# Unstable USB Ports?



## DiGiTY (Oct 16, 2006)

Whenever I plug in my 2.5 inch USB hard drive enclosure or a USB thumb drive, Windows [XP SP2] sporadically unmounts and re-mounts the drive (coupled with those annoying hardware device found alert sounds). This happens whether I'm copying files to/from the drive or while the drive [and computer] is idle. It's a Asus P4B533-E mobo and this happens with all the USB ports. I do not have this issue with these drives whatsoever on USB ports of other computers (other and sometimes older PCs, Macs or Linux boxes), just this one computer.

I've tried installing the latest [supported] chipset drivers/utility (Intel 845E) and Intel Accelerator 2.3, but it still happens. The USB printer, MCE remote reciever and USB bluetooth adapter don't have this problem, just USB drives (in other words, devices that mount and get assigned a drive letter).

Any ideas why this happens??? Any ideas on how to resolve it???

TIA

P.S. - The drives are USB 2.0 and so is the mobo, but I believe that may be irrelevant since these drives work flawlessly on other computers with USB 1.1 or 2.0.


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## JohnWill (Oct 19, 2002)

First step, Start, Programs, Accessories, System Tools, System Restore. Create a restore point and name it something like "Before USB Fix". This is to bail you out if something goes wrong during the following process and makes things worse.

Create a file with NOTEPAD containing the following lines and save it as FIX.REG
-------------------------- Use text after this line --------------------------------
REGEDIT4

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\Environment]

"DEVMGR_SHOW_NONPRESENT_DEVICES"="1"
-------------------------- Use text before this line --------------------------------

Double click on FIX.REG and say yes to the Merge Into Registry question.

Unplug ALL USB devices.
Open Device Manager.
View, Show Hidden Devices.
Uninstall all devices under USB Controllers.
Uninstall all devices under Disk Drives that you know are not present.
Uninstall all devices under Storage Volumes. Say no to any reboot prompts until you are finished. Also, if a Storage Volume doesn't uninstall, ignore it and move to the next one.
If you have a yellow ? with unknown devices, uninstall all of the entries there as well.

When this is done, reboot TWICE.

Reconnect the USB devices and see if they're recognized properly.

NOTE: If you have a USB keyboard and/or mouse, you'll have to modify the instructions and leave enough parts for those to function. I don't have one yet, so I haven't had time to modify the instructions.


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## DiGiTY (Oct 16, 2006)

what exactly is the problem? why is it doing this? is this problem common? if so, is this a standard fix?


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## JohnWill (Oct 19, 2002)

The first question is, did that solve the problem? This fix is a combination of things I came up with over the course of several years talking to other people and experimenting with USB driver corruption issues of my own.


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## DiGiTY (Oct 16, 2006)

i haven't tried the fix yet because i was being lazy, but now that i wanna get the Zune, i have to do it. i was just curious as to what the actual problem was


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## JohnWill (Oct 19, 2002)

Windows sometimes gets confused when a USB device is connected and stores incorrect parameters to access the device. This will frequently happen when you plug in a device then unplug it before the initialization is complete, then plug it back in again. It also sometimes happens for reasons I've never determined. Once the incorrect data is stored in the registry, that device, and those of the same class, are not accessible anymore.


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## DiGiTY (Oct 16, 2006)

i finally got around to trying that fix and after restarting twice, I get an error saying "Could not install this hardware: USB controller. The service database is locked." I checked Device manager and it seems the other three installed fine.

Any ideas?


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## DiGiTY (Oct 16, 2006)

hmmm... this is weird; i went into device manager and updated the driver of that USB controller with the recommended option (letting Windows find it itself). Now it shows up with out the exclamation point and as USB 2.0 Enhanced Controller, which I know is good... but why doesn't all the controllers show up as USB 2.0/Enhanced???

There's USB options/features in the BIOS set at USB 1.1 Controllers -> 3 (only other option is 'Disabled') and USB 2.0 Controller -> Enabled (only other option is 'Disabled')... what does this do exactly and does this have to do with any of the problems I've been having with USB devices???

TIA


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## JohnWill (Oct 19, 2002)

Only one of the lines for each controller gets the enhanced tag. I have the MB USB and a four channel PCI USB 2.0 card in this machine, note only two "Enhanced" controller.

What is the current situation, are the ports working, and indicating no errors in Device Manager?


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## DiGiTY (Oct 16, 2006)

well after doing your trick I'm still having the same problem (USB device connects & disconnects sporadically). I've been having this problem since I built this machine. This is really blowing my high, I just got the Zune and I can't get a successful sync to save my life.

If I get a USB 2.0 PCI card, will continue to have these problems??? I would hate to buy one and then find out it's XP's USB 2.0 system files that's the problem


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## JohnWill (Oct 19, 2002)

Well, I've never seen that happen with XP, but I obviously can't guarantee that it won't. Here's a PCI USB 2.0 card based on the NEC chipset which I've had good luck with. Rosewill NEC 4+1 Port USB2.0 PCI CARD Model RC-101 for $7.99 + $4.99 shipping won't be to painful to try.


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## DiGiTY (Oct 16, 2006)

haha, newegg... u read my mind

thanx a lot for your help, i really appreciate it


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## JohnWill (Oct 19, 2002)

Let us know how you make out.


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## DiGiTY (Oct 16, 2006)

i think i should be okay. i just learned the USB 2.0 issues with this mobo are somewhat common (other owners on asus' forum say it's faulty) and adding a usb 2.0 pci card is the fix


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## gotrootdude (Feb 19, 2003)

It may also be your power supply that's causing the issue. Some devices are very picky about the voltage from the USB port (like my lide scanner is), if the power supply is supplying unstable voltage, then your USB devices may show the symptoms. If the board is a nforce2 based board, then there's some known issues with the USB controller.


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## DiGiTY (Oct 16, 2006)

installed that Rosewill USB 2.0 PCI card and everything is working perfectly!!!

thanx everyone


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## JohnWill (Oct 19, 2002)

Glad it all worked out.


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## DiGiTY (Oct 16, 2006)

wow, i can't believe i've been using my own personally built computer for the past 4 years and didn't know i had faulty usb ports... embarrassing... i guess ppl should stop calling me a tech wiz now


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