[USB problems] Different machines doing different things

> I have a USB class driver that is working fine on some machines and

not others and I am not sure why.

Simple checks:

  • Is your “Driver Interface GUID” unique?

  • Test a different USB port on a machines where it fails.

  • Check if the problems go away if you add a USB hub between PC and device.

From our experience, some USB2 host I/Fs seem subtly broken.
(Is it the chip? A PCB routing/wiring issue? We can’t say!)
In all scenarios everything works fine with USB1.1, but then using
USB2.0 people get weird problems:

  • In some cases just plugging in an cable (no device) at a different(!)
    USB port causes transfer problems.
  • In one case a second USB2 device (e.g. USB-“NIC”) caused a problem.
  • In one report, a user using a laptop/docking station reported that all
    works fine for about half an hour, then our USB device is “lost”.
    Plugging it in directly at the laptop works fine for days.
  • In one case, a KVM switch USB cable plugged at a different(!) USB port
    than our device was exchanged against a same-length(!) external cable,
    then the problems vanished.

Unfortunately (so far) we did not get hold of a system where we can
reproduce the problem, to check it out with an external USB probe.

USB2 with 480Mbit/s is already in R/F range. Let’s look forward to USB3.

I know very little at all about USB (any version), but just from my
experience as a regular old user of removable usb devices, it does indeed
seem that there are some amazingly crappy ones out there.

mm

-----Original Message-----
From: xxxxx@lists.osr.com
[mailto:xxxxx@lists.osr.com] On Behalf Of Hagen Patzke
Sent: Friday, September 10, 2010 4:36 AM
To: Windows System Software Devs Interest List
Subject: [ntdev] [USB problems] Different machines doing different things

I have a USB class driver that is working fine on some machines and
not others and I am not sure why.

Simple checks:

  • Is your “Driver Interface GUID” unique?

  • Test a different USB port on a machines where it fails.

  • Check if the problems go away if you add a USB hub between PC and device.

From our experience, some USB2 host I/Fs seem subtly broken.
(Is it the chip? A PCB routing/wiring issue? We can’t say!) In all
scenarios everything works fine with USB1.1, but then using
USB2.0 people get weird problems:

  • In some cases just plugging in an cable (no device) at a different(!) USB
    port causes transfer problems.
  • In one case a second USB2 device (e.g. USB-“NIC”) caused a problem.
  • In one report, a user using a laptop/docking station reported that all
    works fine for about half an hour, then our USB device is “lost”.
    Plugging it in directly at the laptop works fine for days.
  • In one case, a KVM switch USB cable plugged at a different(!) USB port
    than our device was exchanged against a same-length(!) external cable, then
    the problems vanished.

Unfortunately (so far) we did not get hold of a system where we can
reproduce the problem, to check it out with an external USB probe.

USB2 with 480Mbit/s is already in R/F range. Let’s look forward to USB3.


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