USB Devices hang after certain period

After working a certain period (30min-hour) my usb keyboard and external
harddisk will suddenly hang and stop functioning. Replugging them will not
make any difference, they will only start functioning again after a reboot.
The weird thing is: my usb mouse does continue to function.

The keyboard and harddisk worked perfectly on my old laptop and also still
do on a other computer I tried them on.
Both devices are selfpowered so I don't think the problem lies with draining
to much power from the usb-ports.

I'm running windows vista, keyboard is a Logitech Alto and the Hard Disk is
a Philips 160Gb

Helpdesks of Logitech and Dell had no idea what the problem was, so I hope
anybody here knows.

This is John at Dell headquarters.

Just was wondering what was tried. Have you tried to swap the USB
devices to different ports to see if the failure follow the devices or
the ports? If not, I would recommend this, first by flipping the
keyboard and mouse ports to see if the failure occurs on the mouse
instead of the keyboard, etc. If the failure stays with the port and not
the device, you may be looking at a problem with the USB controller.

Another thing I would try is removing the external drive for a time to
see if that resolves the issue. The drive *may* be causing the problem
for some weird reason.

If you need any help with this, let me know. I'll be monitoring this
thread for a little while.


--
DellCA

Hi John,

I've tried both things you suggested (swapping ports and disconnecting
external drive). They both didn't help. Without the hard drive the ports
would still hang and swapping ports would not activate them again.
Reinstalling all my drivers has reduced the problem a bit, but it does still
happen sometimes. Currently it most of the time happens after my computer has
gone to sleep; the ports then work for a little while once the laptop is
awoken but then suddenly stop functioning again.

Knowing that you are from Dell: I've also run the diagnostic program in my
BIOS and it didn't report any error codes.

Thanks for the help.


"DellCA" wrote:

>
> This is John at Dell headquarters.
>
> Just was wondering what was tried. Have you tried to swap the USB
> devices to different ports to see if the failure follow the devices or
> the ports? If not, I would recommend this, first by flipping the
> keyboard and mouse ports to see if the failure occurs on the mouse
> instead of the keyboard, etc. If the failure stays with the port and not
> the device, you may be looking at a problem with the USB controller.
>
> Another thing I would try is removing the external drive for a time to
> see if that resolves the issue. The drive *may* be causing the problem
> for some weird reason.
>
> If you need any help with this, let me know. I'll be monitoring this
> thread for a little while.
>
>
> --
> DellCA
>

This solution has worked for some people with problematic USB devices:

Locate the file INFCACHE.1 in C:\Windows\inf

Right click on the INFCACHE.1 file, select Properties >Security > Edit, and give
your account full control.

Delete INFCACHE.1, or rename it to INFCACHE.1.BAK or temporarily move to your
desktop.

REBOOT


I Bleed Blue and Gold
GO BEARS!


"Owen" <> wrote in message
news:163195DC-AE32-4D5B-8878-...
> Hi John,
>
> I've tried both things you suggested (swapping ports and disconnecting
> external drive). They both didn't help. Without the hard drive the ports
> would still hang and swapping ports would not activate them again.
> Reinstalling all my drivers has reduced the problem a bit, but it does still
> happen sometimes. Currently it most of the time happens after my computer has
> gone to sleep; the ports then work for a little while once the laptop is
> awoken but then suddenly stop functioning again.
>
> Knowing that you are from Dell: I've also run the diagnostic program in my
> BIOS and it didn't report any error codes.
>
> Thanks for the help.
>
>
> "DellCA" wrote:
>
>>
>> This is John at Dell headquarters.
>>
>> Just was wondering what was tried. Have you tried to swap the USB
>> devices to different ports to see if the failure follow the devices or
>> the ports? If not, I would recommend this, first by flipping the
>> keyboard and mouse ports to see if the failure occurs on the mouse
>> instead of the keyboard, etc. If the failure stays with the port and not
>> the device, you may be looking at a problem with the USB controller.
>>
>> Another thing I would try is removing the external drive for a time to
>> see if that resolves the issue. The drive *may* be causing the problem
>> for some weird reason.
>>
>> If you need any help with this, let me know. I'll be monitoring this
>> thread for a little while.
>>
>>
>> --
>> DellCA
>>

You might review the following KB article and see if any of the fixes apply
to you.

http://support.microsoft.com/default...en-us%3b936003


"Owen" <> wrote in message
news:163195DC-AE32-4D5B-8878-...
> Hi John,
>
> I've tried both things you suggested (swapping ports and disconnecting
> external drive). They both didn't help. Without the hard drive the ports
> would still hang and swapping ports would not activate them again.
> Reinstalling all my drivers has reduced the problem a bit, but it does
> still
> happen sometimes. Currently it most of the time happens after my computer
> has
> gone to sleep; the ports then work for a little while once the laptop is
> awoken but then suddenly stop functioning again.
>
> Knowing that you are from Dell: I've also run the diagnostic program in my
> BIOS and it didn't report any error codes.
>
> Thanks for the help.
>
>
> "DellCA" wrote:
>
>>
>> This is John at Dell headquarters.
>>
>> Just was wondering what was tried. Have you tried to swap the USB
>> devices to different ports to see if the failure follow the devices or
>> the ports? If not, I would recommend this, first by flipping the
>> keyboard and mouse ports to see if the failure occurs on the mouse
>> instead of the keyboard, etc. If the failure stays with the port and not
>> the device, you may be looking at a problem with the USB controller.
>>
>> Another thing I would try is removing the external drive for a time to
>> see if that resolves the issue. The drive *may* be causing the problem
>> for some weird reason.
>>
>> If you need any help with this, let me know. I'll be monitoring this
>> thread for a little while.
>>
>>
>> --
>> DellCA
>>

Owen-

What I need to know from those steps you took:

When you switched the devices into different ports, did the lock follow
the devices or stay with the particular ports?

(Edit: switch the keyboard and mouse into each other's ports before the
lockup occurs to see if the mouse locks instead of the keyboard, that
could tell us if particular ports on the system are having problems
instead of the USB controller or drivers)

Also, this KB describes a problem that sounds rather familiar:

'A USB device may no longer work correctly after Windows Vista resumes
from sleep or from hibernation'
(http://support.microsoft.com/kb/928631/)



Owen;672358 Wrote:
> Hi John,
>
> I've tried both things you suggested (swapping ports and disconnecting
> external drive). They both didn't help. Without the hard drive the
> ports
> would still hang and swapping ports would not activate them again.
> Reinstalling all my drivers has reduced the problem a bit, but it does
> still
> happen sometimes. Currently it most of the time happens after my
> computer has
> gone to sleep; the ports then work for a little while once the laptop
> is
> awoken but then suddenly stop functioning again.
>
> Knowing that you are from Dell: I've also run the diagnostic program in
> my
> BIOS and it didn't report any error codes.
>
> Thanks for the help.
>
>
> "DellCA" wrote:
>
> >
> > This is John at Dell headquarters.
> >
> > Just was wondering what was tried. Have you tried to swap the USB
> > devices to different ports to see if the failure follow the devices
> or
> > the ports? If not, I would recommend this, first by flipping the
> > keyboard and mouse ports to see if the failure occurs on the mouse
> > instead of the keyboard, etc. If the failure stays with the port and
> not
> > the device, you may be looking at a problem with the USB controller.
> >
> > Another thing I would try is removing the external drive for a time
> to
> > see if that resolves the issue. The drive *may* be causing the
> problem
> > for some weird reason.
> >
> > If you need any help with this, let me know. I'll be monitoring this
> > thread for a little while.
> >
> >
> > --
> > DellCA
> >


--
DellCA