USB Port Problem?

Question

I just got my Inspiron 531 and more or less have it up and running. My one problem is Vista and my printer can't communicate. The printer was working fine a couple days ago on my old system. I unplugged the USB cable from the old PC and plugged it into the Dell. Tech support took over my PC and couldn't get it to work. Is there some limitation to the usable USB ports on the back of the PC? I've got four ports, two are used by the mouse and keyboard and I've tried the printer cable in both of the others. Printer is an older Samsung ML-1710 and I have installed the Vista drivers.

RoHe · Answer

If you connected the printer before installing its driver that's likely the problem. Typically USB printers should only be connected when their software installation tells you to connect it.

If that's what happened. Do a System Restore to last date available under Vista before your very first attempt to install the printer. Personal files won't be affected but any software originally installed after the date used for the Restore will have to be reinstalled.

After the Restore, install the printer software and only connect it to the PC when instructed to do it.

Ron

PETER345 · Answer

All of the USB ports should work. Certainly try plugging it into different ports.

The only issue is the power drain on a USB controller. You can't draw more power than allowed. So hooking a USB device onto a different controller might be needed if you have exceeded the total power.

In XP you can use the device manager to see what USB devices are connected to each controller and how much power each consumes.

Peter

xtanmanx · Answer

before troubleshooting usb issues, make sure you have the Vista drivers for the printer. more than likely i am guessing your old system was xp, since you stated 'vista wont communicate'

xtanmanx · Answer

was your 'old' system vista as well?   are you using vista drivers for this printer?

Hawkster66 · Answer

I don't have nor have I ever had XP.   In the device manager under the USB section I have listed: CA-200 Standard Enhanced PCI to USB Host Controller Standard OpenHCD USB Host Controller USB Root Hub USB Root Hub

Hawkster66 · Answer

Yes I downloaded the Vista drivers from the Samsung site. My old system was 98SE.

Hawkster66 · Answer

RoHe wrote:
Do a System Restore to last date available under Vista before your very first attempt to install the printer.

That's a little extreme. I was able to solve the problem(s) by simply uninstalling the printer and drivers and then reinstalling connecting the printer to a FRONT USB port when the driver install called for it.

I have NOT however resolved the problem of the rear USB ports. After getting the printer installed and printing several pages to ensure it was working properly I shut down the machine and reattached the printer's cable to one of the rear ports. Upon restarting it would not communicate with the printer. Shut it down again and tried the other open USB port on the back. Same deal, no printing. Shut it down again (the PC's in a cubby in the desk and the back is completely inaccessable without pulling the case out necessitating the shutdown). Connected the printer to one of the front USB ports on the media card reader and viola'! It prints just fine. An hour online and on the phone with tech support couldn't fix it, glad I could...

So now I'm stuck with the printer cable sticking out of the front of the case which means I have to leave the door over the card reader open which I don't like. I guess I can just drop the cable next to the case and 'Plug 'n Pray' when I need to print but I'd really like to know why only two of my rear USB ports won't work with this device.

Does anyone have a clue about this?

RoHe · Answer

Try unplugging all rear USB devices except mouse & keyboard and connecting the printer back there again.

It's possible you're overloading the USB hub with all that stuff but the front port through the card reader is on a different hub. If printer works in rear without all the other stuff attached, you probably need to connect an external USB hub with its own external power supply to a rear port.

System Restore (Windows feature) is not the same as PC Restore (Dell feature). System Restore only undoes changes to system files made since the restore point was set. PC Restore resets the hard drive to exactly the way Dell shipped it. System Restore is a very common method to undo system problems caused when a USB printer is connected before the driver/software was installed.

Ron

Hawkster66 · Answer

RoHe wrote:
Try unplugging all rear USB devices except mouse & keyboard and connecting the printer back there again.

It's possible you're overloading the USB hub with all that stuff but the front port through the card reader is on a different hub. If printer works in rear without all the other stuff attached, you probably need to connect an external USB hub with its own external power supply to a rear port.

System Restore (Windows feature) is not the same as PC Restore (Dell feature). System Restore only undoes changes to system files made since the restore point was set. PC Restore resets the hard drive to exactly the way Dell shipped it. System Restore is a very common method to undo system problems caused when a USB printer is connected before the driver/software was installed.

I'm seriously not trying to be rude but it doesn't seem like you're reading my posts. The only two devices plugged into the four existing rear USB ports are the mouse and keyboard there's no 'all that stuff' anywhere. I have three USB devices, mouse, keyboard and printer no more no less.

