USB devices dropping, stuttering, etc

[Toadie]

I'm sort of puzzled right now, maybe some of you have seen this?

I load up, run Hyperspin, and one of three things happen:

1.  Everything works perfect
2.  The FE will go into attract mode and for some reason my keyboard can't interrupt it.  Almost like the USB keyboard isn't working but the status lights function on and off.
3.  A game will start and either the USB joysticks or buttons will stop working, or come in and out.

Is there a problem with my USB bus or is it not fast enough or 

[RandyT]

Go into the gaming controls panel and make sure your controls are working there, and use notepad to verify the keyboard is doing what it should.  If it all checks out, there's some kind of software problem.

The general rule is to always check at the desktop to rule out hardware issues and take it from there.

[Toadie]

Yeah, I did that and everything seems to be working fine.

Joysticks work in the game control panel
Buttons type out keys on notepad

It's literally like someone is unplugging and plugging the device back in but across multiple devices.  In the background I can hear that "device recognized" beep.  When I exit HS the balloon message is that a USB device malfunctioned.

oh so close lol

[RandyT]

Yeah, I did that and everything seems to be working fine.

Joysticks work in the game control panel
Buttons type out keys on notepad

It's literally like someone is unplugging and plugging the device back in but across multiple devices.  In the background I can hear that "device recognized" beep.  When I exit HS the balloon message is that a USB device malfunctioned.

oh so close lol

Ok, then the first thing I would ask at this point is how many and what type of devices you have on that particular USB port, and whether the FE activates any of them which are not active at the desktop.  In particular, any lighting controllers or similar devices which start pulling more current when activated by the FE.

[Toadie]

Well I think it's all the same bus so I don't think the order matters but if it does let me know and I can tell you exact ports.  Here's all of them

Keyboard - plugged into the CPU
Mouse - Plugged into the keyboard - never seems to have an issue
LEDWIZ
2P iPac
Joystick 1 - ultrimarc 360
Joystick 2 - ultirmard 360
Trackball
Turbo Twist Spinner
External Harddrive - never seems to have an issue


One thought I had and I'm not sure if it holds any water is would rapid button fire going through the iPac flood or confuse the USB communications?

[RandyT]

If all of this is on the same physical port, and you are powering LED's from the USB port, which are active in the attract mode for the FE, then there's very likely too much power being pulled from USB port.  This can certainly cause the issues you are seeing.

The remedy is to distribute the devices between multiple physical ports (keeping in mind that each physical port can have two or more connectors), use a powered hub, and/or power your LEDs directly from a power supply instead of the USB power.

[Toadie]

well technically they are all physically plugged into separate ports but maybe I'm misunderstanding?  There are a total of I think 8 USB ports on the CPU.  You may have a point though on the power draw.  I have a separate 5V from a power supply going to a terminal block powering all the LED's but whatever power the LEDWiz needs is coming from the USB connection.  A powered hub might be the way to go.  I suppose if that's the case I could also test the theory by unplugging some of the devices?

[RandyT]

well technically they are all physically plugged into separate ports but maybe I'm misunderstanding?  There are a total of I think 8 USB ports on the CPU.  You may have a point though on the power draw.  I have a separate 5V from a power supply going to a terminal block powering all the LED's but whatever power the LEDWiz needs is coming from the USB connection.  A powered hub might be the way to go.  I suppose if that's the case I could also test the theory by unplugging some of the devices?

That should take the LEDs out of the equation, but the total of the USB devices could be more than the port can supply.  Unplugging a couple of devices would be a very good way to determine if that is the issue.