USB error when external drive connected at boot

[Nick Payne]

I have WinXP Pro SP1 installed in a system with an Asus P4P800 motherboard,
booting off an internal 120Gb SATA disk. Amongst other USB devices, I have
an external Maxtor USB 2 hard drive that I use as a backup device for our
various PCs in the house. If I boot the machine with the Maxtor drive
plugged in, and have a look under Universal Serial Bus controllers in Device
Manager after logging in, then it shows Generic USB hub and USB Mass Storage
Device both with yellow question marks against them, and the external drive
can't be seen or accessed. Nor can the USB scanner that is attached to the
PC. Other USB devices (mouse, printer, media reader for digital camera,
external DVD rewriter) continue to work fine.

If I boot without the external Maxtor drive attached, and plug it in once
the machine has booted, then there are no errors shown at all in Device
Manager and both the Maxtor drive and scanner (an Epson 2450) function
correctly.

Any ideas on why the error only happens if the drive is attached during
boot? If I go into BIOS setup at boot with the drive attached, and have a
look at the USB configuration, the BIOS shows me the drive correctly, so
there doesn't seem to be a hardware problem.

Nick

 

[RICHARD MARSHALL]

Hello,

If your Bios has USB settings for legacy and high speed vs. fast speed, etc.
trying changing them to the various settings, i.e..e. that is all possible
combinations and see if that works.

Also in device manager when you boot with external device plugged in, you
may have to change some of the resources for the devices that show yellow.
You could also be exceeding the power requirements for USB. if ALL your
devices are using power from the internal USB bus. You could also be
exceeding bandwidth for your devices. Look on the tabs for the USB devices
in Device Manager.

Why then does it work after booting. I can think of some possibilities. At
boot the PC is looking at all USB ports and configuring them, after boot it
adds to existing config. Two, all devices after boot are not functioning at
full power simultaneously. Internal USB is not intended to power many HIGH
powered deices at once.

You may need to purchase a powered USB hub and connect some of your
devices,e.g, scanner and harddrive to it. The hub would plug into a USB
port but supply its' own power.

Rich

 

[Nick Payne]

Thanks. I already had a powered USB 2 hub attached, and when I plug the
drive through that I no longer get the error if it is connected at boot.

Nick