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harleyangel

:-D I am glad to help others and hope they don't have to go through all the junk I have had to! I will be back and maybe be able to help others as I am one semester away from my AS in information systems/network support. I have worked on computers for the last 2 years and this had me stumped to NO end! Once again thank-you for your suggestions!
Patricia

Hengis

Patricia, you are welcome @ PC Help Forum any time - and we really appreciate more IT "Geeks" (affectionate term

) round the place to help out.

Jack_Bauer

What exactly is a shielded cable?

Im getting a USB PCI card put in today, im hoping my external hard drive will work with the new USB ports. No idea how my attempt to install a USB hub seemed to have damaged the ports ability to recognize it.

harleyangel

If my memory serves me correctly a shielded cable is one that has the internal wiring all wrapped with a metaliic braid or even a foil that is used to prevent unwanted electrical noise to interupt the flow of data through the cable, thereby helping to avoid data corruptioin. When it comes to a shielded USB 2.0 cable it is obvious in most cases (maybe all but I am not certain on this), they are silver in color with the braiding showing,vs the 1.0/1.1 standard that are normally thin black cables. I hope this helps with your understanding on this. Have a great day! :-)

Hengis

As an example This USB cable is "Double-Shielded"

kenno

Originally Posted by harleyangel

Haleluya!!! I have found the answer to not just my problem but to other USB related issues as well!!! It seems there is a problem with shielded USB 2.0 cables and some Intel USB controllers, for sure the 82801's.? I actually ran across the solution by accident as I switched the USB cable from a shielded 2.0 cable to an unshielded 1.1 cable and the drive then was recognized by windows with NO problems. I just got off the phone with Maxtor and was told that the first person I talked with didn't know what they were talking about and that they are working on a fix for the problem as we spoke. Also they told me not to use the 1.1 cable as there is a risk of corruption to files and possible damage to the drive. They suggested that I order a PCMCIA USB 2.0 card and that it would have it's own drivers and thus would solve the problem until a fix can be found. I have ordered one costing me only $17.19.? Heck I have blown that much on junk before so what they hey, even if it doesn't solve the issue I will have two more ports for other things. It seems as I was told other manufacturers are haveing the same thing going on and are also looking for a fix! The problems involve not only USB hard drives but some printers and camera's and other drives as well. So I hope this sheds light on this problem and can help others as well. Thank-you to those that have tried to help me with this!!
Patricia

This surely saved my bacon too, thank you so much for posting this. I purchased a D-Link PCI adaptor - because it had a the same chip as a computer I knew the Maxtor would work on - and the drive promptly fired up correctly. It is so frustrating to get a nice new backup device and it won't work!
Now I have to see if my Canon colour laser will cooperate with flash drives if it uses the D-Link port - at present, I have to switch off one or the other; both misbehave if both are attached at once.

Hengis

That's good to hear & welcome to PCHF