Rio "malfunctions" on front USB

entropyentropy Yah-Der-Hey (Wisconsin)
edited November 2005 in Hardware
Okay, for my birthday, my parents got me a 1 gig Rio player. But something broke with the hard drive, so I took it back and got a slightly different model. If I remember, the hard drive broke while it was plugged into the front USB ports, and I think that might've screwed something up. Now everytime I plug my new one into there, it says something about a USB device malfunctioning. If I plug it in the back, though, it works fine.

Any ideas? It's really annoying having to constantly crawl under my desk :-/

Comments

  • deicistdeicist Manchester, UK
    edited November 2005
    have you tried anything else plugged into your front USB sockets? Are the front sockets USB 2 or 1? Try plugging something else into your front sockets, if it works it's something wrong with your RIO, if it doesn't it's something wrong with your USB sockets.
  • entropyentropy Yah-Der-Hey (Wisconsin)
    edited November 2005
    All the USB sockets are USB 2. And I just plugged my camera into both, and my jump drive into both and they work.

    Is there some setting or something that the Rio Music Manager thing left imprinted somewhere? I've already tried uninstalling and reinstalling it, but that didn't help.
  • Straight_ManStraight_Man Geeky, in my own way Naples, FL Icrontian
    edited November 2005
    MIGHT Be that the back plugs are hubs and offer power to your RIO enough for it to work.

    MIGHT also be that you need a type A Male USB to Type A Female USB extension cable to front of area where case is. That's how I plug my Camedia in given no usable front USB ports on the case I have. I got a Manhattan brand oone, Cyberguys also has adapters for this to be used with a male to male cable.
  • rykoryko new york
    edited November 2005
    i think Straight_Man is on the right track here.

    the front USB ports are passive and as such cannot provide the needed power for your rio. the rear USB ports are powered and have no problem supplying the power.

    i have a canon slimline led scanner that falls into the same category. not so much of an issue b/c i just plug it in and let it sit. you would think an mp3 player wouldn't require so much juice--or the manufacturer would be more careful with the power requirements...

    usb extension cable is a good cheap solution...as Straight_Man suggested. :thumbsup:
  • entropyentropy Yah-Der-Hey (Wisconsin)
    edited November 2005
    That sounded like a really good idea, so I tested it.

    Neither of the front USB ports work (get the malfunctioned message), but the back ones do. The interesting part is that with my motherboard I got a PCI bracket with USB ports on it. That plugs into the exact same spot on the board (just one space lower) as the front ones do, and those work perfectly fine.
  • TheSmJTheSmJ
    edited November 2005
    I have the same problem with some devices ("malfunctions" on the front ports but work on the back). I've read that it has something to do with the way they're grounded differently than the back onboard/bracket ports.
  • deicistdeicist Manchester, UK
    edited November 2005
    entropy wrote:
    That sounded like a really good idea, so I tested it.

    Neither of the front USB ports work (get the malfunctioned message), but the back ones do. The interesting part is that with my motherboard I got a PCI bracket with USB ports on it. That plugs into the exact same spot on the board (just one space lower) as the front ones do, and those work perfectly fine.

    Can you not swap them so the front ports are plugged into where the rear bracket should go or are the plugs different?
  • entropyentropy Yah-Der-Hey (Wisconsin)
    edited November 2005
    Ohhhh, good idea. I'll give that a try tonight, thanks.
Sign In or Register to comment.