[plug] 2.5 USB Enclosure

[Arie Hol]

On 7 Aug 2005 at 4:46, Chris Caston wrote:

> On Sat, 2005-08-06 at 14:08, Craig Ringer wrote:
> > On Sat, 2005-08-06 at 11:50 +0800, Chris Caston wrote:
> > > On Sat, 2005-08-06 at 11:47, Daniel Pearson wrote:
> > > > Time to get a new power supply :P
> > > > 
> > > 
> > > They ended up with a TR2-430W (and they complained heavily about the
> > > price despite the fact I only made about $8 markup) but I didn't bring
> > > out a usb pci card so I got an angry phone call they tried to use the
> > > hub again and XP said something along the lines "There is not enough
> > > power to run this device"
> > 
> > There are both powered and unpowered hubs. An unpowered hub can only
> > power simple devices with very low power draw, such as mice and
> > keyboards. I'd expect a USB key to fall into that category too, but that
> > depends on (a) the USB key not lying to the hub about its power
> > requirements and (b) the USB key's designers not totally screwing it up.
> > 
> > I have had problems with every USB hub I've had the misfortune to use.
> > Not just power issues either, but general reliability problems and
> > bizarre quirks like devices just powering off until the hub is reset.
> > 
> > If I need more ports, I just install a USB card these days - they're
> > cheap and easy, and more importantly they actually work.
> 
> I'm completely agree with you on that one
> > 
> > As for "sucking all the power out," I find it difficult to believe that
> > a USB key could use any significant amount of power compared to, say, a
> > CPU or HDD. If the machine has the power to spin up its hard disk on
> > boot, it has the power to run a USB key. Are you sure there wasn't an
> > electrical fault involved?
> 
> It was a USB hub and he had a printer plugged into it.
> 
> >  It's also not impossible that the /OS/ is
> > crashing in such a way as to instantly power off the machine (not
> > directly related, but reiserfs, I'm looking at you) when the device is
> > plugged in.
> > 
> 
> His original PSU blew, he bought a cheap 350w  and that blew, I came out
> and put in a much better quality 350w it worked fine for a while but
> later the machine would just throw up a black screen when trying to boot
> XP. It booted fine after unplugging the usb hub. 
> 
> I put in the 430w PSU and it booted fine even with the hub but then
> started causing problems later down the track. 
> 
> It may have been a mains power issue I guess but I'm blaming the hub.
> > --

If you suspect a mains power problem - I would suggest that you buy a cheap plugin surge protector 
($20) and maybe get the wiring in the house checked  - also consider checking out any appliances in 
the house that operate with a thermostat - ie fridge - air con - hot water systems - these may be 
causing a spike which may affect your power supply. 

Another thing you could try is - use an extension lead (temporarily) to power the computer from a 
power point on a different circuit or fuse in the house  - this may reduce the peak effect of the 
surge.

I had a problem like this a few years ago - In my games room I have two power points - one for a 
fridge, the other was a spare - one day my kids had friends over to play pool etc... my son moved 
his hi-fi system into the games rooms for music - there were two problems :

1 - If the fridge was running and someone turned up the volume on the hi-fi - the power draw of the 
hi-fi caused a surge which took out all the power down one side of the house - including power to 
my computers.

2 - If the fridge thermostat decided to start the fridge while the hi-fi was on - same result as 
above.

Solution - call sparky :
1- to install separate fuse and wiring and surge protection to my study/computers.
2- to buy a cheap plugin surge protector for hifi 
3- create new rule - No plugin surge protector - No use Hi-fi

Problem solvered.

The fridge remained untouched - as it is considered as sacred ground.

Result : No more surge problems in house, all PC's OK - 

The fridge and it's worshippers are also OK.

Regards Arie
------------------------------------------------------------------
 For the concert of life, nobody has a program.
------------------------------------------------------------------