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USB Shutdown

The Maximum PC Staff — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 19:00:00 -0600

At first I thought it was a fluke, but when I first installed Win7 Beta on a new HDD on my laptop, one of my USB ports stopped working and performance of the others took a nosedive, with some USB devices not getting enough power. I tried a reinstall with Win7 RC and now three of my four USB ports are having the same issues. It may not even be an issue with Windows 7 but there seems to be a correlation that the problem started and got worse with each installation.

I have Windows 7 running on two other PCs with no issues and all I can find on the Internet are people with the same problems but no solutions. I’m sure you can imagine how much it sucks having to use a four-port USB hub just so I can connect more than one USB flash drive.

—Guillermo Rodriguez

First, let’s make sure this isn’t a hardware issue. Grab a Linux LiveCD like Knoppix or Ubuntu and boot your machine from that. Test your USB ports one at a time. If they work, your problem is almost certainly a driver issue. Go to your laptop manufacturer’s website and download your device’s specific chipset drivers. If your USB problems persist regardless of drivers or operating system, it’s a hardware problem. If your machine is still under warranty, send it in to the manufacturer. Otherwise, unless you feel up to scrounging a new motherboard on the Internet and repairing it yourself, it may be time for a new PC.

SUBMIT YOUR QUESTION Are flames shooting out of the back of your rig? First, grab a fire extinguisher and douse the flames. Once the pyrotechnic display has fizzled, email the doctor at doctor@maximumpc.com for advice on how to solve your technological woes.

Apple Keeps Fighting the Bad Fight; Locks Pre Out of iTunes Again

Ryan Whitwam — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 19:49:53 -0500

Apple is all about controlling their products and services. So it’s no surprise that they have locked the Palm Pre out of iTunes again in the new version of the software. The 88.5 MB update, v9.0.2, added support for the new version of the Apple TV software, but for those Pre owners that didn’t investigate fully, it also broke their syncing capability.

Apple and Palm have been playing this game since the Pre came out back in June. Palm knew from the start that Apple could continue issuing updates forever, but they hoped to get some support from the wider tech community. After having their complaint to the USB Implementers Forum thrown out, Palm was also told that their practice of faking Apple’s USB ID was unacceptable.

There are numerous ways to sync music with a Palm Pre, but Palm seems only to be interested in iTunes. There’s an argument to be made for Apple here: It’s their software, and they can do what they want. Would it be nice if they let the Pre sync? Sure, but it probably isn’t going to happen. In the meantime, Palm just isn’t providing their customers with a reasonable syncing experience. Should Palm just get over it? Should Apple take the high road and stop the patch battle? Let us know in the comments.

Conan O’Brien Interviews the Co-Creator of USB

Justin Kerr — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 11:43:29 -0500

Intel’s latest ad campaign wants you to believe USB co-creator Ajay Bhatt is a “rock star”, but if that’s true, why would they hire an actor to play his part in the commercial?

Well I have no idea, but that’s the question late night TV show host Conan O’Brien set out to answer, and the resulting interview touched on everything from technology, to gold plated shoes.

You might want to check this one out for yourselves but be warned.The commercial features almost as much lens flare as Star Trek.

How-To: Make a Bootable USB Key

Norman Chan — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 09:00:00 -0500

A bootable USB key is a convenient way to install operating systems on netbooks without optical drives, or carrying around a Live OS with you at all times. It especially makes sense if you're installing software on a machine that otherwise has no need for an optical drive, such as a Windows Home Server. Here’s a definitive guide to making a bootable USB key with either Vista or Windows 7 in just 9 steps.

1. Find and right-click the Windows Command Prompt in your Start Menu and choose to run it as an Administrator.

2. At the prompt, enter diskpart to launch Microsoft’s disk management utility. The command line should now read “DISKPART>”.

3. Type list disk to show a list of all disk drives. If your USB key is plugged into your PC, it should be listed here, along with other physical drives. Note the USB key’s disk number – you can pick it out by looking at the disk capacity.

4. Type select disk #, with the USB key’s disk number in place of #.

5. Type clean for the utility to clean the disk, which DiskPart will confirm.

6. Create a new bootable partition by entering create partition primary.

7. Choose this partition with select partition 1, and then mark it as active by typing active.

8. Format the key by inputting format fs=fat32. This should take a few minutes, and DiskPart will display a progress percentage.

