Some of my USB port do not work and some do

[Marcus]

When I try to connect my digital camera by using an USB cable, I face a
strange problem:

When the camera is connected to one of the USB ports on the rear panel of my
PC, the communication between the camera and the PC is OK.
But if I try to connect the camera to one of the USB ports located on the
front panel or on the keyboard, I get from my OS (Windows Vista Home Premium
64-bit) the information that I have to install drivers for the camera. When
I try to install the drivers from a CD delivered with the camera, Vista says
it cannot find any driver compatible with Windows Vista!

What is going on?

Marcus

 

[Richard G. Harper]

Sadly, many computers have a similar problem, Vista or not. The front USB
ports often cause such problems with power-hungry devices.

--
Richard G. Harper [MVP Shell/User] (e-mail address removed)
* NEW! Catch my blog ... http://msmvps.com/blogs/rgharper/
* PLEASE post all messages and replies in the newsgroups
* The Website - http://rgharper.mvps.org/
* HELP us help YOU ... http://www.dts-l.org/goodpost.htm

 

[Spirit]

Some of your ports are powered and some are not. Usually the
front ones are not. Get a Powered USB Hub and use for the
convenient powered needs.

 

[Andrew McLaren]

Sadly, many computers have a similar problem, Vista or not. The front USB
ports often cause such problems with power-hungry devices.

I agree with Richard (not surprising, he's usually right!

You might want to check your motherboard documentation, to see if the front
and rear USB ports are attached to the same USB host controller. That
doesn't immediately lead to a solution; but it might explain the behaviour
you're seeing. When you look at "the PC", all USB ports are attached to the
same PC box, runing the same OS. But when you get down to the circuit level,
you will find the front USB ports are wired quite differently to the rear
ports, they aren't identical at all.

Even if all ports on your machine are attched to the same USB Controller,
the rear ports are directly attached to the motherboard. The front USB ports
are attaached by a separate "header" cable, so the electro-mechnical
problems are quite different. This *should* be transparent to the Operating
System, but ... unfortunately this affects many systems, running many
different operating systems. "Standard" hardware just isn't as standard as
we'd like to think.

 

[Lang Murphy]

I agree with Richard (not surprising, he's usually right!

You might want to check your motherboard documentation, to see if the
front and rear USB ports are attached to the same USB host controller.
That doesn't immediately lead to a solution; but it might explain the
behaviour you're seeing. When you look at "the PC", all USB ports are
attached to the same PC box, runing the same OS. But when you get down to
the circuit level, you will find the front USB ports are wired quite
differently to the rear ports, they aren't identical at all.

Even if all ports on your machine are attched to the same USB Controller,
the rear ports are directly attached to the motherboard. The front USB
ports are attaached by a separate "header" cable, so the electro-mechnical
problems are quite different. This *should* be transparent to the
Operating System, but ... unfortunately this affects many systems, running
many different operating systems. "Standard" hardware just isn't as
standard as we'd like to think.

Andrew,

Not looking to start a "mutual admiration society" thread... (which assumes
that I have -anything- of value to add to this ng... LOL!)

I've really enjoyed reading your posts; they're spot-on technically, and are
put forth in such a manner that "...even a caveman..." could understand
them.

Good job; please keep posting!

Lang

 

[Guest]

When I have a PC with Windows XP, I have no such problem with connecting my
digital camera to the front USB port. But I even face problem with
connecting a pendrive to the front USB port on my PC running Windows Vista!

 

[Spirit]

1. The ports are configured different on different systems
2. Your pendrive may not be vista compatiable

"Usually" there are only 4 powered USB ports, and often only 2
even though you might have 8 or more.

 

[Guest]

Why Windows Vista has to be so different from XP, and cause more pains than
previous Windows? My PenDrive is working perfectly fine with XP, and not
working with Vista? Is this another monopoly stunt played by Microsoft?

 

[Marcus]

What do you mean by "Powered USB Hub"?
Powered with the current?

Marcus

 

[Spirit]

Yes some Hubs just allow for the splitting of the USB device links
while others also provide extra power available.

Bus powered Hubs add no extra power capability, Self Powered
Hubs add the ability to power devices as required from their own
power source.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USB_hub

http://www.microsoft.com/whdc/system/bus/USB/hubs.mspx