# usb restarts computer



## heathdoc (Jan 3, 2003)

I have a sony digital camcorder, a zip drive, and a memory stick card reader that restart my computer every time i plug them in. I am using a dlink hub(7 port). The card reader is pny. I only have two usb ports on my system so the hub is necessary. I have tried updating drivers and this doesn't work. The system starts up normally but as soon as i plug the usb device in it restarts. I have a printer and pda hooked up to the hub and they work fine. Please help


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## DiggerBoy (Jan 3, 2003)

Wow! This sounds freaky.

I'm wondering if you have the manual for your motherboard/BIOS.

Go into your BIOS setting and see if there is some sort of funky setting for "wake on USB" or something like that.


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## Jedi_Master (Mar 13, 2002)

Is the HUB self powered ?


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## heathdoc (Jan 3, 2003)

yes the hub is self powered


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## Jedi_Master (Mar 13, 2002)

Ok...

It sounds like it could be an IRQ conflict, what OS are you using ?

Also...as a test try unplugging either the printer or PDA and see if the problem still happens...


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## heathdoc (Jan 3, 2003)

using windows xp professional.

went to the sony website and they have an updated driver that is supposed to fix the problem for the camcorder, but this also didn't work. I'll try unplugging the other two and see if that helps. Thanks for helping


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## Jedi_Master (Mar 13, 2002)

Hey that's not a problem...

Can you right click on My Computer-Properties-the Advanced tab-under Start up and Recovery, the Settings button, and uncheck Automatically Reboot, this should at least tell us what is causing the problem...


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## heathdoc (Jan 3, 2003)

ok- did that and now when i plug the device in(the card reader this time) it says found new device, generic card reader, found disk drive, found ms card reader. Then i get an error message--unable to install device, the service does not exist as an installed service


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## Jedi_Master (Mar 13, 2002)

Ok...

This is just with the Card Reader only plugged into the port ?

If so reinstall the card reader software...


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## heathdoc (Jan 3, 2003)

already tried that. It does that with the card reader and the digital camera. Same set of errors


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## JohnWill (Oct 19, 2002)

Have you tried plugging the devices in two at a time into the ports without the hub attached? If that fails, you may want to delete the USB controller in Device Manager and reboot to allow it to be rediscovered and reinstalled.


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## Jedi_Master (Mar 13, 2002)

Ok...

What I would do is to uninstall the software and drivers for all USB devices on the HUB, ( because it sounds to me like there was a bad install somewhere with one of the devices ), then start one by one installing the devices ( what I woud do is to install the drivers/software first before plugging in the USB device )...

Sorry got to go for now...will be back tomorrow...

But...please post back...there are others here that know far more that I do...

And, also...

Can you right click on My Computer-Properties-the Advanced tab-under Start up and Recovery, the Settings button, and uncheck Automatically Reboot, this should at least tell us what is causing the problem...

This should help us on the re-boot problem...


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## heathdoc (Jan 3, 2003)

haven't yet tried plugging cables into the system. I really need the hub because i have 7 peripherals. I'll try plugging directly into the system and bypassing the hub. I tried to download an updated driver for the hub but the website says drivers are included with xp and doesn't have a downloadable driver. Thanks for the help. I gotta run but i'll check back tomorrow


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## heathdoc (Jan 3, 2003)

oh, i turned off auto reboot. that's when i got the error i posted above


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## bstem (Feb 27, 2003)

Heathdoc, I'm curious if you found the solution to your rebooting problem. I'm having a similar thing happen to mine and want to know what you did to correct it. Thanks.


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## heathdoc (Jan 3, 2003)

a few posts above is a way to turn off autoreboot. when you do this you will at least get an error as to why the thing isn't working. I still haven't gotten my video camera to work via usb. i bought a new usb 2.0 card, tried a different hub, etc. I finally got my card reader to work, but i'm not sure what i did. When i plugged it in it said there was a problem with installing the hardware. i got frustrated and gave up, and now it works.


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## bstem (Feb 27, 2003)

Thanks, Ill try it and will write a post once I've resolved the issue.


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## workinghard (Mar 5, 2003)

I think the USB devices restarting the PC is a problem related to the power supply (SMPS). I have 3 USB devices on my PC. I noticed that when I use only one (USB Modem) all is fine. Then when I plug in the USB mouse, it tends to restart, although not all the time and it is unpreditable. With the 3rd device (joystick), the problem is compounded. I read in some PC magazine that the the SMPS should have at least 300 watts [mine is 250 :-( ]. Power rigs with a log of devices etc., should have as much as 500 watts! I think my problem lies there, and perhaps so does yours.


