TIP: If your USB hub suddenly stops working - Win 7

[bahjan]

Hi,

I thought I would post this tip in case anyone else has a similar problem. I am running a 64bit Windows 7 laptop and I usually have a Belkin USB hub permanently attached so I can connect externals like hard drives, flash and a USB mouse as I dislike the on board track pointer.

All was fine until recently when I noticed the usb hub was lighting up briefly during boot up then going off and appearing dead. Also, I was not getting any 'USB device not recognized' messages, so I did not know what to make of it.

Here's what I checked:
1. Checked for problems using windows 7 troubleshooter. Nothing showed up.
2. Checked all drivers up to date - all fine.
3. Used Winpatrol to check whether the mouse had been disabled at Startuo - no,
4. Navigated to Device Manager - USB controllers - disabled (right click select disable/enable) each of them in then enabled them. I even uninstalled them and forced windows to reinstall.

None of the above seemed to reactivate my usb mouse - oddly a reboot would sometimes work, but then the hub would sometimes would go off mid-use - all testing showed my laptop had no issues.

I checked the hub on another machine and it worked every time.

Here's what worked:

With the USB hub plugged in to your machine - close the lid of your laptop, that is, put your machine into sleep mode - BUT before you do this make sure you have set the power button or trackmouse to wake your machine - you do this by going into Control panel - System and Security - Power Options.

As soon as I woke the machine by opening the lid and pressing power button and the user icon appeared on the screen, and the usb hub was also awake, and I can now use my mouse again.

Edit - read whole post for more.....

[TreeTops]

I noticed one thing you didn't mention. Maybe just unplugging your hub from the laptop and re-inserting would fix. I think that's what your power solution really does. It forces the hub to wakeup and reconnect.

Is your hub powered? If so, unplugging from the main and re-plugging may also force a wakeup.

[bahjan]

Yes, the hub is powered. I did try unplugging the hub from the laptop, but when I replugged it nothing happened, the computer seemed to think the hub was active even though the lights on the hub were off. (When hub is live there are red and green lights are on). I am beginning to wonder if both my on board usb plugs have failed or are failing. Odd because I'm not in the habit of pulling usb in an out of the sockets.

[hech54]

Does W7 still have the "Safely Remove Hardware" function?

[bahjan]

Yes it does I always use it.
Actually I have also done this which seems to have worked. I Disabled Selective Suspend Feature as described here:
http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/dead-usb-port-heres-how-to-diagnose-and-fix-it/

I had to go into the registry and create the USB key (also described here) and after reboot, my belkin usb hub lit up and Windows reinstalled the generic USB driver automatically. I should explain that before disabling the suspend feature, I had previously uninstalled the generic usb driver via the device driver, to see if it would reinstall after reboot/ replugging in my 'dead usb hub' (it didn't do anything) It was only after I'd followed the instructions to disable the suspend feature that the usb hub lit up during the reboot and was properly detected. So far USB mouse plugged into the hub is working fine.

It still a bit of mystery as to what on my system suddenly put my hub into suspend mode, but this fix seems to have sorted the issue (hopefully)....

[hech54]

I remember doing some registry "thing" many years ago for a USB problem in XP.....maybe even before XP.....98SE maybe?
Anyway....doesn't surprise me. I was just asking if W7 still had this feature. I'm still on XP....

[fritzi93]

Just a thought, but if any of you out there installed any optional utilities from your motherboard manufacturer, check any power saving settings.

I installed all the extras offered by Asus (AISuite) on my mobo and had trouble with the "green" power options interfering with my Win7 power settings. Despite having Windows power saving options all turned off, the Network iControl would power down wifi and speed went to hell until I disabled that option. Also, and I'm not absolutely certain if the utilities caused it or not, but hard drives would also power down, even though it was set to never turn off hard drives. When I toggled the setting, that problem went away as well. Wouldn't you know it, but it has "green" options for USB too, though I never had any problems there.

It's silly, I know, but I never thought to check the AISuite default settings until I experienced problems. So why not uninstall it (I hear you saying)? Well, there are some useful things in the AISuite.

[bahjan]

I just thought I'd post an update:

Not a motherboard issue after all. Apparently, there is an issue with Belkin hub 'going off' with no warning and appearing dead. My hub is a 7 port Belkin F5U307, which I bought because of excellent reviews, and have been using with no problems for several years. There are several posts to be found asking about this issue and pointing out Belkin Support was of little use despite the device having a lifetime guarantee.

It has been suggested that a Windows update might be the cause. I haven't had the courage to do a system rollback to find out. Besides. as the hub works on another updated Windows 7 laptop, I doubt it's that. Also, as my system tells me that all drivers are working properly, I doubt updating the drivers or Legacy controller would do anything either.

I rather more suspect it was caused by a problem in a wake from Sleep mode. I have now switched off Sleep mode, and while shutting the laptop lid did wake the hub for a while, sadly I found it soon stopped working, and when working the hub was not reliable, sometimes it would stay on all day, at other times it would go off after a couple of hours. I cannot seem to find a source for a dedicated Belkin driver.

On the subject of hubs I found this comment on Windows 7 Forum
http://www.sevenforums.com/hardware-devices/211287-usb-hubs-not-working-correctly.html

alphanemeric states:
Just so you know, 7 port USB hubs are actually two 4 port hubs daisy chained together. Thats why the they have the odd number of 7 ports, one port is used to plug the second hub into the first. So depending on what port you use you may be going though 2 hubs before you even get to the USB port on your motherboard. Personally I don't use hubs unless I absolutely have to and then only 4 port powered brand name hubs.

Not sure how much of the problem multi hubs are, but it's a thought. I have now started to label the ports so I know what the system is expecting to be plugged in each port, when and if I unplug peripherals. Thanks for all the replies.

[cornemuse]

Not a laptop but, If I forget to remove a usb (thumb, cardreader, etc) my computer will NOT start. Couldnt find anything in 'setup' to change. (cant even go into setup with usb connected).

fwiw, , , -c-

[nic2k4]

Not a laptop but, If I forget to remove a usb (thumb, cardreader, etc) my computer will NOT start. Couldnt find anything in 'setup' to change. (cant even go into setup with usb connected).

fwiw, , , -c-

Is that not start with a blank screen or just takes a really long time? I've seen some BIOS that wait forever for a response while enumerating USB devices during P.O.S.T. (especially with card readers with no card in), the solution is to disable USB legacy device.

[cornemuse]

Not a laptop but, If I forget to remove a usb (thumb, cardreader, etc) my computer will NOT start. Couldnt find anything in 'setup' to change. (cant even go into setup with usb connected).

fwiw, , , -c-

Is that not start with a blank screen or just takes a really long time? I've seen some BIOS that wait forever for a response while enumerating USB devices during P.O.S.T. (especially with card readers with no card in), the solution is to disable USB legacy device.

Not start, ever, period. Nothing (I could find) in bios.

My workaround = make sure to remove usb plugins. I still forget sometimes!.

-c-