I had something similar happen to me. I finally deduced that it was the contacts in the USB Port on the laptop. I replaced the system board, and it has not happened since. My hunch was that repeated insertion and removal of the mouse caused wear and tear on the contacts, thus it would loose connection after a few minutes.
Not sure if this is the same as in your case, but it sounds familiar!
No, it's not this, as the laptops are brand new, and all 20 of them do it, usually upto 10 times a day, the mouse stops working on each of the laptops.
It could be the docking station, I have not tested running one of the laptops all day without a docking station, but... there's no time for testing really, these laptops must be used all day, every day
and if a connection to a PDA works, for a set period of time, e.g. 1 minute, and then always drops the connection after that time, there's some consitency in it, so not likely to be a port, not making a good connection...
It appears to bee the docking station!!! the PDA works perfectly fine, connected directly to the laptop, and the mouse does not loose connection, if they are connected directly to the laptop.
But if they are connected to the docking station, this is when all the trouble starts.
So I guess, we may have to contact Dell about this problem.
I have the same issue with an Inspiron 600m attached to the port replicator. It always happens after power management enter sleep mode. The restart will not find the USB devices (including the D/Bay device).
I think my case was similar but not quite the same, in my case, you would sit there happily USING the mouse, and suddenly, bang, it stops working, put it in another port, continue working (without reboot), and it's fine for a while. If the mouse stops working in that port, put it in another port, untill all ports run out, and then restart the laptop, to re-gain access to all the USB ports again.
And remember this happens every time when the mouse is IN USE, not when idle, and a USB palm PDA would not work at all from the port replicator, because it would lose connection after 30 seconds, well, that PDA works fine without the port replicator, so it beats me, sounds like there's something with those port replicators, we got 20 laptops with 20 port replicators that are playing up.
...But I finished that contract anyway at that company, and the techinician there has been made aware, and will handle it from there on, so it's not really my concern anymore.
I had the same problem you described intermittantly. My point was that is is not intermittant when sleep mode is involved. Too bad you have turned it over to someone else; I was hoping someone might find a solution.
I am sorry I was not able to find a solution, but the technician was most likely going to find out with Dell after that, maybe that might be the next thing to do.
I was (am still) experiencing the same problems you are with my Palm device. After doing some additional research on the Dell community forum I found a temporary work-around that is posted by Dell.
Apparently its a USB 2.0 driver issue with the D/Port. Go to the following area in the forums, and you will find a permanent locked thread at the top.
Forum Home -> Port Replicators from DELL-Rollie. The thread reads: USB 2.0 Port Replicator Problems. Follow the instructions there, but essentially, if you disable the USB 2.0 controller you will regain USB 1.1 functionality which will allow you to sync your palm, and use all other USB device, albeit at a lower speed. This was posted in February so it's unfortunate, that the problem hasn't been fixed, but I'm happy enough with the current solution.
woochman
279 Posts
0
July 11th, 2004 14:00
I had something similar happen to me. I finally deduced that it was the contacts in the USB Port on the laptop. I replaced the system board, and it has not happened since. My hunch was that repeated insertion and removal of the mouse caused wear and tear on the contacts, thus it would loose connection after a few minutes.
Not sure if this is the same as in your case, but it sounds familiar!
robvdl
5 Posts
0
July 12th, 2004 07:00
It could be the docking station, I have not tested running one of the laptops all day without a docking station, but... there's no time for testing really, these laptops must be used all day, every day
and if a connection to a PDA works, for a set period of time, e.g. 1 minute, and then always drops the connection after that time, there's some consitency in it, so not likely to be a port, not making a good connection...
robvdl
5 Posts
0
July 13th, 2004 03:00
It appears to bee the docking station!!! the PDA works perfectly fine, connected directly to the laptop, and the mouse does not loose connection, if they are connected directly to the laptop.
But if they are connected to the docking station, this is when all the trouble starts.
So I guess, we may have to contact Dell about this problem.
hvstacey
38 Posts
0
July 29th, 2004 11:00
I have the same issue with an Inspiron 600m attached to the port replicator. It always happens after power management enter sleep mode. The restart will not find the USB devices (including the D/Bay device).
robvdl
5 Posts
0
July 29th, 2004 13:00
And remember this happens every time when the mouse is IN USE, not when idle, and a USB palm PDA would not work at all from the port replicator, because it would lose connection after 30 seconds, well, that PDA works fine without the port replicator, so it beats me, sounds like there's something with those port replicators, we got 20 laptops with 20 port replicators that are playing up.
...But I finished that contract anyway at that company, and the techinician there has been made aware, and will handle it from there on, so it's not really my concern anymore.
hvstacey
38 Posts
0
July 29th, 2004 13:00
robvdl
5 Posts
0
July 29th, 2004 13:00
manuelcceja
1 Message
0
July 29th, 2004 18:00
I was (am still) experiencing the same problems you are with my Palm device. After doing some additional research on the Dell community forum I found a temporary work-around that is posted by Dell.
Apparently its a USB 2.0 driver issue with the D/Port. Go to the following area in the forums, and you will find a permanent locked thread at the top.
Forum Home -> Port Replicators from DELL-Rollie. The thread reads: USB 2.0 Port Replicator Problems. Follow the instructions there, but essentially, if you disable the USB 2.0 controller you will regain USB 1.1 functionality which will allow you to sync your palm, and use all other USB device, albeit at a lower speed. This was posted in February so it's unfortunate, that the problem hasn't been fixed, but I'm happy enough with the current solution.