USB Gamepad problem

[Avinitlarge]

I have 14 USB ports
4 X Onboard
5 X on a PCI Hub
1 X On the front of my card reader
4 X On a hub on my desk

When I connect a game pad to the onboard or Front USB I get this error USB Device Not Recognised It works fine in the other USB's. Ive tried 5 different gamepads and it still does the same. Any ideas??

[bkenobi]

Don't use that port?   

[Avinitlarge]

All the other ports are in use.

[Avinitlarge]

Ive just checked what was plugged into the 4 onboard USB's, 4 extensions with nothing on the other end. Ive just fitted another 5 port PCI USB hub and Im not gonna bother with the onboard sockets. I tried quite a few things in them and nothng seemed to work.

[u_rebelscum]

All the other ports are in use.

Power, or lack there of.  Very common USB problem.

As you found out, use powered hubs to get around the issue.

[Beretta]

could be a power problem like was suggested.. heck i've had problems before just by adding an extension.. apparently 6 feet of cable was just enough power loss to make some things not work.. and i've had some boards that wont work with some usb devices.

so ya power could be the problem.

[Avinitlarge]

It could be power, I just dont know. I did google it and it seems to be a very common problem which no one seems to beable to sort out. Im not bothered now, Ive now got 5 extra ports for connecting various gamepads, Card readers etc.

[u_rebelscum]

... heck i've had problems before just by adding an extension.. apparently 6 feet of cable was just enough power loss to make some things not work....

FWIW, about 99% of all USB extension cords are out of spec.  USB 2.0 specs forbids plain extension cords.  However, USB 2.0 allows for "one port unpowered hubs", which an on spec extension cord needs to be.  The reason USB 2.0 doesn't like raw extensions is the power & signal degradation, apparently mostly caused by the extra contact point (between the extension and the original cord), and secondly the extra length.

And yes, I use out of spec extension cords fairly regularly.  And usually they work fine.  But when a USB problem comes up, it's one of the first times I check.

[Beretta]

ah i was'nt aware of that USB 2.0 forbidden it.

actually the problems i've had was with 1.1 devices..

namely psx-usb converters & hacked xbox (original) controllers.. especially for example with rumble cranked up..

i've had some boards that could'nt support them with or without the extension.. i had this old 64mb thumb drive (usb1.1) that would'nt work on this one particular board with the extension cable.

i reckon those just end up being power issues and or weak boards.. 500ma goes pretty quick, in some cases i dont even think they was putting out that much to start.

[u_rebelscum]

ah i was'nt aware of that USB 2.0 forbidden it.

actually the problems i've had was with 1.1 devices..

Not that is matters, but 1.0 okayed extensions, 1.1 depreciated them (recommended against them), and 2.0 said they can't be used.

i reckon those just end up being power issues and or weak boards.. 500ma goes pretty quick, in some cases i dont even think they was putting out that much to start.

Yeah, probably is a power problem, but not exactly the why you're thinking.  USB devices can request up to 500mA, but most only request 100mA (most thumb drives, mice, keyboards).  100mA goes even quicker than 500mA.  Which is why "one port hub extensions" are okay. The hub makes its own request, and can request 200-500mA, and then the device make its 100mA request, and the one port hub can supply the full request even with the extra cable.  And the unpowered hub wouldn't allow the full 500mA request, since the hub+extra cable is "using" 100mA; all unpowered hubs are spec'ed* to use 100mA and only allow up to 400mA total of all devices pluggin into it.

(*again, like extension cords, this spec isn't always followed)

[severdhed]

just out of curiosity, what could you possibly have connected to your PC that you would be using 14 usb ports?

[HaRuMaN]

just out of curiosity, what could you possibly have connected to your PC that you would be using 14 usb ports?

14 LEDwiz's and 154 RGB LED's...  

[RandyT]

14 LEDwiz's and 154 RGB LED's...  

Heh, as wild as that sounds, we supplied 16 of them with unique ID's to a firm in NYC.  They used them to control lighting in a large architectural model, all of  them connected to one PC.

I was impressed too

RandyT

[ammitz]

just out of curiosity, what could you possibly have connected to your PC that you would be using 14 usb ports?

14 LEDwiz's and 154 RGB LED's...  

How much power does that drain from the PSU?

[Beretta]

well assuming 20ma per color per led, 60ma per led (peek all 3 colors at full)

9.24 amps

at 5 volt that would be = 46.2watts
at 12 volt = 110.88 watts

might be slightly off but thats ball park.

[Avinitlarge]

just out of curiosity, what could you possibly have connected to your PC that you would be using 14 usb ports?

Hmmm, Good point. Ive only got a printer, Keyboard/Mouse and the hub on my desktop connected. I guess I may have gone a little ott with the USB's