and haven't changed/added any other USB devices
since. The problems with ALL THE USB DEVICES started about
6 months ago, and over time increased with frequency until
recently they became intolerable.

RESOLUTION:
My Maxtor drive has both USB and 1394 Firewire connections.
I discovered my Soundblaster Audigy 2-ZS card has a 1394
Firewire port on it. Check your sound card, to see if it
has a firewire port on it. If so, there's no need to buy a
firewire PCI card/hub, which like any other PCI card, will
draw a little more power from the system. But I have no
idea how much more power any PCI card (whether firewire or
USB hub) will actually draw.

I also bought a PCI card 4-port USB-2 hub (Belkin). So I
could either try the Firewire connection (getting the Maxtor
external drive OFF THE DELL USB CONTROLLER, -OR- try the
FIREWIRE option. Knowing that inserting ANY PCI card would
draw more power from the system (not sure how much more, but
my ATI All-In-Wonder X800-XT graphics card recommends a
300-watt power supply, 350-watt if you have a lot of PCI
card in your system (I only have 2 PCI cards, the sound/NIC
card, then the AGP graphics).

Knowing the ATI graphics card is pulling a lot of power
anyway, I decided to try the FIREWIRE option. All I did was
re-connect the Maxtor to the Dell via FIREWIRE vs. USB, AND
PROBLEMS WITH THE MAXTOR EXTERNAL DRIVE WERE RESOLVED.

Before posting this message, I waited until I had done 4
backups, deleted backups, and ran some disk-intensive
programs (DVD editing) on the Maxtor Drive. All worked
perfectly (KNOCK ON WOOD). No need to re-boot.

But the coolest thing is how much faster the Maxtor drive
is. The old transfer rate under USB was 300 MB/Minute.
After the Firewire backups, I'm getting 800 MB/Minute.
Backups that used to take hours, now take 30-40 minutes.
TOTALLY AWESOME. And USB-2 is theoretically faster, with a
top speed of 480 MBps, whereas 1394 Firewire is 400 MBps.

And the drive used to "grunt and grind" all the time. Now,
I barely hear it during most accesses.

So now I'm convinced there is a continually worsening
problem with my Dell D-8300's USB controller, with
intermittent communication errors, slowing down or stopping
devices intermittently and with increasing frequency, etc.

On the Dell Talk article I mentioned in a previous post,
that person solved his problem by installing a PCI card USB
hub. He reported the same improvements, including in
speed/performance of his Maxtor OneTouch II drive.

My next step is to install the PCI card-USB hub. But I want
to give the Maxtor external drive another week or two, to
make sure it's OK. Once I've installed the PCI USB hub, and
connected the devices, I'll post back here.

My Dell on-site warranty is good until August, so have a
little bit of time to validate my suspicions before calling
Dell back.

I can't tell you how relieved I am to FINALLY have that
Maxtor drive working normally.

Gary
=================
Quaoar wrote:

gary wrote:

I am having a problem with virtually every USB device I have connected
to my Dell D-8300. Am not using a USB hub, and all devices are
connected directly to the available USB ports on the back of the PC.
The problems, and frequency of the problems seems to get worse over
time. Until now, it is almost intolerable.

I have an HP USB-2 Printer (Photosmart 7960), and HP USB-1 Scanner
(Scanjet 5300), a Maxtor One-Touch II USB-2 external hard drive, a
Logitech USB-2 web cam, and an ATI Remote Wonder USB remote.

I also have three PNY Attaché flash drives, all USB-2, which I use the
front-two USB ports to connect to. Am using Windows XP Pro-SP2, 2
GIGs RAM.

In Device Manager, there are no errors shown on the main USB
controller. But I think the controller has intermittent problems
detecting USB devices.

Here's the problems:

1. Printer - About 50% of the time I boot my PC, the printer is not
detected. I have to right-click the system tray icon, and choose
RECONNECT PRINTER, and it will connect. BUT when printing documents
or powering-off the printer, about 25% of the time, the printer will
lock up during printing or power-off. The LED display goes hay-wire,
and you cannot turn the printer off. None of the buttons on the
printer will work. The only way to fix the problem is to disconnect
the power and USB connectors from the back of the printer, then
re-connect them. Then, the printer resets and I can print for awhile
longer until the problem re-occurs.

2. Scanner: 100% of the time when i try to scan something, I always
get a blank scan (black screen) and the scanner does not power up. I
then have to select RE-SCAN. On the second scan, you can hear the
scanner powering up and scanning the document, and the scan completes
normally. But IT ALWAYS TAKES TWO TRIES TO SCAN ANYTHING, REGARDLESS
OF THE SOFTWARE PROGRAM I USE TO INITIATE THE SCANNER.

3. Maxtor One-Touch II USB-2 External Hard Drive:
I use this for backing up my hard drive, and it probably the most
important USB device I have. Even though the drive is always
detected, when I try to back up my hard drive, nothing happens. It's
as if the Maxtor software DOES NOT SEE the drive. I have to power
on/off the Maxtor drive about 3-4 times, before I can perform a
backup. I called Maxtor and they sent me a new replacement drive. I
was hoping it was just the drive. But after replacing the drive, and
un-installing/re-installing all the Maxtor software, I'm having the
exact same problems. Backups won't run until you turn the drive
on/off 3-4 times, until the system finally detects the drive. So,
I've eliminated that this is a hard drive problem.

