USB 2.0 ports not functioning properly...

Whitefish · 16 Nov 2006 at 09:42

Ever since I've had my current computer the USB ports haven't functioned properly. It's been most noticable when I've been trying to download music to my mp3 player. I'll start the transfer, and the 'estimated time remaining' will change from 3 minutes, to 12, to 25, to 2 etc. Usually it takes about 4 or 5 minutes to copy an album. So, obviously something's not working properly here.

I wondered if it might be a driver issue (I'm using WinXP64 and I initially had all sorts of issues with device drivers not being available for the OS), but then I realised that I'm not even sure if USB ports have drivers (?).

I'm trying to sort this out before Christmas because I'm planning on getting a new mp3 player, but if it takes 5 minutes to download every album I don't think I could face it.

Any suggestions?

hohum · 16 Nov 2006 at 13:01

Check that 'assign IRQ to USB' is enabled in the bios (or something similar to that). You need to mention your pc specs aswell really.

Countcussy · 16 Nov 2006 at 13:25

Are you using ports on the front of your case? Sometimes, these are only USB1.1 as they are on a header from the motherboard. If you haven`t already, try the ports round the back.

There are also some USB items that do not like each other. Is there anything else plugged in?

Whitefish · 16 Nov 2006 at 14:44

hohum said:
Check that 'assign IRQ to USB' is enabled in the bios (or something similar to that). You need to mention your pc specs aswell really.

My motherboard is an Asus A8N-SLi deluxe. I have a dual core AMD processor (can't remember the exact spec), a BFG GeForceFX graphics card. Do you need to know anything else? I assume the most salient points are the make of the motherboard and the fact I'm using Windows XP 64-bit.

I'll check that BIOS setting next time I restart. Thanks.

Countcussy said:
Are you using ports on the front of your case? Sometimes, these are only USB1.1 as they are on a header from the motherboard. If you haven`t already, try the ports round the back.

There are also some USB items that do not like each other. Is there anything else plugged in?

The same things happen with the ports on the front and the back as far as I can tell. I'm also pretty certain that when I bought the board I made sure all the ports were USB2.0 ones.

Now that I think about it it's possible that it's my mp3 player that's messing things up. I just copied an album to a memory stick using the front port and it took about 20 seconds. Would that be the correct sort of time for transferring data using USB2.0?

Okay, just tried it again with two albums and it took 50 seconds for both. This leads me to believe that it's just my mp3 player being crap. Would that make sense?

I guess it's the obvious conclusion but I'd never really considered it before. I guess that's all the more reason to buy a new mp3 player!

Countcussy · 16 Nov 2006 at 15:14

Could be. USB can be a fickle thing. I have a Zen Micro which i love, and transfer rates are great, unless i have a flash card in my USB card reader, Then transfers are doggedly slow or the player disconnects.

:confused:

Whitefish · 16 Nov 2006 at 15:34

Well, my iRiver has always been a little glitchy, and I've dropped it a few times. It's quite old too, so I wouldn't be surprised if it's actually not 2.0 compatible anyway.

hohum · 17 Nov 2006 at 19:52

Just to answer another question you asked, you don't need USB drivers under any Windows O/S that's newer than standalone XP (so XP with sp1, sp2, 64-bit version etc). You only have to get USB 2.0 drivers if you're running 32-bit XP with no service pack (who does that now anyway?), Win2K, 98/ME etc.