Re: USB drive problem

On Sep 4, 3:53?pm, Tim Wescott <t...@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
OK, this is totally off-topic, but y'all are smart:

I have a Dell Dimension 8300, with XP-Pro installed. I've had it for four
years, and since day 1 it's not been able to read USB drives. Not thumb
drives, not digital cameras that are mapped as USB drives, nothing. These
are all devices that work fine on various other Windows and Linux boxes in
my house.

When I plug a thumb drive into the thing, the only indication that it's
there is that waaaay down in device manager, an "Unknown Device" shows up
in the USB tree.

Every other USB thing I've tried in the box has worked perfectly.

Anybody got any clues for me?

Thanks.

--
Tim Wescott
Control systems and communications consultinghttp://www.wescottdesign.com

Need to learn how to apply control theory in your embedded system?
"Applied Control Theory for Embedded Systems" by Tim Wescott
Elsevier/Newnes,http://www.wescottdesign.com/actfes/actfes.html

Smells like a driver issue....
Evidently, the PC can see a request on the USB but for some reason is
unable to enumerate the device. (From memory...) It's possible the
USB physical port, or cable attached thereto, on the PC side is
defective. I believe some USB's look at the power spike (current
drawn) to recognize the device. This occurs on the power pins. If
the data pins are faulty (not connecting, etc...), then of course,
enumeration of the device is hopeless.

If you have any USB-"On-the-go" type devices (i.e., USB peer-to-peer),
I wonder if connecting any of these would give you any more to go on??

If it were me, I'd look very closely at the USB jack on the PC, and
any cable it might have if it's not directly on the motherboard or a
card, (and even then, I'd check the solder joints.)

After that, I'd start looking at drivers again. Good luck!! -mpm

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