And when recording TV programs to the hard drive, only a few minutes
gets recorded, then the connection is lost and the recording stops and
my PC is locked up (have a new ATI AIW X800XT 256MB video card).

4. Logitech Web Cam Quick-Cam Zoom:
In Device Manager and Control Panel/Scanners and Cameras, this web cam
shows as Logitech Quickcam Zoom #7. It shows as #7 because whenever
it isn't detected during boot-up, it re-detects is, and adds a
"number" to the end. I'm now up to #7. This is the # of times the
web cam wasn't detected, and had to be re-detected, and each time it
gets a different name. I have other friends with Dells and the exact
same web cam, and after a year, their's still shows as Logitech
Quickcam Zoom (no numbers) after hundreds of re-boots.

New PNY 4-Gig Flash Drive:
There are two USB connectors on the front my D-8300. Just bought this
PNY Flash Drive. When I first plugged it into the first USB port on
the front, got an error that Windows could not detect the device due
to some unknown error. So, I plugged the flash drive into the 2nd
(back) connector on the front of the Dell, and it was detected without
problem. Every time I plug it into the first one, I get an error that
Windows cannot read from the device. But it always works fine on the
2nd connector.

I have plugged this same flash drive into 3 different USB connectors
on my laptop and it installed/worked perfectly on all 3 USB
connectors. Then, took it to my office, and it worked perfectly on
both of my USB connectors at the office PC. It just doesn't want to
work on the first (one facing me) USB connector on my home D-8300.

IS IT THE CONTROLLER?
If it is the controller, is this built on the motherboard, and would a
replacement of the USB controller require a new motherboard?

IS IT "SOME" OF THE USB CONNECTORS?
Can some USB connectors "go bad" after a certain amount of time? In
other words, would plugging a USB device into a DIFFERENT USB
connector make a difference? Or is it an "all or nothing" with the
available USB connectors? Meaning, if one should work, they all should
work? Has anyone had a problem with one or more USB connectors not
working, but others working fine?

My Dell is still under it's 3-year on-site warranty. When I called
Dell tech support, I got someone in India, which I just hate (not the
Indians, but the quality of tech support they provide). They aren't
well trained, and force you to "jump through hoops" based on, not
their own knowledge and experience, but based on "scripts" that Dell
has provided them.

They wanted me to spend 3-4 hours disconnecting and reconnecting every
USB device, reinstalling it's software, all while remaining on the
phone with them. I told them I would call them back when I had time.

But this sounds to me like the internal USB controller is having
problems, or at a minimum, some of the USB connectors not all working
correctly.

Sorry for this long message, but wanted to provide enough info, so
that ANYONE ELSE EXPERIENCING THE SAME OR SIMILAR ISSUES, would
understand, and hopefully provide some help/advice, BEFORE I call Dell
Tech Support back and spend 3-4 hours doing all the stuff they want me
to do, when in most cases, I have already done them.

I've disconnected and reconnected every USB device a number of time.
Doesn't help. I've replaced the Maxtor drive, and reinstalled the
software, but still didn't fix the problem.

Again, many thanks to anyone for help/advice on this issue. It would
be great (but unfortunate) if someone had similar problems to mine,
and to find out how it was resolved, e.g., DID DELL COME OUT AND
REPLACE THE MOTHERBOARD CONTAINING A NEW USB CONTROLLER? Or was it
resolved by disconnecting every device, one-by-one, and reinstalling
the software one-by-one, for every USB device?

Thanks again.
Gary


Frankly, I think the problem is nothing more than inadequate power. Try
removing all but one device in sequence and see if the performance of
that device returns to normal. If single devices work, you might need
one or two externally-powered hubs to make up for the line power deficit.

Q

"gary" wrote in message
. net...
Thanks to all for the replies and suggestions. Much appreciated. But now
I can say: Hallelujah! Got the problem with the external Maxtor OneTouch
II drive resolved.

that device returns to normal. If single devices work, you might need
one or two externally-powered hubs to make up for the line power deficit.

Q


(snip)

Glad you got the problem solved. Sorry to see that you still consider the
USB controllers to be the problem, especially given all of your devices.

Mystery to me that you weren't aware that your Audigy card and Maxtor
external drive had 1394 capes and why you hadn't tried this sooner.

Your Maxtor drive malfunction has so many freakin' variables that it
could've been caused by adding or changing any/many things.


Glad to see that once again, the user isn't at fault, the assorted devices
and their accompanying softwares are blameless, and that your machine still
stinks.

If you still want to dump it, I'm sure someone would be glad to have it.

My Dim8300 runs flawlessly.

I, for one, am glad to see this thread die. It's a perfect example of
poor-troubleshooting with a pre-conceived conclusion as I've seen as a
while.


Enjoy!

Stew