As for the system restore you mentioned earlier that any software installed after the restore point was set would need to be reinstalled. I think it's kind of odd to suggest broad sweeping changes when a simple uninstall of a driver file would solve the problem and probably take a 10th of the time.

timthumb · Answer

Love it when people are getting free assistance from other customers and gripe about what they get.

Hawkster66 wrote:

RoHe wrote:
Try unplugging all rear USB devices except mouse & keyboard and connecting the printer back there again.

It's possible you're overloading the USB hub with all that stuff but the front port through the card reader is on a different hub. If printer works in rear without all the other stuff attached, you probably need to connect an external USB hub with its own external power supply to a rear port.

System Restore (Windows feature) is not the same as PC Restore (Dell feature). System Restore only undoes changes to system files made since the restore point was set. PC Restore resets the hard drive to exactly the way Dell shipped it. System Restore is a very common method to undo system problems caused when a USB printer is connected before the driver/software was installed.

I'm seriously not trying to be rude but it doesn't seem like you're reading my posts. The only two devices plugged into the four existing rear USB ports are the mouse and keyboard there's no 'all that stuff' anywhere. I have three USB devices, mouse, keyboard and printer no more no less.

As for the system restore you mentioned earlier that any software installed after the restore point was set would need to be reinstalled. I think it's kind of odd to suggest broad sweeping changes when a simple uninstall of a driver file would solve the problem and probably take a 10th of the time.

xtanmanx · Answer

the front usb ports connect to the usb controller differently (obviously). as this board is supplied power (for powe button/switch) this may be more or less a powered usb connection. might try a powered usb hub on a back port to get the cable off the front of your system.   you said you have the keyboard and mouse plugged to back and printer in front in a working situation. have you tried the opposite? kb and mouse in front and printer in back?   this might sound like an odd question, but is your USB cable for the printer long? there has been replacement cables for certain printers due to the loss of power/signal in the length of the cable vs. the power put through the onboard conected usb.  do you have a shorter usb cable to test?

Hawkster66 · Answer

xtanmanx wrote:

you said you have the keyboard and mouse plugged to back and printer in front in a working situation. have you tried the opposite? kb and mouse in front and printer in back?

this might sound like an odd question, but is your USB cable for the printer long? there has been replacement cables for certain printers due to the loss of power/signal in the length of the cable vs. the power put through the onboard conected usb. do you have a shorter usb cable to test?

Haven't tried swapping all the connections. That's a lot of scrambling in and under the desk and I've got some physical problems that make it painful to do so. Right now I'm more or less ok with leaving the printer disconnected and just plugging it into the media card reader on the rare occasions when I need to print something off the PC. And I do mean rare, this laser printer is at least three years old and still working off the starter (1/3 the capacity) toner cartridge.

Not only is the cable long, it's a cable with a 6' extender. I've got a huge desk and the printer's quite a distance from the PC. Don't think it's a signal problem though since the printer works fine in the front port and worked for years with the old PC. Oddly enough I had the printer plugged into the front USB port on that machine too...
I wrote to Dell about the USB port problems and they want to swap out the motherboard. (!) I'm not sure I'm ready to go to that extreme since I really have no plans on adding any other USB devices and everything else seems to be working fine.

Hawkster66 · Answer

Heh, looks like we were posting at the same time Bill, I think my post above answers what you asked. It's real painful for me getting down behind the desk and rerunning cables and I've done that at least four times in the last couple days getting this PC swapped into place for my old one.   I'm more or less ok with things as they are. Gotta give some serious thought to the motherboard swap Tech Support offered me. I've had good and bad experiences with on-site service people and fate hates me.

Hawkster66 · Answer

Well I borrowed a cabled SD card reader from a neighbor and plugged that into one of the rear USB ports. It worked fine, Windows saw it and wanted to install drivers for it. Looks like the printer plus the mouse and keyboard are just too much for that one controller. At least I don't need to have some stranger come out and rip the guts out of my PC.   My thanks to everyone who offered advice and suggestions.

RoHe · Answer

@RoHe wrote:
Try unplugging all rear USB devices except mouse & keyboard and connecting the printer back there again.

It's possible you're overloading the USB hub with all that stuff but the front port through the card reader is on a different hub. If printer works in rear without all the other stuff attached, you probably need to connect an external USB hub with its own external power supply to a rear port.

System Restore (Windows feature) is not the same as PC Restore (Dell feature). System Restore only undoes changes to system files made since the restore point was set. PC Restore resets the hard drive to exactly the way Dell shipped it. System Restore is a very common method to undo system problems caused when a USB printer is connected before the driver/software was installed.

Ron

Apology accepted.
Ron

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USB Port Problem?

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