Powered USB Hubs - Troublesome?

[jnick]

Hey guys.

I've been having some problems with my joystick ever since I've purchased it a month ago; the Saitek X52.

The issue is everytime I boot/restart, the joysticks LEDs blink every 5 seconds, and the joystick is non-responsive. I've tried the Saitek forums, and many people seem to have this issue, however there's only been one constant answer - USB Power.

It seems that the Joystick NEEDS a powered USB port/hub, of which the ports in the back of the motherboard are not. Therefore I was thinking about picking up a 4-port*ish external, powered USB hub, just for the joystick. However Im not quite sure if it'll cause any conflicts with the PC, or the DFI board. Does anyone have any experience with these hubs, more specifically on DFI boards?

I really have tried to stay away from these devices mainly to stay away from any conflicts - however, without one, I have to go under my desk everytime the computer boots/reboots and unplug/replug the joystick in, which gets rather cumbersome.

Soo, with all that mumbo jumbo said, would it be 'safe' for me to hook up an external hub? Or should I stay away from them?

Thanks!

 

[alphanumeric]

To the best of my knowledge the USB ports on a motherboard are powered. They are good for 500 ma's, 1 half amp each. External ports or hubs can be powered or none powered. The non powered hubs get there power from the motherboard port they are plugged into. The total current draw for the hub would be 500 ma's. If you plug to many things into the hub that need power you overload the motherboards USB port and things stop working. Powered hubs come with a power adapter, usually 5volts @ 2Amps. 500 ma per port for a 4 port hub. If you want to see how much current is being drawn from a port try this.
Within Device Manager, double-click Universal Serial Bus controllers and then double-click the first USB Root Hub listing-
-there should be more than one. Click the Power tab (and also the Power properties button, in Windows 98 and Me);
under "Attached devices" ("Devices on this Hub" in 98, Me, and 2000), you'll see a list of the devices connected through that USB hub,
along with the power requirements for each, in milliamps.

 

[zoobaby]

Odd problem. By definition all USB host ports on the motherboard are supposed to be able to supply .5 Amps at 5 Volts. Chances are the Saitek controller pulls close to that and occasionally a bit more during power on causing the USB protocol to hang. A hub may help, I would suggest staying away from Belkin, but almost any should work. It should not cause conflicts with the motherboard.

 

[jnick]

Thanks for the info guys.

I did a little tweak to the USB Root hubs in device manager, un-checking the option which allows the PC to turn off the hub to save power. So far, that appears to be working . . . *crosses fingers*.

If this doesn't work, then I'll go out a pick up a powered hub .

Thanks agian.