USB Hub Trouble

Greetings!

I just tried setting up my cheap 7 port USB hub on my laptop and have been unable to get anything to work with it.

I am using the provided power adapter and have two portable external HDDs attached and previously had my wireless keyboard dongle attached. None of the devices would work.

Interestingly enough, the lights for each of the hard drives are on as if they are getting power. When I go into the device manager and look at the property of the hub (it does show up), it lists all ports as being unused and that no devices are getting power from it.

After reading a few reviews, it turns out that this (very cheap) hub comes with a low power wall adapter. It does seem weird, though, that both of the drives seem to be powering up without any external power supplies.

I am prepared to buy a new hub if I have to but I'd like to first make sure that the problem is occurring because of this particular unit (and not my computer). I only paid about $6 so I wasn't really expecting too much. I didn't expect it to be unable to handle even one external hard drive or a small USB dongle.

I appreciate any advice. I'm going to start looking for a new hub to buy but am still open to suggestions. I'd love to be able to get this one to work for me!

Best,

OpenFace

 

A great USB hub.

 

Yeah thats the thing about cheap hubs. Your lucky it didnt blow your USB controller.

I use a 4 port logitech hub, working flawlessly for the last 2 years.

 

Check how much power the AC adapter supplies - for 7 ports it should be 3,5A minimum, 500mA per port is the maxmum possible - power for the Hub would then come from the laptop.

Are those HDDs 2,5"?
Check if you can access one of them via the hub - if yes then it seems as if the overall supply is too low - if one doesn't spin up I'd suggest you return the Hub if you can.

And "blowing the laptops USB ports" - I think that shouldn't be possibly any more because it shouldn't supply more than 500mA and switch off if a device requests that.

 

Thanks for all of the recommendations! I think that I'll get that Monoprice hub since I've been wanting to get a few more HDMI cables anyway. I'd get in touch with the seller for information about returning it; unfortunately, I'd be willing to bet that the shipping charges won't be refunded and the cost of sending it back would come close to the $6 price tag of the hub.

I tried connecting just one HDD to the hub and it still didn't show up in Windows. The light came on (as it did with both drives connected) but it didn't feel like anything was spinning. I'm not sure if I have to be able to access it in order to get it to spin, though.

Thanks again for all of the help. I'm going to place an order on Monoprice in a little bit.

 

If the drive doesn't spin up its not getting enough power.
Something is wrong - on a 4 port hub I can run a WD passport... while charging my phone & MP3 player...

Normally the drive shouldn't spin up though... ah well.

But if it doesn't spin up then its not getting the power its need - power adapter broken?

 

I've tried connecting the hub to the power supply without it connected to my computer and the power status light comes on. Also, I don't see any information on the adapter about the amount of power it supplies. Some of the reviews on Amazon say that it is only a 1A supply. One reviewer said that he suspects the actual power to the hub is about 700mA and it shouldn't be used to power devices.

I wish I would have seen these reviews before buying this model. There are multiple listings of this hub from the same seller. The one that I found before ordering had three reviews and they were all quite positive. :S

 

Hmm, strange indeed...

Well, there is no simple way to measure how many Amps it outputs - but it should be on the power brick - it ALWAYS is - so if it isn't its dodgy...