My usb device wont connect to my computer. It says theres a power surge on hub port. What can I do?

Question

I have a lot of papers to do and for whatever reason my computer says theres a power surge on hub port. What can I do to fix this? Do I need a new usb?? I dont know much about computers so any advice would be great.. Thanks...

Answer 1

I have never heard of this error before.



Here's what I would do:



1. Disconnect all of the usb devices from all usb ports on the computer while it on and at the desktop..



Watch the screen as you do the following: (only if the mouse and keyboard were USB of course)



2. Plug in the mouse.

3. Plug in the keyboard.

4. Now plug in your device.



Does it now say there's a power surge? If not then something else you have not yet connected must be the thing causing the power surge.



The phrase "there's a power surge on a hub port" could be just about any port because the ports on the computer are also a "hub".



You may actually have a device that is a hub. It can look like just about anything including being extra ports on a monitor. More than likely it's a little box about the size of a cigarette box with usb ports on it. Look in the ports on it to see if there's anything jammed in them, and smell at the ports for the acrid smell of burned electronics. If you smell that then one or more of those ports may be fried.



Also check that the correct power pack is connected to the hub. You can check the required voltage on the side of the hub, and then look at the voltage that's printed on the power pack. Both the voltage and the "mA or A" must match. If they do not then any number of errors might come about, including the one you're describing.



Hope this helps,



Roger Tiedemann, Jr.

roger at rogertdj.com

Answer 2

First of all, I would try and eliminate all the simple causes of the surge error. If you have a bad USB device, it could cause this. Broken pins in the USB plug could be shorting (physical damage?) Remove all the USB devices from the hub but one, unplug hub from computer and plug it in again. See if the error still shows. Try moving the hub cord to another USB socket on the computer. Try using the hub on another computer if possible just to test it. Try using just one USB device in the hub, and add them as you verify it is working. Hope this will help identify the problem.

Answer 3

How old is your machine? If it's more than three years old it could very well be your machine is to support the newer devices. I looked at the device manager, I deleted the USB devices from the device manager, I contacted the vendor of all of my devices and everyone pointed the finger to someone else. I reinstalled Windows XP.



If your device works on another computer, you know it's not the device. This happens when adding newer components to older computer (a computer is obsolete after 3 years). See my story below:



I added a new HP printer to my set up all my ports stopped working. I tried everything, and then read "ports need to be updated". My computer is over three years old and the original ports are 1.1 and most new USB devices are 2.0. Long story short, I went to Microcenter and purchased new ports ($11.00) and added them to my computer. All ports are now functional.



Best wishes!