Usb hub not working as intended

[slav2012]

So I've purchased a new simplecom generic four port USB hub and connected it to my pc, In device manager it shows up as generic usb hub and everything appears to be fine. When I plug in any device such as an external hdd or a usb drive they boot up because the usb gets warm and I can for example hear the external hdd spinning but nothing appears in my computer.

I've tried reinstalling the device, unplugging it & enabling disabling allow to shut down device to say power.

I'm kind of stumped. Basically the usb hub boots up and provides power to devices connected to it but nothing appears on my windows 10 pc.

If anyone could help would be great,

thank,
Slav

 

[Ralston18]

It may be that the USB hub does not provide enough power to handle all of the attached devices.

Unlikely that an external USB HDD drive will work via just the power from USB. May need its own power source.

A USB hub with a directly connected power supply may be more suitable for your needs.

And there is also the possibility that the Simplecom hub is defective. Try smaller loads on different ports.

Try the hub on another computer.

 

[slav2012]

I have another USB hub which I have tried and its the same issue, on my laptop they both work fine, I've also tried multiple USB ports on my desktop and still same issue. Nothing that requires a lot of power is plugged into it, I only installed it to use with a usb thumb rive every now and then.

Those USB ports on the motherboard work fine with all my other devices such as external HDD, usbs or peripherals.

I'm really baffled never had anything like this issue before. Its even noticed in drive manager.

It may be that the USB hub does not provide enough power to handle all of the attached devices.

Unlikely that an external USB HDD drive will work via just the power from USB. May need its own power source.

A USB hub with a directly connected power supply may be more suitable for your needs.

And there is also the possibility that the Simplecom hub is defective. Try smaller loads on different ports.

Try the hub on another computer.

 

[Ralston18]

Is the other USB hub also a Simplecom?

So many peripheral devices are low end in quality with little or no QA. Some are made by the same manufacturer and only branded differently.

We need some pattern or common factor.

Summary:

USB hub(s) work fine on laptop but not on desktop.

Other USB devices work fine on desktop and laptop.

Load (per se) does not seem to make any difference.

I would take a close look at the hub's USB male connector. Could be just enough physical mismatch with the desktop's USB ports to cause some power related issue. And thus the warming and device manager issues.

Try inserting a USB extension cable between the hub and desktop connection. Test on the laptop first to verify that the connection and devices appear and work.

Then try the same connection and devices via the desktop.

The extension cable might change the physical connectivity enough to my "theory". Not concerned per se whether the theory is right or wrong.

Just want to find some pattern and/or eliminate possibilities.

 

[slav2012]

I've managed to fix it with a lot of trying,

The other device was just another generic usb hub but a diff brand.

So basically the USB hub I was having trouble with, I disconnected from my desktop and reconnected it to my laptop and it worked fine. I plug it into my desktop and it was a no go.

I looked into hidden driver files in device manager and noticed two unknown drivers with errors (appeared as Unkown usb device (device descriptor request failed) I uninstalled them and restarted my pc upon reboot those devices were no longer there and then the driver was not appearing at all even after searching for new drivers. I powered off my PC again and swapped the USB port where the hub was plugged into and powered it back on and the device appeared as a Generic USB device and works fine.

From my understanding those two drivers with errors that were hidden were causing the right driver to not be installed. No idea how that occurred.