USB Issues

[Piyono]

I'm getting "This USB device can perform faster if you connect it to a Hi-Speed USB 2.0 port" message when I plug my USB 2.0 drive enclosure into a USB 2.0 port.

I've tried deleting all USB hubs and devices (including hidden devices) from device manager and letting Windows reinstall them to no avail.

Hardware problem?

 

[Piyono]

I should mention that this behaviour is intermittent. Sometimes I turn a drive on and it just works like it should. Sometimes it works but Windows detects it anew, as though it had never been plugged in before. These symptoms are exhibited regardless of which port I use. I think.

 

[Fushigi]

Some Googling shows people telling Windows to reinstall the USB driver or roll back the driver to a prior version. You might try those. BTW, I'm guessing that simply deleting the devices and having them be re-detected does not actually reinstall the drivers.

Other posts claim it to be a power problem for the USB device or a cable problem, but if nothing has changed on those fronts I'd lean more towards the driver.

 

[ddrueding]

I've had this issue when I had too many USB devices on a port as well. After digging, it said something about me drawing too much power or having exceeded the reserved bandwidth. Do you happen to have a USB hub involved?

 

[Mercutio]

One of my PCs has issues like that, but only when my phone is charging on it. I figure the phone is drawing more power than it's supposed to.

 

[LiamC]

I had a similar issue and it turned out to be the USB cable. When I used (almost) any device with this particular cable, I got the USB speed messgae. Used another cable and the issue disappeared

 

[Piyono]

OK, Lessee...

I don't have a USB hub.

The only devices connected to my computer at all times are: mouse, webcam and a couple of extra cables which I swap between hard drives on my desktop. External hard drives are on only when required, and it's hardly ever more than two at a time. Keyboard is PS/2.

I've been using the same cables for eons. They've never (to my knowledge) been tripped over or forcefully manipulated in any way. Still, next time it happens I'll try swapping cables.

I just opened Device Manager and saw this:

See how there are only two USB2 controllers listed and the rest are just USB? Shouldn't they all be USB2?

 

[ddrueding]

I think even my latest X58 motherboard has some USB1.1-only ports on it.

 

[Piyono]

The only devices I keep plugged in all the time are my mouse and webcam, and sometimes not even the webcam. There's also a Samsung all-in-one printscancopier that I sometimes forget to unplug from USB but which I always remember to power down. My Keyboard is PS/2.

Given those conditions I don't think I suffer from power draw or bandwidth issues. That said, I have already tried unplugging all USB devices (except mouse) and cables and cycling power on the drive in response to the error. No love.

I have spare cables plugged in to use with external hard drives on my desk, which I plug in and turn on as needed. Nothing stays plugged in all the time.

I don't have a hub.

My cables have been in use for a long time and have never been subjected to any brutal manipulation so I think they're fine. Besides, it happens regardless of which cable I use. They can't *all* be bad.

In any case, I just looked at my device manager and found this:

See how there are only 2 controllers listed as USB2? Shouldn't they all be USB2?

 

[Piyono]

I looked at another of my computers' Device Manager and it uses ICH10, but all USB controllers are listed as "USB", not "USB2".

 

[MaxBurn]

MY ICH9 does the same thing, 6 USB Universal host controllers and 2 USB2 Enhanced host controllers. Every port on the board is USB2 far as I can tell though.

 

[Piyono]

I just deleted everything under "Universal Serial Bus Controllers" in Device Manager (by opening each item and selecting "Uninstall" from the Driver tab) and restarted the computer. I'll start mucking about with drives and see if it's made any difference.