USB fails after reboot until re-plugged

[imported_Septimus]

Bizarre problem with a brand new Samsung 275T 27" LCD I just picked up.

It has 4 USB ports. I can plug things in to them and they all work.

Reboot the computer. None of the devices attached via the monitor work. I have to unplug the cable between the monitor and the tower and plug it in again, and then they're all fine.

This is under Vista Ultimate 32 so I'm not sure it could be a driver issue (and the monitor doesn't have a specific USB driver) but the little I've turned up about this happening to other USB hub devices suggests that it is driver related. Any tips?

Thanks,
S

 

[imported_Septimus]

Anybody? I've heard of this happening with some peripherals but I haven't been able to find much information on it.

 

[Old Hippie]

USB Man has a lotta troubleshooting info. It doesn't look like he's got anything Vista specific, but 1/2 way down the page is a USB power management guide. It may be what you're looking for.

 

[imported_Septimus]

There is some stuff there about power management in the device manager, but nothing addressing this issue. :/

 

[Old Hippie]

Just curious, what's your device manager say about, I supposed it'd be called a "USB Hub", when your machine boots? Does it recognized it? Yellow question marks? What are the differences in the device manager before and it's recognized?

 

[imported_Septimus]

It recognizes the USB hubs with no problem. If I 'refresh' or 'reset hub' from the control panel, nothing happens - I have to un-plug and re-plug the cable.

will try a different cable, but running out of stuff to do.

 

[MichaelD]

Here's what my USB stuff looks like in Device Manager. I have a 24" Dell with 4 USB ports and a Flash Media card reader. It just says "USB Root Hub."

USB.JPG

BUT, my monitor came with a driver CD, which I loaded up. I do not know if it installed any drivers for the USB hub/reader; it did not give me an option of what to install (though I'm sure you could manually browse the CD and choose) but I didn't do that...just let the installer do it's thing.

My XPSP2 install recognized everything first time up and I have no issues. I plug my videocam and my wireless KB/MS into the the monitor. I also use 3 diff USB sticks and a few SD cards...no issues.

I'll bet you didn't load the drivers.

 

[imported_Septimus]

There is no Vista-specific USB driver. The monitor came with an XP driver and I got their latest Vista driver off their web site. Said nothing about USB, though, I think it's just a monitor definition.

USB Hubs don't require special drivers in Vista unless they're special hubs of some kind, which is part of why this is confusing.

 

[MichaelD]

Better USB cable? I have an external 2.5" drive that came with a cable that's 12" long. It will not work with any other cable I own. Maybe get a better cable?

 

[humanure]

it seems to me like it's a BIOS issue since windows will recognize it after it gets plugged in. If you haven't already I'd update to the latest BIOS and chipset drivers. I would disable legacy usb support and make sure that the boot order doesn't involve a usb device (usually something like "removable"). Could also be the power management scheme in vista, if the devices are not in use vista may be turning off the power to the hub, open device manager-right click on the usb hub-properties-power management-uncheck the "allow to turn off" box as suggested by old hippie.

 

[imported_Septimus]

Update:

- Flashed the BIOS to the latest version (0703) for my P5N-E SLI board
- Replaced the USB cable (tried 2 others)
- Checked power mgmt

What happens:

- When you power on the computer, the power on all the devices comes on (the external Seagate drive in particular has a noticeable orange glow). It stays on for several seconds. The lights then go off.
- They come back on momentarily as Vista is loading, but then go off again.
- Hitting refresh/reset in device manager under the USB hubs does nothing
- All devices work beautifully once the plug has been removed and put back.

Haven't checked to new NVIDIA drivers for this motherboard, so I'll do that next, though I checked just a couple months ago. still, worth a shot. thanks for troubleshooting!

 

[Old Hippie]

Better USB cable? I have an external 2.5" drive that came with a cable that's 12" long. It will not work with any other cable I own.

Mikey, you must have one of those Magic cables. May I suggest there's a mini USB "B" with 4 or 5 connectors? If you've tried both styles with no luck, I'll go with Magic.

 

[MichaelD]

Know what? I've always known that there are two types (shapes) of mini-USB cables, but I did not know that one had 4 wires, the other 5 wires. I always wondered why the heck they had two different types of "mini USB"...always wondered "why not just have ONE mini-USB standard?" :laugh: Now I know. So that was news to me.

The cable in question is a 5-wire mini-USB, it's exactly 12" long. I tried another 5-wire mini-USB that's the standard 36" (or whatever) long and it won't work. That cable works fine with my digicam and MP3 player though.

Back On-Topic

After reading all the troubleshooting the OP has done, flashing the BiOS, etc, I'm convinced the motherboard has issues. The USB controller onboard is not efficiently communicating w/Windows. He obviously shouldn't have to unplug/replug any USB device to have it work again.

 

[imported_Septimus]

Yeah, but the thing is, I only have to do it for stuff connected to the USB monitor hub on the 275T. Any USB device plugged directly into the system works fine.

It's also only a problem from a power off to power on - rebooting is fine.

I have a USB hub lying around, I guess I could just use that. Still, seems like a pain.