USB multiway adapter: any good?

I recently got a external USB hub.

It's very basic with only three or four passive electronic components. It plugs into a USB port and then at the other end of a short cable it has the components and four USB sockets.

Is this sort of thing any good?

ISTR some nasty problems with XP and missing serial numbers in a USB device's firmware

Reply to
Jon D
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If it works, it must have more than just a few passive components. If it really only has a few passive components, then chances are it doesn't work.

By 'work', I mean handle more than one USB device simultaneously.

If its a true USB hub, it shouldn't affect how XP (or any other O/S) talks to the peripheral devices. If XP is messing up, its doing it on its own. Its possible that there may be a conflict between the device drivers for two devices that only surfaces when both are plugged in.

Reply to
Paul Hovnanian P.E.

Maybe there is a chip hidden on the other side of the circuit board ?

This datasheet has some sample schematics for hub designs. Download is about 400KB or so.

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The currently available doc from Alcor is not nearly as useful.

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Paul

Reply to
Paul

It must have (an active) chip on it to support more than one port.

If it really doesn't have the chip it is a bizarre defective design, not even a USB hub regardless of what it's labeled as. Keep in mind that some "chips" are now integrated, might look like a blob of (black?) epoxy directly on the circuit board with the chip die embedded in (under) it. While this is a crude ultra-low cost way to do it, it could still work fine if made like that, if it were the only issue at play which certainly isn't the case.

It could be defective, have you any other hubs that work properly on that system, "now"? I ask "now" because a windows box can be dynamic, with the service packs and other patches things can become working or non-working.

Also if it is a passive hub (no external power), you may find some hi powered (beyond about 80(?) mA, to give the hub electronics themselves a random, though probably inflated,

20mA current budget) devices won't work.

If you are plugging such a device into the hub, try a mouse or keyboard, or some other device with it's own power supply (and that is also designed to use that power supply while USB linked, as some only use it while un-linked and turned "on" in working, not data-transfer, mode).

Reply to
kony

I think I know what you are looking at.

Here in the UK, we have a chain of discount stores (PoundLand) that sell a USB 2.0 4 port hub for just a pound(!). Bit like a dollar store in the US. The item is a transparent tatty-toy-plastic 2" by 2" square, 1/3" thick, 4-ports arranged mid-lengthways and 4 passives (2 electrolytics,

1 ceramic & an LED), and has a paper (SRBP) PCB with a solder-side chip epoxy bonded as others have suggested.

Quite frankly, at it's cost I didn't expect this thing to work at all - and bought it just for some entertainment value and eventual butchering for PCB mount USB sockets. It is however OK at USB 2.0 support, and ran with quite a few memory sticks and other USB items connected through other hubs!

Worth another try. Could have been unrelated?

Reply to
Adrian C

Definately sounds interesting... I wonder how a bloke could get a handful mailed over to Canada?

; )

Reply to
Noozer

You can probably find something similar if not exact same thing on ebay. It might be worth the extra couple bucks to get a powered one instead though, unless it's only for notebook use.

Reply to
kony

Here's an example of USB proliferation:

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Never a problem.

Reply to
PanHandler

oops - bottom of page 1, top of page 2. Click on thumbnails and resulting larger version for full-size version.

Reply to
PanHandler

Nah... just something to pull apart, etc...

Reply to
Noozer

That is exactly it! Oh so that raised blob on the edge of the circuit board is a chip? I hadn't realised that.

The USB 2.0 devices which I attach to this adapter seem to be constrained to USB 1.1.

I too didn't expect it to work. However I have had an XP blue screen and wondered if I was experiencing a hardware problem due to this device.

I am *guessing* that this adaptor (which is detected by XP as a separate USB-attached device) does not have its own unique serial number. If so then it may trigger that rather nasty XP problem. encountered

Reply to
Jon D

Ummm, that is a lot of USB devices!

Reply to
Jon D

Yep!

Works just find.

Just about all of them have provision to bring in juice from a "wall wart" but usually the computer has plenty of power to spare. Things like printers don't draw any juice from the USB and things like "thumb drives" don't use much power in the first place.

Enjoy.

Reply to
John Gilmer

There is so little to it that it is almost trivial.

Reply to
Alex Coleman

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