Adding a second USB hub

[The Fugitive]

With all my CH gear on one hub and now my TrackIR and a couple other minor things (camera, card reader, drawing tablet) I figured to add another powered hub. The second hub is the same as the first (Belkin). The problem is when the second hub is plugged in my computer won't boot. I hit the switch, the fans run up, and I get a signal to the monitor ( I do not get the "no signal found" error), but then it all stops. Normally I get the MB splash screen and then bios splash screen, but with the second one connected nothing. I unplug it, reboot and it loads no problems. I plug the hub in and everything works.

I'm running XP. Does anyone know about an issue with XP having problems with too many usb ports/hubs? Any help would be great, Thanks.

[gyrene81]

kinda odd issue there fugitive. i had a similar issue with a usb port on a computer that would shut the system down if i plugged anything at all into it. after much trial and error i found the problem to be from the mobo pins for that usb hub. i ended up just adding a pci usb expansion card and haven't had a problem since. i assume you have tried just plugging the problematic hub into other ports without the good one plugged in to see if the same issue occurs?

personally, the onboard usb ports are great for keyboards, mice, flash drives and powered external drives but, usb expansion cards are the way to go for a desktop system with the stuff you're plugging in.

[Chalenge]

Im sure you have it set right but you might check your BIOS and make sure the OnChip USB is set for V1.1+v.2.0 and once you verify that I would start unplugging devices from the two hubs (mark them if you like) as its possible there is a firmware issue with one of the devices needing updating. Also I have seen where the power supply to a USB hub isnt actually providing enough power and the drain on the motherboard can cause booting issues. Usually though it will show up as a device that gets lost during use and then shows up and then lost again in an infinite cycle You can test that by unplugging your first hub and testing the second for boot issues with the firsts power supply. Or just check that the power supply is fully plugged in at both ends.

[The Fugitive]

Im sure you have it set right but you might check your BIOS and make sure the OnChip USB is set for V1.1+v.2.0 and once you verify that I would start unplugging devices from the two hubs (mark them if you like) as its possible there is a firmware issue with one of the devices needing updating. Also I have seen where the power supply to a USB hub isnt actually providing enough power and the drain on the motherboard can cause booting issues. Usually though it will show up as a device that gets lost during use and then shows up and then lost again in an infinite cycle You can test that by unplugging your first hub and testing the second for boot issues with the firsts power supply. Or just check that the power supply is fully plugged in at both ends.

Yes I checked in BIOs. I have it set for both, also checked boot order to make sure it wasn't looking at a hub as a boot source (had a virtual "B" drive as first boot source). I also tried turning off the Legacy USB support off as it was mentioned on support sites that it caused trouble with with external USB hubs.

It boots with either hub plugged in with the things on it as is. I'll check the power supply, but it's a pretty good system built only a year ago.

[Chalenge]

Yes well I meant the power supply for the USB hub itself and not the system PSU. I have had a few hub power supplies (I use the Belkin 7-port) that did not actually supply the rated power. It turned out the plug end had a built in load that wasnt discovered at the factory and soldering a new one fixed it. In one instance I had pushed the UPS that the hub was plugged into and could not see that the supply had backed out of the UPS enough to cut power. The hub still worked because it was running off of the MB power but if I scanned a document (dedicated scanner) while also printing (separate printer) I would get into the endless cycle of usb lost/usb found/usb lost...

Just FYI.