WinXP doesn't like USB hub

[Guest]

Hi!

At home, I very recently started using an externally powered Hewlett Packard
USB hub because my laptop only has three USB ports and due to having just got
a Hewlett Packard scanner that connects by USB, I have four USB connected
devices.

The problem is that if I try to start up with the USB hub plugged into a
port, my laptop will only go to just past where the Windows logo is shown on
the screen just above that animated bar, a point at which a black screen
shows and it won't go no further. When I force a total shutdown, wait a bit
and restart, I get a message saying that Windows would not start normrally,
says something about "may be because of new software" and gives me a few of
the startup options that one sees when pressing F8 on startup. I unplug the
USB port and Windows starts just fine, I plug the hub in and both it and
Windows behaves as it should.

What might be causing this problem and how do I fix it so Windows starts
just fine with the hub plugges in, just like it does when starting with my
keyboard, mouse and external hard drive already plugged in?

While I'm at it, anytime I plug my external HD in when Windows is already
started, whether it's directly, through the hub or there was a momentary
power failure, I get this "autoplay" window that appears to be scanning
through the files on my external HD. I shut it off by hitting the "cancel"
button and preceed normrally, but would like to know if there's a way to keep
it from coming up at all.

Finally, for those who may be wondering, I have a USB mouse because to me
it's so much better than the built in touchpad, an external hard drive for
storage space (my mp3 collection alone is 15G with a LOT more on the way) and
I got the keyboard when some keys on my old laptop quit working and kept
using it with my new laptop because of the extra buttons the allows me to
quickly open the programs I use most.

Thanx in advance

 

[Alan C]

I have a similar problem with an external USB hard disk - I have to unplug
it before starting windows, then plug in after full boot. I can't find out
why either.

No help, I know, but hopefully someone will point us both in the right
direction.

"Cloudchaser the Red Wolf furry"

 

[R. McCarty]

The notebook may be set to use USB Legacy mode. This attempts to
initialize/load the USB peripherals before XP boots to it's GUI. On a
notebook you're limited by USB ports and adding an extension hub is
actually increasing the load on the internal controllers/hubs. On many
notebooks with minimal USB sockets I add a PCCard expansion 2.0
card. This adds an additional controller instead of loading down the
internal one with more downstream devices.

You can control AutoPlay with the XP PowerToy, Tweak-UI.


"Cloudchaser the Red Wolf furry"

 

[Noncompliant]

Although I don't have problem with these powered-up during windows XP
bootup, I don't turn them on until after XP is fully done booting, scsi
scanner and firewire hard drive. I use a device that slides under the PC
monitor. Has power switches for turning on the devices. The devices plug
into this thing. I leave the devices powered on at their mutual on/off
switches on the devices themselves. Probably not appropriate for a laptop,
but thought I'd throw it out there.

--
Noncompliant

Money don't wag the dog's tail.

"Cloudchaser the Red Wolf furry"

 

[Guest]

You can control AutoPlay with the XP PowerToy, Tweak-UI.

I tried that, making sure that both boxes in My
Computer/Autoplay/Types/Autoplay Drive Types was unchecked. Then in My
Computer/Autoplay, reading where it said "To customize autoplay settings,
open My Computer, right click the drive you want to customize, select
properties, then Autoplay" I did that, changed the content type to Mixed
Content (don't know why it was set on Music), selected Take No Action as the
action to perform, hit Apply, then OK. When I got home, I waited for Windows
to fully start, then plugged in the external HD.

The Autostart started running. I went into Tweak UI and both boxes were
still unchecked. I went into My Computer, looked in the external HD's
properties/Autoplay and found that Content Type was set back to Music Files
even though I didn't tell it to do that. Actions was still set to "select an
action to perform. I reset Content Type to mixed, then hit Apply & OK.

When checking to make sure I had my info right just before sending this
message, the external HD's properties/Autoplay/Content Type was set back to
Music again!

Am I missing something?