USB multiway adapter: any good?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Jon D
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Jon D

I recently got a external USB hub.

It's very basic with only three or four passive electronic components.
It plugs into a USB port and then at the other end of a short cable it
has the components and four USB sockets.

Is this sort of thing any good?

ISTR some nasty problems with XP and missing serial numbers in a USB
device's firmware
 
Jon said:
I recently got a external USB hub.

It's very basic with only three or four passive electronic components.
It plugs into a USB port and then at the other end of a short cable it
has the components and four USB sockets.

Is this sort of thing any good?
Click to expand...

If it works, it must have more than just a few passive components. If it
really only has a few passive components, then chances are it doesn't
work.

By 'work', I mean handle more than one USB device simultaneously.
ISTR some nasty problems with XP and missing serial numbers in a USB
device's firmware
Click to expand...

If its a true USB hub, it shouldn't affect how XP (or any other O/S)
talks to the peripheral devices. If XP is messing up, its doing it on
its own. Its possible that there may be a conflict between the device
drivers for two devices that only surfaces when both are plugged in.
 
I recently got a external USB hub.

It's very basic with only three or four passive electronic components.
It plugs into a USB port and then at the other end of a short cable it
has the components and four USB sockets.

Is this sort of thing any good?

ISTR some nasty problems with XP and missing serial numbers in a USB
device's firmware
Click to expand...

Maybe there is a chip hidden on the other side of the circuit board ?

This datasheet has some sample schematics for hub designs.
Download is about 400KB or so.

http://logout.sh/computers/projects/usbradio/AU9254 R2-020108.pdf

The currently available doc from Alcor is not nearly as useful.

http://www.alcormicro.com/system/upload/p_download/37/download.pdf

Paul
 
I recently got a external USB hub.

It's very basic with only three or four passive electronic components.
It plugs into a USB port and then at the other end of a short cable it
has the components and four USB sockets.
Click to expand...

It must have (an active) chip on it to support more than one
port.



Is this sort of thing any good?
Click to expand...

If it really doesn't have the chip it is a bizarre
defective design, not even a USB hub regardless of what it's
labeled as. Keep in mind that some "chips" are now
integrated, might look like a blob of (black?) epoxy
directly on the circuit board with the chip die embedded in
(under) it. While this is a crude ultra-low cost way to do
it, it could still work fine if made like that, if it were
the only issue at play which certainly isn't the case.

ISTR some nasty problems with XP and missing serial numbers in a USB
device's firmware
Click to expand...


It could be defective, have you any other hubs that work
properly on that system, "now"? I ask "now" because a
windows box can be dynamic, with the service packs and other
patches things can become working or non-working.

Also if it is a passive hub (no external power), you may
find some hi powered (beyond about 80(?) mA, to give the hub
electronics themselves a random, though probably inflated,
20mA current budget) devices won't work.

If you are plugging such a device into the hub, try a mouse
or keyboard, or some other device with it's own power supply
(and that is also designed to use that power supply while
USB linked, as some only use it while un-linked and turned
"on" in working, not data-transfer, mode).
 
Jon said:
I recently got a external USB hub.

It's very basic with only three or four passive electronic components.
It plugs into a USB port and then at the other end of a short cable it
has the components and four USB sockets.
Click to expand...

I think I know what you are looking at.

Here in the UK, we have a chain of discount stores (PoundLand) that sell
a USB 2.0 4 port hub for just a pound(!). Bit like a dollar store in the
US. The item is a transparent tatty-toy-plastic 2" by 2" square, 1/3"
thick, 4-ports arranged mid-lengthways and 4 passives (2 electrolytics,
1 ceramic & an LED), and has a paper (SRBP) PCB with a solder-side chip
epoxy bonded as others have suggested.
Is this sort of thing any good?
Click to expand...
Quite frankly, at it's cost I didn't expect this thing to work at all -
and bought it just for some entertainment value and eventual butchering
for PCB mount USB sockets. It is however OK at USB 2.0 support, and ran
with quite a few memory sticks and other USB items connected through
other hubs!
ISTR some nasty problems with XP and missing serial numbers in a USB
device's firmware
Click to expand...

Worth another try. Could have been unrelated?
 
Adrian C said:
I think I know what you are looking at.

Here in the UK, we have a chain of discount stores (PoundLand) that sell a
USB 2.0 4 port hub for just a pound(!). Bit like a dollar store in the US.
The item is a transparent tatty-toy-plastic 2" by 2" square, 1/3" thick,
4-ports arranged mid-lengthways and 4 passives (2 electrolytics, 1 ceramic
& an LED), and has a paper (SRBP) PCB with a solder-side chip epoxy bonded
as others have suggested.
Quite frankly, at it's cost I didn't expect this thing to work at all -
and bought it just for some entertainment value and eventual butchering
for PCB mount USB sockets. It is however OK at USB 2.0 support, and ran
with quite a few memory sticks and other USB items connected through other
hubs!
Click to expand...

Definately sounds interesting... I wonder how a bloke could get a handful
mailed over to Canada?

; )
 
Definately sounds interesting... I wonder how a bloke could get a handful
mailed over to Canada?

; )
Click to expand...


You can probably find something similar if not exact same
thing on ebay. It might be worth the extra couple bucks to
get a powered one instead though, unless it's only for
notebook use.
 
You can probably find something similar if not exact same
thing on ebay. It might be worth the extra couple bucks to
get a powered one instead though, unless it's only for
notebook use.
Click to expand...

Nah... just something to pull apart, etc...
 
Jon said:
I think I know what you are looking at.

Here in the UK, we have a chain of discount stores (PoundLand) that
sell a USB 2.0 4 port hub for just a pound(!). Bit like a dollar
store in the US. The item is a transparent tatty-toy-plastic 2" by
2" square, 1/3" thick, 4-ports arranged mid-lengthways and 4
passives (2 electrolytics, 1 ceramic & an LED), and has a paper
(SRBP) PCB with a solder-side chip epoxy bonded as others have
suggested.
Click to expand...


That is exactly it! Oh so that raised blob on the edge of the circuit
board is a chip? I hadn't realised that.
Quite frankly, at it's cost I didn't expect this thing to work at
all - and bought it just for some entertainment value and eventual
butchering for PCB mount USB sockets. It is however OK at USB 2.0
support, and ran with quite a few memory sticks and other USB items
connected through other hubs!
Click to expand...

The USB 2.0 devices which I attach to this adapter seem to be
constrained to USB 1.1.

I too didn't expect it to work. However I have had an XP blue screen
and wondered if I was experiencing a hardware problem due to this
device.

Worth another try. Could have been unrelated?
Click to expand...

I am *guessing* that this adaptor (which is detected by XP as a separate
USB-attached device) does not have its own unique serial number. If so
then it may trigger that rather nasty XP problem. encountered
 
Jon D said:
I recently got a external USB hub.

It's very basic with only three or four passive electronic components.
It plugs into a USB port and then at the other end of a short cable it
has the components and four USB sockets.

Is this sort of thing any good?
Click to expand...

Yep!

Works just find.

Just about all of them have provision to bring in juice from a "wall wart"
but usually the computer has plenty of power to spare. Things like
printers don't draw any juice from the USB and things like "thumb drives"
don't use much power in the first place.

Enjoy.
 
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