USB problem

I bought a great 'bargain' - a retractable USB cable for use with my digital camera. Nothing wrong with the old one, I just liked the idea of a retractable one (and it was only £3.99 at TK Maxx)!

Anyhoo, my computer isn't recognising it. Is there anything I can do to get it to be familiar to my computer, or should I just give it up and add it to my list of experiences?

Thanks in advance!:thumb:

 

OK couple of questions...

What version of windows are you using? 98, XP or vista?

Have you tried the cable in all of the USB ports?

have you tried plugging anything else into the retractable cable?

 

!. Windows XP
2. No, I've only tried in in my usual digital camera port - so far!
3. Don't think I have anything else that the retractable cable will fit into!
4. Haven't tried shutting down with it in port and starting up again - yet.

Thankyou both for your suggestions, will give 2. and 4. a go, and get back to you...

(P.S. WOO - so glad you are up and running again - I had the dastardly Vista anitvirus 2008, and had to reboot completely too - ooohhh I still remember tha pain of backing up allll those pictures!!)

 

JarBax - If all you are trying to do is connect your camera (which it seems was being recognised via the old USB connection) through an extended cable, it sounds like the cable is duff OR too long.
I'm guessing that you have to use your original cable to plug into the new extension.

Your computer doesn't have to recognise the cable, all it cares about is the device at the end of the cable.

There is a limit to length of USB cable that can be used. Now I'm not sure if this varies beween devices or whether it is cause by voltage drop or the reduction in speed of signals over longer lengths preventing synchronisation between device and computer.

If you have a USB connected printer you could try the extension on that.

I'll see if I can find any info on USB data transfer and I'll post it if I do.

Edit >
Here's the info I was looking for. Your camera is probably a low speed device so you should think in terms of 3m length.

USB Info: Frequently Asked Questions
USB Cables, Connectors, and Networking with USB

Q1: How long of a cable can I use to connect my device?
A1: In practice, the USB specification limits the length of a cable between full speed devices to 5 meters (a little under 16 feet 5 inches). For a low speed device the limit is 3 meters (9 feet 10 inches).

 

Bet your computer is a lot smarter than the present one:D:D

 

Thankyou Dave - that is probably the answer - my old cable (which works perfectly) is a LOT shorter than the retractable one - hadn't thought about the length.

Anyone want a retractable USB cable - not even used once?! :D

 

Usually a USB cable is a cable is a cable, and if it flatly refuses to work at all it's broken. Unless it has a dongle in it, which is another kettle of fish altogether.
In my limited experience of "long" USB cable problems, they still showed some functionality such as allowing the scanner to be recognised by the computer, but would then crash halfway through the scan/print/data transfer.
Would this retrctable one be useful as a hamster lead?

Nik

 

I think i know what the problem is it touches on what Dave W was saying,

Basically windows XP has some type of protection built in to make sure that devices connected though a USB port can only draw so much power when connected (presuming you have to have your camera turned on while connected?) as such if you have a longer cable you would require more power, at which point the protection thing kicks in a stops that from happening my hypothesis being that if you try anything in the USB cable which doesn't use a lot of power (usb pendrive?) it would work fine.


Bit more info here especially the paragraph under the heading "Windows Operating Systems and USB Hub Designs"
http://www.microsoft.com/whdc/connect/usb/hubs.mspx#EMC

 

That's a good link kalmia, but it mainly relates to 'hubs' drawing power from the PC or being self i.e. mains powered.
I've been doing a bit more reading and the most likely cause of JarBax's problem with the camera is sychronisation. When data is sent from a device to the PC, the PC and device 'talk to each other'. The PC 'asks' for a chunk of data, the device sends a chunk and when it's been digested asks for the next chunk to be sent. If it doesn't get a reply in a blink of an eye it runs out of patience and assumes there's nothing intelligent on the end of the cable to talk to.
Although the signals are travelling at a bit over half the the speed (300,000,000 m/sec) of light, the timing is so critical that the distance travelled along a 'long' cable can delay a signal sufficiently to cause problems.
The power problems referred to in the microsoft article shouldn't apply to a camera as it is self powered and doesn't draw power from the PC's bus.

Quote from the www>
(Try working out all those zeros:D)

The main reason for this max amount of 16 feet is the Round Trip Delay. If it takes more than 1500 ns for the PC's commands to be answered by the USB device, the PC's controller considers the command to be lost. (ns=Nanoseconds. One Nanosecond is approximately 1 billionth of a second.)

 

well it could be any number things, I don't really have problems like that anymore as I use linux, if I find a problem I'll just get onto the ubuntu forums and someones always got answer or a workaround which does the job

 

Kalmia-
Linux is great, I've tried it, and as an open source OS it beats Windoze hands down, and as you say the support is brilliant! There are some applications that it (and Apple) can't run which is why given my particular and slightly unusual needs (I've got rather a lot of hardware connected to the PC and some software that won't run other than in Windows) I have to use XP.
Great as it is as an OS I can't see how Linux could solve the problem posed by attenuation of signal speed in a transmission line unless by slowing the processor's demands. Now this might be possible but hardly desirable as it would increase the time, in this case, for uploading of images.
If you can find anyone on ubuntu who can find a work-around for signal delay/sync in transmission lines, and the length of cables for USB peripherals, unless by super-cooling, I'd love to get my hands on it!

 

Welcome to the Linux fold, I have been using it very successfully for around a year now. Unfortunately my main computer (with swappable HDD's, Ubuntu and XP) has failed. I am now using a laptop with XP, the main one is going to have to wait until I have time to spare to deal with it. Too busy in the garden at present.

It's a good job that I always use a separate USB HDD to save data to, I can plug it into any computer and use the data files. Just as well, because I maintain four website domains.

 

I've got the main computer up and running now. It's better than ever. I had a problem with a Windows related file wanting to load and then refused, I tried to remove it without success. Re-installing Ubuntu did the trick, so no more aggravation.

My next project is to move three domains from one server to another. It will save about £50 a year.