Bizarre USB issue

Jow · Post by **Jow** » Mon Feb 28, 2005 8:46 pm

Yoyo,

I bought a new MP3 player and it arrived via UPS this morning. Of course, the UPS dude showed up half an hour before I had to leave for work, so I rushed through opening and attempting to configure so I could get some mp3's dumped onto the unit before I left for work. I tried plugging the thing into the USB ports on the front of the box and got the "A USB device connected to this pc has malfunctioned" crap. Not having the time to putz with it, I just shut everything down and brought the player to work.

I connected it up to my work PC (running Win2k) using a USB port on the back and it detected perfectly, creating a drive letter. Left it connected most of the day to charge the battery.

So I brought it back home tonight after work to mess with it and I'm again getting that error messages while trying to use the front ports. However, if I plug it in one of the back ports, it detects properly.

You'd think something was wrong with the front ports, but I've confirmed they're connected and work properly, because I've used them to transfer pics from my digital camera frequently since I bought this box in early 2003.

I'm running XP, btw. Any ideas? I'd really like to be able to use the front ports for this.

Biyobi · Post by **Biyobi** » Mon Feb 28, 2005 9:10 pm

Is the player USB 1.1 or 2.0? How about the ports on your home PC?

Jow · Post by **Jow** » Mon Feb 28, 2005 9:11 pm

Update: I'm running an Asus P4PE in an Antec LANboy case. The motherboard has 4 usb 2.0 ports, all in back. The case has support for the additional 2 on front, but I'm mystified where I could have plugged these in (I built this over 2 years ago, come on). Could it be that for some reason the front ports are USB 1.0 or some such?

Jow · Post by **Jow** » Mon Feb 28, 2005 9:46 pm

The player is USB 2.0. I can't for the life of me figure out how I connected these to the mobo yet, and this is with sticking my digital camera inside and taking photographs cus I can't see far enough inside the case. My guess, though, is that right now the front ports are functioning as USB 1.1 (even though they're supposedly 2.0 compatible if your mobo supports it). I'll have to putz some more.

Jow · Post by **Jow** » Mon Feb 28, 2005 10:09 pm

Okay, this is the scoop. There are ports on the mainboard for plugging in an extra USB header, and this is where these ports are plugged in. It specifies in the manual that you've got to install the USB 2.0 driver in order to get 2.0 functionality. However, in the readme for the driver, it says that if you have XP SP1 installed, or later, the driver doesn't need to be installed because software support is already in. I'm indeed running SP1.

So the question is, why would USB 2.0 work for the back ports but not the front if I've got full functionality? I'm hesitant to install this driver for fear of breaking compatibility completely.

Still putzing in the meantime. Trying to see if the driver packaged on the mobo cd is newer or older than the one I've already got installed.

Jow · Post by **Jow** » Mon Feb 28, 2005 10:16 pm

Same files, same size. In fact, the install CD won't even LET me install the drivers through the front end, because I assume it's detected I've got SP1 installed or the proper drivers.

So what gives?

Jeff V · Post by **Jeff V** » Mon Feb 28, 2005 11:30 pm

My mother has a case with front and back ports. I have the same problem when I try to connect anything to the front ports - sometimes, the devices are recognized but they don't function. Everything seems fine when plugged into the back, which is no where near as convenient.

Freezer-TPF- · Post by **Freezer-TPF-** » Tue Mar 01, 2005 12:45 am

I have the same issue. My new mp3 player (USB 2) does not work in the front ports but works in the back. My old mp3 player (USB 1.1) works fine from the front ports.

I think this is a common issue with front ports not being fully cooperative with USB 2 devices, but I don't know of a fix. I just leave the cable for the mp3 player plugged in the back anyway and run the other end up to my desk top so I can easily connect the player.

RookieCAF · Post by **RookieCAF** » Tue Mar 01, 2005 7:20 am

I just use this and avoid such hassles. Attaches to a PCI USB Card I bought at geeks.com

Jow · Post by **Jow** » Tue Mar 01, 2005 12:38 pm

Funny enough, the manual for this thing says they recommend a direct connect without using a hub, although I have no idea why.