USB Hub issues.

[jelwell]

I just bought a powered USB hub to power up my 2 LCDTopguns. However I find that if I have the USB hub connected while I boot the cabinet it hangs on the BIOS screen before the IDE check. If I wait and connect the hub after windows is loaded up everything is fine. But I can't remember to do that whenever the machine boots up.

Anything I should try out before simply returning the hub?
Joseph Elwell.

[horseboy]

I don't really know the answer to your problem, but I have a little insight that might help out a bit. As you may or may not know, the led stands for the LCD Topgun are supposed to last about 1000 hours. So I decided that I was going to have a them plugged into a powered USB hub that is unplugged (actually it will probably just be a small power strip that is turned off) until it is time to use them. I just thought it might help you out because you may not even want them plugged in until it is gun-time.

[Mr Ironpants]

Horseboy has a good workaround but I was wondering if your Bios has an Enable/Disable USB Legacy or Host Controller setting.  You may be running into an issue where the USB drivers are causing issue.  Of the two settings the Legacy setting is the first one to try as that should still allow a USB Keyboard to work but in most cases it will not allow almost all other USB devices to work during boot.

The fact that it is before the IDE check makes me suspect the Bios is trying real hard to get the TopGuns to work.  So hard in fact that it is dying in the process.

[DaveMMR]

This is a shot in the dark, but I know on my CMOS Setup, I can set the boot order to boot from USB device before going to the hard drive (or any order actually).  So check your setup screen boot-device order and make sure USB is not listed - that may help (or may not, since the TopGuns are not a boot device, obviously).

[jelwell]

So if I plug the gun in directly into a USB port the computer boots up fine. But not when it's plugged in via the USB hub.

I tried various USB settings in my bios - disabling everything. Oddly enough I disabled USB keyboard and my USB keyboard still worked in the BIOS (even after a reboot). I updated my BIOS firmware as well.

As for the LED 1000 hour problem. I got all excited, today, when I figured out how to programatically disable/enable USB devices in windows. (Microsoft has a devcon program you can download to do this easily on the command line). However, sadly, disabling the device itself does not stop the device from drawing power.

I'm not comfortable with a manual solution (unplugging/replugging guns). Here are the ideas I'm currently toying with:

1) Hack the USB cable on the ONE gun (LEDS are on the stand, not the gun right?) to draw power from my ipac which has a 5volt line which can be turned on/off programatically.
2) Find a "smart" USB Hub that can be turned off programatically.

In any event the USB hub I bought needs to go.
Joseph Elwell.

[jelwell]

1) Hack the USB cable on the ONE gun (LEDS are on the stand, not the gun right?) to draw power from my ipac which has a 5volt line which can be turned on/off programatically.

This is starting to seem feasible. According to this website the USB cable is just 4 wires, 5 volt power, ground and 2 data wires. I figure I'll buy an extension cord (so i'm not cutting my guns up) and I'll try to split out the power and ground wires from the cable without disconnecting the data lines. Then I just connect the power and ground to my ipac and whammo! instant on/off light guns without having to worry about the LEDs dying out.

http://www.darkain.com/nintendo_ds/usbcable.php
Joseph Elwell.

[Silver]

I have a similar problem. However, its the connection of the hub, not the guns, that cause the problem.

 Only happened when I changed my motherboard. (incidentally what motherboard/chipset do you use?)

This seems to happen on motherboards that attempt to enumerate all attached usb devices, and falls over with my external hun. It will actually boot, but will sit at the bios screen for 5-20minutes.

[horseboy]

and falls over with my external hun

I assume the wife doesn't know about her.

[mccoy178]

I am experiencing the exact same thing with K8V SE Deluxe Motherboard.  I was able to figure out that when I have my Belkin F5U231 tetra hubs plugged in, it is stuck at the splash screen.

[jelwell]

I have an ECS Nforce3A motherboard and was using a idotconnect powered hub. I returned the hub, and instead bought 2 extension cords and one of those front side USB panels that connect to the motherboard - which gave me 2 extra USB ports, bringing my total to 6 ports:

USB Keyboard
Trackball powersupply
4 ports for LCD TopGuns

My USB Keyboard has a pass thru on it, but that port doesn't offer any voltage to connected devices.
Joseph Elwell.

[StephenH]

If not working in the hub, it may be a power issue, i.e. not enough power being supplied.  It could also be a legacy issue, because at boot up time, because the BIOS might not know what device it is, is trying to boot from it, or possibly seeing it as a mouse or keyboard of some sort erroneusly.