USB Power Surge on Enhanced Host Controller Issue

[mwieder]

I have a USB Wireless adapter that was working fine on my desktop PC
(XP SP2) for months and recently stopped being recognized. If I
disable the Enhanced USB Host Controller, then XP recognizes the
wireless adapter correctly but it functions only at USB 1 speed. The
moment I enable the Enhanced USB Host Controller in Device Manager, I
get a 'Power Surge on USB Hub' message and the wireless USB adapter
becomes an unknown device. The wireless adapter works fine on all
other machines and I replaced the motherboard on this machine to no
avail, so it seems it is definitely a software problem with XP.
I have searched all over the web and the only suggestion I have seen
is to disable the USB2 functionality in the BIOS, bootup, and then
reboot and enable it, hoping that clears the issue; however, in my BIOS
I have no option to disable USB2 funcitonality. I do have the option
to turn of USB altogether, and did that, rebooted, etc, but it didn't
help.
Outside of reformatting my hard drive and reinstalling Windows, can
anyone suggest how to solve this issue with XP?
thanks!

 

[R. McCarty]

Without the Wireless USB NIC installed. Open Device Manager,
Click on the Enhanced Host controller. When the details box opens
click the Advanced (TAB). Check the Bandwidth used info. Since
all USB2 devices route to the single controller you may have an
overloaded Host Controller. Also check the Root Hub associated
with the Enhanced Controller, it's possible it is exceeding the power
limitation of 500 mAs. Click Power (TAB) and tally up the total
used power on the Hub.

Have you added any new USB peripherals to your PC recently ?

 

[mwieder]

Thanks for the reply; Even if I uninstall and remove the USB NIC, I
still get the 'Power Surge' message. I then checked the Bandwidth on
the Enhanced Host Controller and the only listing is System Reserved
10% so that seems fine. The Power info on the USB Hub yields a
attached device (my Microsoft USB Mouse) using 100 mA and 1 port
available, so neither of those are the problem/solution.

 

[R. McCarty]

Thanks for following up on those parameters.
Is this a commercial PC or a home-built unit ? Also, what Chipset
does your PC use. It will likely be Intel, VIA, nVidia or SIS. Which
ever one is used, I'd probably do a Chipset driver update. Also, it's
not uncommon for issues to arise after a major update (Service Pack).
You might want to check your Motherboard vendor's web site and
see if any BIOS Firmware flash updates are available. You'll want
to determine your current Firmware and then cross check the web
site and see how many revisions down from the latest your PC is.
Also examine the Readme.Txt or History of Firmware updates to see
if any specifically address USB operation.

 

[mwieder]

Hi thanks again for the reply. It is an Intel chipset and I updated to
the latest chipset drivers as well as updating the BIOS last week when
this first surfaced, but it didn't help. The PC is an HP Workstation
4100, but their tech support won't go deep into the issue with me
because they contend it is an XP issue; they shipped out a new
motherboard at my isistance, but that didn't help, so I think they are
right about it being an XP issue. There seems to be many people having
an issue with the Enhanced USB controller and the power surge issue on
the internet, but I haven't found a solution that works for me...

 

[mwieder]

bump for help...

 

[Bob I]

Bump is meaningless in a newsgroup, plus you "stripped" the original
message. Based on the subject, you have hardware problems, not software
so the motherboard manufacturer would be the place to start looking for
answers.

 

[mwieder]

What does it mean that I "stripped" the initial message? Also, I
already replaced the motherboard with a new one and it didn't help, so
it is a software issue with XP.