9. Lastly, type assign to give this USB key a drive letter. Close the DiskPart program using exit.

You can now copy your OS’s installation files from the original DVD onto the key. We also recommend copying your hardware drivers onto the same key so the OS installation wizard can find them.

First Certified USB 3.0 Product Available

Ryan Whitwam — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 20:01:41 -0500

The USB Implementers Forum (USB-IF) today approved the first SuperSpeed USB 3.0 product. The product in question is a host controller from NEC Electronics. Having this certified host controller will be a boon to other manufacturers, as they will be able to easily test products using the USB 3.0 spec.

The controller, known as the µPD720200 host controller, uses a PCI Express Gen 2 interface bus. This allows 2 USB 3.0 ports to be easily added to any system supporting the PCI Express bus. Analyst firm, In-Stat, estimates nearly one-third the market will support the SuperSpeed standard by 2013.

NEC Electronics originally announced the µPD720200 in May, but the product has just now been certified. “NEC Electronics has supported the development of SuperSpeed USB technology since the earliest efforts, and it is gratifying to help make the technology become a reality,” said Masao Hirasawa, General Manager, SoC Systems Division, NEC Electronics Corporation.

Check out the press release here. [warning, PDF]

Genesys to Begin Mass Producing USB 3.0 Controllers

Ryan Whitwam — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 20:41:12 -0500

Are your USB 2.0 gadgets starting to feel a little slow? Well, luckily USB 3.0 controllers are about to enter mass production. Genesys Logic plans to start churning out the faster controller chips in the first quarter of 2010. Expect to start seeing it around later next year. Genesys expects to turn a profit almost immediately.

USB 3.0 was approved by the USB 3.0 Promoter Group last November. The new technology uses a 0.13µ process instead of the 0.18µ process used in USB 2.0. Early indications are that the 3.0 standard is capable of up to 10 times the speed of current USB technology. USB 3.0, or “SuperSpeed USB” as it’s also known, is expected to make up a quarter of the market by 2013.

Sound Blaster vs. Headset

The Maximum PC Staff — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 16:00:36 -0500

I feel silly asking such a simple question—I can build a computer blindfolded, but from time to time I shock myself at the little things I haven’t learned: If I buy a USB-powered headset and install a Sound Blaster card on my motherboard, will my headset take advantage of the soundcard even though it’s plugged into a USB port (and not directly into the card)?

—Sean

Sean, your USB headset includes its own sound decoders and will not take advantage of your Sound Blaster card. The best way to reap the benefit of your soundcard is to buy an analog gaming headset. We really like the Astro a40, but it’s pricey: $200 without the Dolby-decoding mixamp. We also like Steel Series’ 5H v2, which is $100.

USB Keyboard Woes

The Maximum PC Staff — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 12:30:53 -0500

I have a problem booting from my Windows XP installation disc. When I installed Windows XP for the first time, I didn’t have any problems. I could see “press any button to boot from CD,” and pressing the button would start the installation process. As soon as Windows XP is installed, I reboot and I see “press any button to start from CD,” but nothing happens when I press a button, and it loads Windows from the hard drive, not the installation CD. It looks like the keyboard isn’t recognized.

I have a Gigabyte GA-K8NXP-SLI motherboard and a Sapphire Radeon HD 4850 videocard. My processor is an AMD 64 X2 4800.

—Vitaliy Kakorin

We’ve run into this problem with Gigabyte motherboards before. The keyboard isn’t recognized because some motherboards disable their USB support by default. You’ll need to go into the BIOS to fix it.

First, you will need a PS/2 keyboard or PS/2 keyboard adapter. Now, if you want, you can just use the PS/2 keyboard instead of the USB keyboard, but you probably like your USB keyboard and want to keep it. So here’s how.

Turn off your computer, unplug the USB keyboard and plug in a PS/2 keyboard. Turn on your computer and press the Delete key to enter the BIOS. Go to the Integrated Peripherals menu and make sure both Onboard USB Controller and USB Keyboard Support are enabled. Also try Legacy USB Support if that option appears. Exit the BIOS, saving your changes, and turn off your computer. Swap in your USB keyboard and see if that fixes it.