[s-p]

Hi

I've recently acquired a spare pc running xp pro. It's got 2 usb ports, and if i plug any usb device into these, the computer freezes entirely, every time, instantly.

We really need to be able to use usb pen drives with the machine, and we've found that only one particular pen drive can be used without a freeze, if it is inserted prior to boot-up. This doesn't work with any other usb device, and its a bit of pain having to turn the machine off just to transfer a couple of files across.

I can't get the exact spec of the pc at the moment (holidays), all i know is it's windows xp pro, and running on an intel 533mhz.
I just wondered if you guys have seen this problem before, and know of some kind of fix.

Any help appreciated,

sp

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any ideas?

sp

[s-p]

any ideas?

sp

[paddyt]

Hi,

Is it any USB device at all (what have you tried?) try and establish if you plug a device into the usb port that doesn't take it's power from the usb bus whether this freezes the system. Also check the error log and see if a service is starting that's causing the problem.

Paddy

[s-p]

Yes perhaps 'any usb device' is exaggerating. I've tried a plain usb pen drive, a usb mp3 player, a usb mouse and one other pen drive.

All of these take power I think, well the mp3 player charges from the usb lol. After the holidays (i.e. Monday) I'll try something else, a Sony digital camera won't take power will it?

I'll check the error log as well, how do I get to it?

Thanks,
sp

[gtippery]

I'd try booting to safe mode, removing any USB port, hub, and device drivers, and rebooting to force Windows to re-detect the USB port & hub and reload the drivers. You might also need to check with the manufacturer of the computer to see if there are any custom or updated drivers. If that doesn't do it, and it's not a 'services' issue as paddyt mentioned, I'd consider the next most likely thing to be a hardware problem with the port.

[paddyt]

Hi s-p,

A camera shouldn't take power from the bus, so this should be good. gtippery suggestion is also good, but it's worth trying to see if it's a power issue before reinstalling the controller.

Paddy

[macten]

If you still can't resolve it, what about buying a 4 port usb card (pci) and installing it...

[s-p]

Yeah I've got one spare I'll take in on Monday and try, if needs be.

sp

[s-p]

Tried reinstalling usb controller, didnt make any difference. Tried digital camera, still froze. Put a spare USB PCI card in now, works fine.

cheers
sp