Topic: USB problem

[idolminds]

This is very odd, and may be related to why my PC got messed up. One thing I did the day before it messed up was unplug my wacom from its regular USB port, and plugged it into the USB extension I had (the extension came with my Nintendo WiFi unit). It worked and everything, which is why I didnt think anything of it.

Now it seems my USB ports arent working properly. I plug the wacom in, doesnt light up. I plug my camera in, windows doesnt see it. WiFi thingy also doesnt work. Oddly, my USB mouse is working fine.

I have a nForce2 motherboard and all my USB ports are on it. In the readme with the drivers (newest drivers), I see: Windows XP users must install Service Pack 1 prior to attempting to install this package. Failure to do so will result in the inability to support USB 2.0. Now when I reinstalled WinXP I cant remember if I attempted to install the drivers before or after I used my SP2 update CD (default install is not SP1 AFAIK). I just went through and reinstalled the drivers over the ones already there...no change.

What do you think I should try? Going into safe mode, removing all traces of the drivers, and reinstalling? Or should I bite the bullet and do the WinXP install again?

[idolminds]

Damn I'm good. Out of curiosity, I unplugged my mouse and tried my items in the "working" port. No dice. Plugging my mouse back in...and now it doesnt work. Awesome.

[iPPi]

PS2 ftw.

[idolminds]

Yeah, but I cant use PS/2 to get my pictures off my damn camera.

Reinstalled Windows, went right to SP2, installed mobo drivers, installed .net, installed video drivers. USB still doesnt work.

[scottws]

Hmmm... only thing I can imagine at this point is that the USB host controller or the ports themselves are toast.  Buy a USB expansion card (make sure it's based on the Intel or NEC chipset).

[idolminds]

fuck....

I didnt want to put much into this system since I'm going to build a new one soon anyway. Guess "soon" is sooner than I thought. I'll probably skimp on the video card for now. Get something thats cheap, better than my 9700 pro, but still not top of the line. For that I'll wait for DX10. Probably go Core 2 Duo, 2GB of RAM. If I go nForce again I dont have to buy a soundcard which would help. I can keep my HDD if I need to, and my DVD burner can move to the new system. Hmmm...thats about it. Might be able to do this fairly cheap.

EDIT

Got most of a system built on newegg for ~$600. Missing PSU and a case. Not bad, really.

[Pugnate]

Hmmm... only thing I can imagine at this point is that the USB host controller or the ports themselves are toast.  Buy a USB expansion card (make sure it's based on the Intel or NEC chipset).

Why those two?

[scottws]

Because the VIA, SiS, and ALi USB chipsets are complete shit.  Oh and idol, you can get one of the cards I'm talking about for like $20.

[Pugnate]

I don't know... we are all pretty huge computer users and no one has ever mentioned a problem. Are you sure it is that wide scale?

[Quemaqua]

Scott seems to have had some horrible experiences.  I don't doubt that what he says is largely true, but I just don't know of anyone that's actually been affected by the other chipsets.

[Cobra951]

I'll let Scott speak for himself.  I do remember him being very specific and detailed on why there were serious problems with some chipmakers' USB implementations.  It wasn't just his own bad experiences talking.

[idolminds]

I searched on USB problems and have seen a couple posts like scotts.

[Pugnate]

Yes it is a big pet peeve of Scottws. I think he mentions it at every opportunity... 

I am not saying Scottws is exaggerating or anything at all. I am just wondering why he feels so strongly about the issue.

[gpw11]

Well, the good thing about buying a usb card is that it's not like you won't be able to use it in your next pc.  The more usb ports the better.

[scottws]

I am not saying Scottws is exaggerating or anything at all. I am just wondering why he feels so strongly about the issue.

Because I personally experienced it with a VIA chipset.  I thought, "Surely there is a solution... a third party driver or something..."  Nope.  Had to buy a expansion card with a NEC chipset.

And yes, I do feel strongly about it.  So strongly that my next system will definately be an Intel-based system.  I like AMD, but there is no way to avoid getting a shitty USB chipset with an AMD CPU.  If you guys don't care, you don't care.  That's fine with me, but don't ever say I didn't warn you if you ever have trouble.

[Pugnate]

Well I am planning on an Intel system pretty soon. You know, after I went from my long time purchases of ATi to Nvidia recently, I noticed a massive difference. I mean all the ATi cards I ever bought were top of the line, yet I especially with the 9800 series I experienced frustration regularly with the drivers. Even before that I always looked forward to driver updates from ATi, though the driver support had been excellent for Rage Pro, the 8500 and the 9700. The problems all started with the 9800 card I had.

With Nvidia I can't even remember the last time I updated drivers. They are just that good. The only downside with Nvidia is the DVD software isn't as good, and the image quality is ever so slightly worse. Plus they are a bit more expensive, and the minimum frames are slightly worse.. but hey it is worth being spared a headache. Plus they use less power, are quieter and run cooler .

Not that I've ever had an issue with AMD processors -- frankly they have been fantastic -- yet Intel is Intel after all, so I wonder if I will see a difference besides the obvious.

[Quemaqua]

Don't even get me started on nvidia.  I use one of their cards now, and that's fine, but everything else with their name on it seems to be shit.

[idolminds]

I download more than I think. Flashget already says I've downloaded 522MB of stuff, and I had a bunch to download tonight (DoW mappacks, CoH patch, Southpark episode, opera, a handful of mp3s, etc).