USB Network Adapter stops hard drive from booting

[a reader]

I have a Linksys Wireless _N USB Network Adapter(WUSB600N) with Dual Band
that works ok after installlation, but when I power down or restart with the
adapter plugged into USB port (or ports...I have tried two of them)then my
power light will light up on my laptop, but the hard drive will not boot
up(the light does not come on) After I press the power swtich to power down
and remove the network adapter, the laptop powers up as expected with no
further problems.

I have contacted Linksys support and they could not find problem with
driver. It may be a defective adapter, but I will have to try it with another
computer first to confirm this. Posting this message and inquiring to see if
anyone in this group thinks that there may be a issue or setting problem with
my USB controller or with registry etc.

Thanks for any assistance.

 

[smlunatick]

For what it's worth, I'm seeing similar behavior now on both my XP and Vista
machines. If something (so far a 1 TB drive on the XP machine and an optical
mouse on the Vista machine) is plugged into a USB port, the hard drives
refuse to boot.

How many "direct" (on the PC / motherboard) USB ports doest your PC
have? It must be noted that the standard USB ports are "usually"
paired into groups of two. This would then make the "paired" ports
known a USB root hub and these paired ports will "share" the power
supplied over the two ports. If a "power hungry" USB device is found
before the "second" device (on the other paired port,) there will be
less power, or no power, for the second device. Several things to
try:

1) Split "power hungry" USB device over to different paired (USB root
hub) ports

2) Try a powered external USB hub.

 

[SC Tom]

I have a Linksys Wireless _N USB Network Adapter(WUSB600N) with Dual Band
that works ok after installlation, but when I power down or restart with
the
adapter plugged into USB port (or ports...I have tried two of them)then my
power light will light up on my laptop, but the hard drive will not boot
up(the light does not come on) After I press the power swtich to power
down
and remove the network adapter, the laptop powers up as expected with no
further problems.

I have contacted Linksys support and they could not find problem with
driver. It may be a defective adapter, but I will have to try it with
another
computer first to confirm this. Posting this message and inquiring to see
if
anyone in this group thinks that there may be a issue or setting problem
with
my USB controller or with registry etc.

Thanks for any assistance.

Check your BIOS settings, boot order. If a USB device is listed before the
HDD, move it down in the order so the HDD is ahead of the USB device (and
before any floppy device- some BIOS will see a USB as a floppy drive).

SC Tom

 

[a reader]

Thanks all for your replies.

1. I tried using different groups of usb ports and still had the same
problem.

2. I checked the boot up setting and the HDD was first with removable
devices second. I put the CD drive before the removable devices and this did
not resolve the problem either. I notice the internal Realtek adpater is 4th
in line on the boot up sequence.

3. And finally...I installed the network adapter on another newer XP
laptop(Averatec) that has more ram and a faster MPU and it worked ok so it
must be something my older Toshiba laptop does not like about this power
hungry adapter. I can live with it and will "adapt" (pun intended)

Thanks again very much for your help.