external USB box only works with supplied cable.

I've got one of those external USB boxes for holding hard disks, cdroms,
etc., but it will only work with the supplied cable, which is a bit
short, as I wanted to position it further away from the computer. But
with EVERY other usb cable that I tried, the computer wouldn't recognize
it, and I tried both USB1 and USB2 cables. So I thought that perhaps the
length was critical. Went to the local computer shop, and they suggested
an extension lead, but they only had a 2 metre USB1 one. However,
surprisingly it worked with this. So the length was not critical, and
neither did the cable have to be usb2. So somehow the original cable,
although it looks just like any other usb cable, must be different
somehow. Anyone else have this experience/problem? Also I never noticed
any difference in speed by using the usb1 extension either. (???)

 

I found out that external USB boxes will not work with WinXP SP1 or later,
so it may not be the cable.

 

**I've used 3 different USB external boxes, a couple of cameras and two
different card readers, a couple of hubs (USB 1.1 and USB 2.0), a radio
mouse with three WIN XP Pro boxes and one XP Home box. Never had a problem.

I don't think WIN XP is the problem.

 

No XP is not the problem. But I'd like to know what is. I find it hard
to believe that this is some kind of 'special' usb lead, but there seems
to be no other logical explanation.

 

Sounds like the box has its own wiring set up at the box end of the
cable and it is different to the generic set up.


Deadly Ernest

@bywater.net.au

(my new keyboard, with small keys,
accepts full responsibility for all
typographical and spelling errors)

 

Never had a problem with my 2.5" USB2 box on about 3 or 4 XP systems with or
without SP1....

 

Are WinXP pro & home boxes installed with service packs 1 or higher and with
VIA chipset?

 

does your xp sestems have VIA chipset, & VIA chipset driver is installed?

 

**Yep. I don't know what chipset the laptop uses. Two of the desk top PCs
use Via chipsets. I'm not sure about the most recent one (the XP Home box).

 

have a quick look here, has helped me a bit, had an older MB with a SIS
chipset could not get to work at all, worked automatically on just about
everything else I plugged it into...

geoff

www.usbman.com

 

When I installed the VIA chipset driver (ie 4-in-1 VIA driver), the USB box
doesn't work anymore.