USB 2.0 port working for one device but not another

For 6 weeks, I have used a Logitech Z205 notebook PC speaker in lieu of my PC's stock speakers, which have been intermittently shorting out. The speaker clips on the top of the screen and uses one 2.0 USB cord for both power and signal transmission. For the past 4 weeks, the Z205 has been plugged into the same USB 2.0 port. The Z205 speaker has been working well until today, when I noticed no sound was emanating from the Z205 and tried several maneuvers, including disconnecting and re-connecting to the USB port and rebooting the PC. I tentatively concluded the speaker had simply failed prematurely and even sent a request to Logitech via their website for warranty service.

Out of curiosity, I plugged the Z205 into the PC's other USB 2.0 port and surprisingly the speaker worked normally with full sound. I tried re-connecting the speaker back into the original USB port and again no sound emanated. [I made sure I shut down the media player before connecting the speaker, then opened the media player again.] The original USB port appeared to have failed, but when I plugged in two different Western Digital external hard drives (EHD) to the apparently-failed USB port, they both operated normally--I was able to browse and open thueir folders and files. One EHD derives its power from a separate AC supply and uses a USB cord for data transmission, and the other EHD uses one USB cord for both power and data transmission.

I'm puzzled--why would my USB-powered Z205 speaker not work when plugged into the 2.0 USB port, yet two EHDs seemingly operate normally using the same 2.0 USB port? As mentioned above, the speaker works normally with the PC's other 2.0 USB port.

Thanks for reading and any suggestions and information.

 

Plug the speakers into the port that doesn't work, open up device manager, select the last entry (usually) the Universal Serial Bus connectors options and delete/remove the one with the speakers 'attached'. Upon reboot or a rescan of the hardware, you should have your port back to normal.

(A shutdown and removal of the speakers (when shut down) might be needed to fully remove the 'old' usb settings and properly reset the port).

Good luck.

 

Boy you are just plagued with PC problems, aren't you?

Try disabling USB power management. Start > Control Panel > Power Options. For your current profile, disable USB power management. Also, check whether the speaker device is detected in Device Manager. If it is, disable any power management features for it.

I remember writing to you about another BSOD problem. I presume that this is the same computer. What driver was causing that problem?

 

I assume it is the troublesome M1330?

Does the USB device show up in device manager? If it does what icon does it show in DM?

 

I appreciate the responses. I tried each of your suggestions:

Tilleroftheearth: I searched under Universal Serial Bus controllers, but could not identify one with "speakers attached". However, the speaker is shown under "Sound, Video, and Game Controllers" as "Logitech Z205" with a speaker icon. Is this the one I should try to remove? Interestingly "Logitech Z205" speaker icon appears under the controllers whether the speaker is plugged into the working port or non-working port.

Bog: I can't disagree with you, my PCs seem to have a multitude of problems. I wonder if simply PCs and I just don't get along . Anyway, I tried disabling USB power management for both battery and AC power options, but no changes resulted--the speaker continues to work when plugged into one USB port, but not when plugged into the other port identified as not working. I even tried enabling power management for battery and AC, but again, no changes occurred. As I wrote for tilleroftheearth, the speaker appears under "Sound, Video, and Game Controllers", but I could not find any power management options to disable or enable for it. I'll write soon and update you on the BSOD situation, either privately or on this thread.

Tsunade_Hime: Yes, this is the same M1330 I seem to write often about. As I wrote above, the speaker appears under "Sound, Video, and Game Controllers" as "Logitech Z205" (speaker model) with a speaker icon, whether the speaker is connected to the working or non-working USB port. Does this suggest anything relevant?

Just in case, the "non-working" USB port seems to function properly with two external hard drives, one of which uses the USB port for both power and data transfer. Thanks much again for your responses. I had mentioned this situation primarily from academic curiosity, as I assumed nothing could be done to correct it, and I appreciate your suggestions for rectifying the situation. If you have any additional suggestions to correct the situation with the "non-working" USB port and the Logitech Z205 speaker, I would be appreciative.

