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General discussion

gateway monitor usb hub stopped working

Jan 23, 2011 10:17AM PST

I have a Gateway FPD 1785/1985 monitor with 4 usb ports. They worked great for quite some time, but recently stopped working. I really have no idea why. I've checked all the connections and it's plugged in, etc.

Does anyone have any ideas? I really don't know what else to do. And I sure miss these usb ports.

I have Windows Vista and everything else is working fine. The usb hub on the front of my Gateway computer works. Thank goodness since that's now the only accessible one for me to use.

Melissa

Discussion is locked

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Look into...
Jan 24, 2011 1:02AM PST

Possibles here, the USB hub is bad or the connection is dirty. The quick fix for a dirty contact is to clean those, use a Q-tip with alcohol and swab them down and check results. Also, be careful to view those same contacts for any peeled, or otherwise damaged contact. If the hub is bad, no fix at all, though you can still check them for presence in the h/w device manager from the control panel area. If any USB attention flags are present, like yellow or red, report back. Since, your PC USB ports are OK, this is probably only that bad hub at fault at monitor. You can buy a "satellite hub" attach it to a rear PC USB port and use that in place of now bad monitor located one. These are of small cost and are easily available, just buy a decent one.

tada -----Willy Happy

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usb device manager
Jan 25, 2011 11:46PM PST

Thanks so much for your help. I went into device manager, and to be honest I'm not sure where the usb ports for my monitor show up. I see 4 "generic usb cf reader usb device"(s) under disk drives. Since my monitor has 4 usb ports, I have a feeling this is where they are showing up under device manager. None have red or yellow flags. The 4 usb ports on my monitor would still show up under device manager, even if there was a problem, right?

As far as cleaning do you mean the actual usb port? Would all 4 have gotten dirty and stopped working at once?

If I understand what you're saying, and if I'm looking in the right place in device manager... it looks like the hub might be bad. Is this what you're thinking?

Thanks again. I'm not too familiar with this sort of thing so your help is definately much appreciated.

Melissa

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Look at...
Jan 27, 2011 9:49PM PST

I suggest you collapse the device tree,especially the USB listing and exit out. Then reboot the system, allow it to finish and then return to the device manager and check the listing again. If the USB has a problem, the tree is expanded and some USB item will show a red/yellow flag. If nothing stands out, its OK. Now, because the monitor USB ports are ext. to the PC, it treats it as a satellite hub of USB ports. So, in effect you're repeating the process by buying one to replace it. I can only offer you spend a few bucks here, maybe the Belkin brand. These aren't that expensive overall and many online and local shops should carry them. I do offer buy one that's AC powered, rather than USB port powered.

As to your original problem it maybe your port USB hub got toasted or the power segment is "poof" done-in. A main reason for such is repeated multiple USB devices to include power hungry ones and allowing them to stay connected all the time, can degrade the simple USB power leg and/or lands on PCB or its chips.

tada -----Willy Happy

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usb hub
Jan 25, 2011 11:47PM PST

One other question... can you recommend what to look for in getting a good satellite hub?

Thanks!
Melissa

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Link
Jan 27, 2011 9:50PM PST