Boot-up problem related to USB

Question

I have 2 USB ports on my system. One is used only for the USB connection to my APC Back-Ups Pro since I was told that this direct connection was needed for the Power Back-Ups to work correctly. That leaves me with 1 USB port on the motherboard for all my other USB devices. I have used all my PCI slots for other things so I can't add more USB ports directly to the computer. Thus I have 2 powered hubs, which give me 8 USB 1.? ports. The first hub is directly connected to the port on the computer and the 2nd hub is connected to the 1st hub. Again, both USB hubs are powered by external sources. When I boot with only the 1st hub connected and, so far only 1 device connected to it, (my other devices for this hub are not set-up yet so I can't plug them in yet to see if my results change), the system boots normally and things like the RAM check (made visible on the monitor via the BIOS) go smoothly. If I add to the system the 2nd hub, even without any USB devices attached, the system boots in choppy slow way, i.e. the RAM check goes in spurts of a few MBs checking at a time, and the system takes forever to boot. When Windows98SE finally comes on it is also sluggish! If I do a system restart and before it begins, disconnect the 2nd hub from the first, the system boots again in a normal way. Can anyone explain this? Also, any suggestions as to how to boot with both hubs connected (and devices attached to them) would be appreciated. Thanks. Steven Forrest

fishnbanjo · Answer

Try placing the hub that is causing this as a stand-alone hub ie remove the first hub. If the PC functions fine then it is not the hub (at least as a stand-alone) if it does the same thing then I'd take this as a sign something is wrong with the hub. I had one do that when I was running another PC with W98 SE and is why I don't buy generic USB hubs and use Belkins. I have 1 Belkin plugged in and 2 other daisey chained off of it and everything works flawlessly. This setup was on the W98 SE PC I spoke of and I moved it to my Dell and I have never experienced a slowdown in the start up because of them. Good Luck..........
fishnbanjo

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forrests · Answer

Thanks for the response. My stand alone hubs are 1)Xircom, 4USB, a well known and reliable hub and 2) 4 built in USB ports on my Sony GDM-F520 monitor, also well made and reliable ports. I doubt the quality of the ports is the reason for the delay but it is possible. There is no way to remove the ports on the Sony but it is the 2nd hub in the chain and I could try it alone. I also have another Xircom hub I could try as a substitute to the 1st hub and can see if that makes a difference. Hopefully it is a bad hub (Xircom #1 or Sony) and I can bypass it.
Thanks for your reply.
Steven Forrest

fishnbanjo wrote:
- Try placing the hub that is causing this as a
- stand-alone hub ie remove the first hub. If the PC
- functions fine then it is not the hub (at least as a
- stand-alone) if it does the same thing then I'd take
- this as a sign something is wrong with the hub. I
- had one do that when I was running another PC with
- W98 SE and is why I don't buy generic USB hubs and
- use Belkins. I have 1 Belkin plugged in and 2 other
- daisey chained off of it and everything works
- flawlessly. This setup was on the W98 SE PC I spoke
- of and I moved it to my Dell and I have never
- experienced a slowdown in the start up because of
- them. Good Luck..........
- fishnbanjo

forrests · Answer

I replaced the Xircom 4 USB hub with the other USB hub I had (4 USB 2 Serial 1 Parallel) from Entrega---> Xircom---> Intel and the system now boots as it should. I guess the 4 USB hub was the culprit all the time.
Thanks for the help.
Steven Forrest

forrests wrote:
- Thanks for the response. My stand alone hubs are
- 1)Xircom, 4USB, a well known and reliable hub and 2)
- 4 built in USB ports on my Sony GDM-F520 monitor,
- also well made and reliable ports. I doubt the
- quality of the ports is the reason for the delay but
- it is possible. There is no way to remove the ports
- on the Sony but it is the 2nd hub in the chain and I
- could try it alone. I also have another Xircom hub I
- could try as a substitute to the 1st hub and can see
- if that makes a difference. Hopefully it is a bad
- hub (Xircom #1 or Sony) and I can bypass it.
- Thanks for your reply.
- Steven Forrest
-
- fishnbanjo wrote:
-- Try placing the hub that is causing this as a
-- stand-alone hub ie remove the first hub. If the PC
-- functions fine then it is not the hub (at least as a
-- stand-alone) if it does the same thing then I'd take
-- this as a sign something is wrong with the hub. I
-- had one do that when I was running another PC with
-- W98 SE and is why I don't buy generic USB hubs and
-- use Belkins. I have 1 Belkin plugged in and 2 other
-- daisey chained off of it and everything works
-- flawlessly. This setup was on the W98 SE PC I spoke
-- of and I moved it to my Dell and I have never
-- experienced a slowdown in the start up because of
-- them. Good Luck..........
-- fishnbanjo
-
-
-
-

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