 

It sounds like you're encountering a software issue, not a hardware one. I'd go with tiller's recommendation and uninstall the speaker from Device Manager and letting it reinstall the device.

 

Tiller and Bog-

I uninstalled the speaker from the Device Manager under "Sound, Video, and Game Controllers" and rebooted the PC. Unfortunately I am encountering the same problem: one USB port (the same one as before) doesn't seem to transmit sound to the speaker while the other one does. After I connected the speaker to the non-working USB port, Device manager lists the speaker (as "Logitech Z205") under "Sound, Video, and Game Controllers", yet no sound emerges. The power indicator for the speaker is also "on" when the speaker is connected to either USB port.

I'm beginning to wonder if the USB port in question is defective in some way, although I cannot reconcile that with the fact that at least my external hard drives work normally when connected to it. Should I have disabled the speaker in Device Manager instead of uninstalling it?

I greatly appreciate your previous suggestions. I'll post this to the "Windows OS" forum if you think that is more appropriate and if you think it will help. I'm also very appreciative for any additional suggestions to help rectify this puzzling problem.

Thanks much,

 

See if you can go to your local electronics store and purchased another exact set and plug it into that USB port.

Have you also tried them on another laptop?

Disabling the device won't really do much, uninstalling the device purges the driver and Windows will automatically reinstall the drivers.

 

If you've disabled power management to the USB port and it still isn't working, I can only recommend that you make sure that your chipset driver is up-to-date by referring to the laptop manufacturer's website. If it is, try reinstalling the driver.

 

Hello all-

I may have spoken--or posted--too soon. As I wrote a few minutes ago, after uninstalling the Logitech Z205 speaker from the Device Manager and rebooting the PC, the same problem seemed to persist when I reconnected the speaker to the seemingly errant USB port and the speaker continued to work when connected to the other USB port. I noticed, however, that when I reconnected the speaker to the errant USB port, I did not see a message that the driver software was being installed. Afterwards, I followed Tsunade_Hime's advice and connected the speaker to my back-up notebook PC (also a Dell M1330) and it worked fine for both USB ports. I then connected the speaker back to the errant USB port of my main PC to start writing a post indicating the results, but then I saw a screen message that the speaker's driver software was being installed. I played a video and the speaker now works fine. The advice of Tilleroftheearth worked after all, helped by Bog who helped me interpret his advice--I was too literal in my initial interpretation.

I surmise from this situation and its solution that the speaker's driver software interfacing with the USB port in question became corrupted and the uninstall basically cleared the corrupt software and allowed a clean copy to be re-installed from the speaker. If my interpretation is wrong, I'd appreciate being corrected.

Thanks much to Tiller and Bog and all who contributed suggestions and advice. Hopefully this will be the last of my PC problems, at least for a spell.

 

Bog-

I've copied the URL of the original BSOD thread I initiated in which you recommended BlueScreenView (BSV), which I used. I mention at the end that I tried it and it worked well in identifying the errant driver, although I don't mention the driver's ID:

http://forum.notebookreview.com/win...lue-death-screen-seeking-diagnostic-help.html

Subsequently I initiated another thread seeking advice on the errant driver identified by BSV:

http://forum.notebookreview.com/win...l-dll-driver-repair-question.html#post6906001

If you or anyone else have suggestions to the query in the 2nd thread, I'd be very appreciative.

Thanks much,

 

Hey, glad you got it working!

I did take a quick look at your second thread above, but don't have anything constructive to add. Sorry.

Edit: even though it is the Hal.dll file that is blue screening your system, it could be any hardware driver that goes through that file.

I would maybe uninstall one device/driver at a time through device manager (delete the device just like you did with the speakers, but just use the Windows default drivers it installs) and use the computer for a day or two until you're sure that the BSOD is gone/cured.

Don't re-install the previous driver you disabled - it may be an interaction between two or more drivers.

This is the order I would attact this:

Video
Audio
Mouse
Camera
AHCI driver (IRST?)
all others.

Good luck.

 

Tiller--thanks for your sentiments and advice on the BSOD thread. I'll follow your suggestions and see if I can eliminate the BSOD cause gradually.