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## JohnWill (Oct 19, 2002)

Since the USB specification calls for a maximum of 1/2 amp of +5v power to a device, I'm having a hard time believing that four devices for a grand total of 10 watts would be that significant. This sounds like the argument people make for boosting your P/S when you add a couple of three watt fans!  I don't think this has anything to do with the P/S, unless it's extremely marginal anyway!


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## workinghard (Mar 5, 2003)

Yes, my argument does sound feeble, but I read this stuff in a PC magazine. There are SMPS's in the market of higher ratings likes 300, 350, and 500 watts (sold with high-end systems). I am facing a similar problem in my PC (250 watts) when I plug more than 2 USB devices (the PC restarts). I use Windows XP Professional. It has been set to restart in case of 'system failure.' My local PC vendor has not been able to figure out the problem. I have even formatted the HDD and done a clean installation of the software. Any ideas?

Thank you.


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## JohnWill (Oct 19, 2002)

I guess the only thing I can say is, Don't believe everything you read. 

If it's related to power consumption at all, I suspect that it's more a function of the MB design than anything else. It could be that the additional power drain from the USB device affects the MB because of a layout mistake. Have you tried a powered hub? That way, the power isn't being drawn from the MB, and it would eliminate any power draw issue.

Personally, I think these issues are most likely driver issues...


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## workinghard (Mar 5, 2003)

Today, I plugged in my good old PS2 mouse and the problem reoccured. I am even more confused. Could the motherboard be the culprit? Win XP professional is set to restart in case there is a system failure. Also, another concurrent problem has developed. When I use Word XP, I often get this message when trying to save files 'Word is unable to complete the save because of file permission error.' Retry...etc.,


Any ideas?


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## crjdriver (Jan 2, 2001)

With ps, the quality of the unit is more important than the wattage rating. A good quality 300W unit is preferable to a 450W unit of poor quality. While ps do cause many rebooting problems, it seems from you post of the error that it is a bad install of the device software that is causing the problem.
Have you checked the event viewer to see what errors are in the log? That might give you a clue as to where to look.


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## workinghard (Mar 5, 2003)

This is the message from event viewer

Source: System Error
Category: (102)
Event ID: 1003

Error code 000000d1, parameter1 555555a1, parameter2 00000002, parameter3 00000000, parameter4 efa73e3a

The problem persists, with or without the USB mouse. However, system restarts more frequently with the USB mouse (Microsoft Wheel mouse optital) plugged in. The other USB devices are: ASCOM ISTN TA, and Microsoft Sidewinder Precision 2 joystick.

Somebody please help!!!

*Source: System Error*


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## crjdriver (Jan 2, 2001)

Under event viewer you should see a section for apps. What does it say there? It should give you the app that is causing problems. You can clear the log if there are too many entries, and go from there.


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## JohnWill (Oct 19, 2002)

> _Originally posted by workinghard:_
> *Today, I plugged in my good old PS2 mouse and the problem reoccured. I am even more confused. Could the motherboard be the culprit? Win XP professional is set to restart in case there is a system failure. Also, another concurrent problem has developed. When I use Word XP, I often get this message when trying to save files 'Word is unable to complete the save because of file permission error.' Retry...etc.,
> 
> Any ideas? *


I have a hint, NEVER plug or unplug a PS/2 device with power on! They're NOT the same as USB devices, and it's likely that you will damage either the device or your MB!


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## workinghard (Mar 5, 2003)

I plugged in the PS2 with the power off. I know that PS2 and USB devices are different and behave differently. However, I realized that the system often reboots when I actually clicking the USB mouse.

Thanks


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## JohnWill (Oct 19, 2002)

I think you have a driver or USB hardware design issue. This is pretty unusual for USB...


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## bstem (Feb 27, 2003)

I'm having a similar issue in which my computer reboots when I try to sync my palm pilot via a usb cable. I'm running XP Pro with two user logins. What I've discovered is that the usb ports seem to get locked into one user's login, so it will work on that login but if we switch to the other login it reboots. The sync works once the computer reboots, probably because the usb port has been released. It doesn't appear to be an IRQ problem, and I don't think it is a power issue as was discussed earlier.


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## zeddy (May 3, 2003)

Mmmh... technical bits...

Wattage is not the same as Ampage x voltage, that strictly speaking is voltampage. It also gives no regard for the phase variance btween voltage and current in the connections/circuits.

It is more important to know what ampage and voltage each line is chucking out fromthe PSU and if the supply is clean and constant.

The trouble now is with so many driver/ device installs- uninstalls it is likely that your registry, system32 dlls and device manager are getting quite confused.

Heathdoc,

As advised in other posts systematically uninstall drivers (show hidden devices in thedevice manager). You might even want to safe boot to remove multiple entries there. Follow the instructions for setting up the camcorder, there is specific advice on this on the digital camera CD rom.


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