USB issues

[tbutcher]

Hi guys,

 

not sure if this is the most appropriate place for this, but i'm having a really strange technical problem and don't know exactly why, which is why i didn't know if it necessarily belongs here!!

 

what is happening, is that we have a computer in a teaching room, and every so often, the USB devices will suddenly stop working.

 

it doesn't seem to happen at any particular time, they have been working for months since the last problem, and now its happened twice within a week!

 

what happens is that our IWB stops working, and so does the teacher's pen drive, although the bit that confused me more is that the keyboard and mouse continue to work as normal. this is what threw me, as i would have just assumed it was a controller issue otherwise, but to have some devices carry on working and some not was a bit odd.

 

does anyone have any ideas what could cause this to be happening?

 

the only thing i did mention to the teacher, was to make sure that he always uses the safely remove hardware when unplugging his pen drive, as this could cause a problem.

[tbutcher]

ok, i'll give this a go and see if anything changes, thanks

[Guest drewinc]

Does the pen drive still show up in disk management - Maybe being assigned a drive letter already in use?

[tbutcher]

Does the pen drive still show up in disk management - Maybe being assigned a drive letter already in use?

 

i don't think it could be this, as this wouldn't cause the IWB to drop off at the same time, as this is just a human interface device

[DMcCoy]

IWB is probably using too much power. If it's connected via a panel on the wall try directly with a different usb lead instead. So far ours are fixed by not using the panel or changing the cable.

[tbutcher]

but we have the same install across the entire site, so surely if that is the case then we would find that problem in more than one place?

[Guest drewinc]

Are your issues only happening when the IWB is plugged in ? Does the pen drive not work on its own. This could be a number of things.

[tbutcher]

the IWB is permanently plugged in. The pen drive does work in the computer, although i'm not entirely sure at what point the board and the pen drive do go wrong obviously, as i am not the user of it.

 

i've asked the teacher to try and gain as much info as he can as to exactly when it is happening, and if there is a trigger, so that i can work out the cause and therefore a fix.

[DMcCoy]

but we have the same install across the entire site, so surely if that is the case then we would find that problem in more than one place?

 

Only happened on a couple of boards. They wouldn't work after a reboot without unplugging. All usb devices would stop working if another device was plugged in.

[tbutcher]

ah ok

 

i've found with mine, that some of the devices stop working, some carry on working. i don't need to unplug the board at all, but if i restart the computer then it does start working again, so i figure it has to be something with the controller going screwy.

[penfold]

How long is the cable for the IWB? I think the max length is 5m for no problems and anything over that can cause the board to drop. Is the distance between the PC and IWB the same through the entire site? Doesn't solve your problem of the USB pen though.

[tbutcher]

yeh, the usb isn't overlength. its been installed for a few years now with no problems. we have had some problems in other rooms like this, but you can get range extenders which we have used there.