USB port inactive, someone might know why?

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USB port inactive, someone might know why?

Compaq Armada 1500c's USB port is apparently 100% inactive. Won't even recognise or turn on a Logitech optical mouse(brand new, works fine). Running Windows 2000. USB controller reports as working fine in System Information(or whatever that little application's called). Anyone else think it's just a case of the port needing re-soldering? Or might it be a software problem(though I doubt it)?

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one quick tip i doubt its the

one quick tip i doubt its the problem though but go into the bios and make sure everything for usb is turned on, usually though if it is disabled in the bios it would not show up in windows. but worth a try.. also im sure there is a way to check voltage from the port.

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Check The Bios

Check in the BIOS to make sure that USB is indeed enabled. Windows, especially 2000/XP can see hardware that is disabled in the BIOS, but it can't use it.

I used one of those Armada 1500 series once. I had to disable the USB to get the sound card (I think it was the sound card) to work, for a lack of IRQ's or DMA's. Just keep in mind that enabling USB may render another device unusable because of a poor IRQ sharing setup on those Armada's.

If you've got one, those PS/2 <-> USB adaptors will work, and will probably be quicker to get that mouse working for you.

The Czar

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I have a PS/2 adapter(came wi

I have a PS/2 adapter(came with mouse), but the problem there is that the PS/2 mouse and PS/2 trackpad interfere with each other when both attached; it's a bit hard to explain all the weird things that happen, but an example is when you click a trackpad button, the cursor jumps around in a zig-zag motion for hours.

Solution: I'm gonna buy a PCMCIA USB card. Smile

(PS- I can't get to the setup BIOS thingy- it was erased from the hard drive and I can't find a replacement)

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Re: I have a PS/2 adapter(came wi


Solution: I'm gonna buy a PCMCIA USB card. Smile

(PS- I can't get to the setup BIOS thingy- it was erased from the hard drive and I can't find a replacement)

im not sure about that computer, but wouldnt that cause it to need another IRQ to run that card? its just an idea.

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bios isnt on the HD, so you c

bios isnt on the HD, so you couldnt of erased it from it Smile

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Well...

Technically it isn't, but try telling that to Compaq. Wink

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Re: bios isnt on the HD, so you c

bios isnt on the HD, so you couldnt of erased it from it :)

Actually, for some machines, it is. Usually there will be a very small partition at the beginning of the HDD with the machine's BIOS on it. The motherboard only has enough ROM to know to go to that first partition to get the rest of the code it needs to boot. The problem with this setup is that you need to use a special, manufacturer-supplied utility when you want to reformat the hard disk--simply running fdisk and wiping out all the partitions leaves the machine unusable. (We found this out the hard way when I worked at a computer store as a tech many moons ago.)

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hmmm...i got a pc with 1 usb

hmmm...i got a pc with 1 usb port dead and 1 working. i think i fried one of em.

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Re: I have a PS/2 adapter(came wi


im not sure about that computer, but wouldnt that cause it to need another IRQ to run that card? its just an idea.

Not necessarily. PC laptops under Windows (usually) reserve IRQ's for the PCMCIA slots. Newer laptops (and I'm thinking the Armada 1500 series qualifies under this) are capable of IRQ sharing. That is, if one device isn't in use, it will "borrow" it's IRQ for the new device (such as taking the IRQ for a modem to give to an ethernet card, etc.). I've seen that very often on IBM Thinkpads. Regardless, as long as the slots are activated in Device Manager, the laptop should be able to see the PCMCIA card inserted into it.

A word to the wise: If your machine supports cardbus, definitely go with it. Cardbus makes things much simpler in terms of installation, usage and troubleshooting. Cardbus devices are also much less picky about IRQ's being assigned to them, often accepting any available IRQ. The difference between straight PCMCIA and Cardbus is like the difference between ISA and PCI. Cardbus, in my experience, is pretty close in price to the older PCMCIA, but with a lot fewer headaches.

Cheers,

The Czar

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