Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Bunnymonster]

I'm having a frustrating morning as my USB ports are 'resetting' basically as if the device has been unplugged and re-attached. This wouldn't be a huge problem apart from the fact that my DVD burner is in a USB housing and has made 3-4 coasters this morning when the port has 'reset' during a burn cycle. Anyone know why the ports are doing this and if so how to stop it? I have been having heat problems recently and wonder if this could be something to do with it.
Oh I'm running XP pro SP2 in English, legit and fully patched. My motherboard is a custom shuttle board with the Nvidia chipset.

[SuperHero]

How long has it been since you re-installed windows? You might have reached the point where things get funky and the only way to fix them is to get a fresh install.

You may also want to look at any programs you've installed recently that could be causeing driver conflicts. If possible try going to a recent restore point and see if that fixes your problem.

[Demophobe]

Sounds like it might be a power thing. When you say "reset", do you mean suspending the port, then resuming again after a short while? This may be that the device is drawing more power than the port can deliver, at which point the port will be held in limbo "suspended" for a certain amount of time, then it will resume.

Check the "Power" tab in USB Root Hub properties to check the power usage of the USB bus.

Do you have to reboot to get the port functioning again? How old is your burning device? Is there a firmware upgrade for it?

Do you let the computer go into screensaver mode while burning? If so, check the general power setup and be sure that "hibernation" is disabled. You may want to try setting all power functions to "never" for shutoff options, and change the screensaver lenght to roughly match the burning time so it won't kick in during the burn.

In other words, try writing a DVD with no interuptions at all...or have you?

[jazblanc77]

You need to give a little more information here if anyone is to help you.

Are you running a laptop or a desktop? Which devices are you using? What is the exact behaviour of your computer while you are having problems? Are there any error messages?

USB 2.0 functionalities are connected to your cpu. However, I think that if your overheating had damaged your cpu, you would be seeing a lot more problems than just with burning DVDs. This being said, overheating is one of the major computer killers. Even if the overheating is not related to this problem, you should go out and get a new, or extra, fan (if you have a desktop), or a cooling pad (if you have a laptop). Korean summers, with the heat and humidity, make supplemental cooling devices ESSENTIAL.

If you are having power problems, you will know it. My laptop chipset doesn't support USB 2.0 so I run a pcmcia usb2.0 cardbus into a spare port. Now, if one device draws too much power, upon plugging it in, my computer will hard crash. I remedy this problem by running AC power into the actual pcmcia card through the adapter plug which is standard on most cardbuses. If you are on a laptop and NOT plugging into a cardbus, I think there is a way to plug in another poser source to a serial port... don't quote me on this. With desktops, you just need to add another power source and I am pretty sure that Demo is THE man to talk to about this.

There is one other thing that I am wondering and that is whether this is a problem with your plug n play settings, autorun to be specific. If your device is not starting up properly, for whatever reason, you may run a program called Autofix.exe. It is available for download at www.microsoft.com. Try running this diagnostic and, if there is a problem with your autorun, this will fix it.

[jazblanc77]

So, did this problem remedy itself?

[Bunnymonster]

yeah, dunno why, I think it was part of the general too hot problems. Got the case open and a nice 14" cooling fan on the system and it seems much happier.
Thanks for the advice.
P