Re: Flash drive not recognized when plugged into front USB port




"Ray K" <raykosXXX@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:4a863683$0$22518$607ed4bc@xxxxxxxxx
Andy wrote:
On Fri, 14 Aug 2009 18:37:15 -0400, Ray K <raykosXXX@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
wrote:

I have three flash drives that my newly built computer recognizes when
plugged into the USB ports on the back panel of my Asus M3A76-CM mob.
Windows Explorer correctly shows them as the L: drive and the Safely
Remove Icon appears in the system tray.

But when I plug them into the front, they don't work. The system tray,
Safely Remove Icon appears, along with the right drive letter L:, but
Windows Explorer doesn't show the device. If I try using the Safely
Remove Icon to stop the drive, I can't do it. I end up rebooting the
computer.

Each front USB port is connected to the mobo by four wires: Red, Vcc,
White, D-, Green, D+, and Black ground, in that order. I tried swapping
the green and white leads, but then the computer shows a New Hardware
Found message, but couldn't recognize it with these leads theoretically
wrong.

If I again plug the devices into the back USB port, they still work
okay, so I haven't damaged them due to improper wiring to the front
ports.

Thanks for your suggestions.

The front panel USB cable is substandard.

I've reused the case, so both front connectors and their cables are the
same ones that had been working right along, as USB2.0. The cables are
round, slightly thinner than a standard #2 round pencil. The mobo manual
warns not to use a 1394 cable to the USB connectors; doing so will damage
the motherboard. I don't know what a 1394 cable is, but since I haven't
damaged the mobo, I'm assuming that the cables to the front panel are not
1394s.





I've had similar issues with front USB connectors. I have an Antec case with
two front USB ports. They will read USB flashdrives but when I plug a 2.5"
form factor external drive into either one of the ports they will not work.
I would get a clicking sound from the drive as if it were indicating it was
on its death bed. Plugging the drive into a rear USB connector would get the
drive running fine. When this happened for the first time I emailed Antec,
as the case was under warranty (I believe for 3 years). They sent me a
replacement front port USB connector assembly, which included the wiring
harness. Same problem hooking it up. So the issue is still unresolved. It
could very well be that the headers on the new Gigabyte mb I have are OK for
flash drives, but allow insufficient current to allow the external drive to
run with my system.
My guess in your case, since the front ports were working OK for the
previous install is that the mb front USB headers have the same issue as
mine, but even worse to not allow reading of a lowly flash drive current
requirement. Maybe it's worth getting in touch with Asus since they may
already be aware of the issue and may have a fix for it, or may have a
correction to the point of wanting to replace your mb.
By the way, the '1394' refers to a firewire cable.
--
Jan Alter
bearpuf@xxxxxxxxxxx


.

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