Long USB cable problem?

Avathar77 · 26 Feb 2012 at 21:57

I just moved a printer from one room to another.
HP color ink jet printer with a 5m USB A to B cable.

Problem is, when I connected it to the other PC, it doesn't work!
Gives a error saying "USB device not recognized"
But I am using the exact same USB cable which is working in the original PC in the other room!

I have tried other cables and it works with shorter cables(2m).
It works with the other PC using 5m and 2m cables!

I am assuming this has some thing to do with the USB ports?
(Printer is powered by a separate power pack which is connected to the wall plug)

Any Ideas??

panyan · 26 Feb 2012 at 23:13

get an active cable?

Tealc · 26 Feb 2012 at 23:22

It could be that one of the PCs is slightly more bothered about the timing of the USB transmission and basically gives up and retries when it doesn't receive a signal in a timely fashion. 5 metres is pushing the USB timing really. That said I use a 5M USB extension and then have a 1-2M B to A cable on the end of that and my printers seems to work ok.

Avathar77 · 26 Feb 2012 at 23:23

yep it baffles me that it works fine in another PC - same cable same printer!
Looking for Active cables now!

Dano · 26 Feb 2012 at 23:33

Avathar77 said:
yep it baffles me that it works fine in another PC - same cable same printer!
Looking for Active cables now!

That'll be down to a variation in power output and/or thresholds for data corruption from the different USB ports I would expect.

Avathar77 · 26 Feb 2012 at 23:36

Could be.
PC only has 4 USB ports at the back and 2 via front case header.
i have tried all of the usb ports but it is the same.
It is a AMD board but cant remember the model

CPU is a Athlon II x2 640