Usb power and Standby

**dmcdlrn** · 05-17-2005, 10:08 PM

well I actually always have the same devices hooked up... so I can't imagine... I have a sound blaster... they would be up to date, the hauppauge might not be, the delorme earthmate would be though... and thats pretty much all I have

by the way, I really appreciate your willingness to help me!!!!! I've been searching compaq's stuff and they are worthless.

**reefhippie** · 05-18-2005, 08:36 AM

Maybe it's the hub? Have you checked their website for updates? Have you tried all of this without trying to shut down the inverter and amp with the computer? I'd imagine the amp should have its own way of shutting down, no?

When you're looking in the Device Manager, you're looking at the "USB Root Hub" properties, right? There should be more than one. They're most likely the only ones that would have the Power Management capabilities.

Maybe you could try unplugging all of the usb devices (gps, tv, hub) and just run the sound card straight in to the pc but using the inverter as external power, with no connection between the inverter and pc, no fancy wiring, basic setup, then test it out and how it goes?

**dmcdlrn** · 05-18-2005, 09:12 AM

Ok, heres the thing... the sound card is the reason the inverter and this whole mess exists... the sound card draws too much power to run off the computer. It will run off my desktop computer from usb, but not the laptop's usb port... it comes up and says that there is not enough power to run the device. So, I have to use the powered hub just to get it to work.

As for the amps... they are BIG amps and have a 0 gauge wire directly from the battery and a capacitor matrix to make them run, but they use a very low power 12 volt signal to notify them that I want them to turn on. Its this remote turn on lead that I have wired to the relays. The only power being pulled from the usb of the computer is the small amount that the reed relay(very low power... 5 volt 1mA which is wired to a modified usb cable plugged into the unpowered 4 port hub) uses to stay open, a 4 port unpowered hub, and my lilliput... then there is a usb cable out from the unpowered to the powered hub where the gps, soundcard, and hauppage is plugged in.

My original plans called for just having the power cut to the screen and laptop charger when I turn the key off so that I wouldn't have to mess with this, but now that I had to put the powered hub in, I have to keep the power on until the computer completely shuts down or else the computer gets confused and thinks that the sound card and other devices are getting unpugged.

I have also noticed that over night it will take about 5% of my battery just to standby... my battery will last 4 hours with normal usage, so 5% seems like alot to keep the ram alive and the power led flashing... maybe I'm wrong.

In device manager I have looked at just about everything, including the usb root hub and non of them have the power management tab which I find really weird.

Maybe the easiest thing to do is use something else to trigger this accessory line power to turn off and on... like the power to the hard drive, or something? Any ideas there?

**dmcdlrn** · 05-18-2005, 11:57 AM

compaq = idiots

I can't get any help from them, they just toss me around and junk! AHHHHH I have to get this fixed!!

I did notice that I do have a power management tab in devicemanager for the root hub now... but it has allow windows to shut down this device to save power checked and allow this device to wake the computer from standby unchecked and greyed out. All of the hubs and usb devices do not have the power management tabs.

Windows won't help me either... this is rediculous, they all just want 50 bucks an hour to hem and haw and say... gee, I don't know.

**reefhippie** · 05-18-2005, 12:37 PM

You definately need to uncheck that box in the Power Management settings. This was Microsoft's default setting to allow people to wake up their computers out of standby with a USB Keyboard/Mouse but other USB devices can cause problems with it so it's best to make sure none of them are trying to wake the system up, and we're using our ignitions to trigger the wake-ups anyway.

**dmcdlrn** · 05-18-2005, 01:13 PM

uncheck the "allow windows to shut this device down to save power" box? Don't I want windows to shut down the hub? Cause I would imagine that if it didn't have this checked then it would never shut the hub down.....

**dmcdlrn** · 05-19-2005, 05:58 PM

Well, it had gone about a day and a half without doing it, but it just did it again. I did notice that it wakes much faster when it doesn't shut down the usb then when it does... must be the difference between S1 and S3 or whatever. Anyways, I was thinking that maybe I could get my 5 volt trigger fromt he ps2 slot... anybody have any ideas on if that would work?

**RiXst3r** · 05-21-2005, 04:32 PM

I had a problem with my USB ports staying powered, here is how I fixed it...

-buy a usb extension cable
-chop it about 8 inches in, but only cut the red and black wires(5v)
-connect the red/black wires on the long remaining half of the extension cable to 5v out of a ps/2 port, or molex connector(if your using an atx pc)

This fixed all my usb power problems...

**dmcdlrn** · 05-21-2005, 04:42 PM

So you then plug the usb cable into a port? How does this work?? Are you basically tying the 5 volt lines from the ps2 and usb ports together?

**RiXst3r** · 05-21-2005, 05:02 PM

Originally Posted by dmcdlrn

So you then plug the usb cable into a port? How does this work?? Are you basically tying the 5 volt lines from the ps2 and usb ports together?

no, I am disconnecting the 5v out of the usb port, it is not used anymore, and connecting 5v from the ps/2 or molex into the usb cable, and then plugging that into the usb port. there is no 5v coming to or from the usb port on the pc anymore, it is severed... the 5v now comes from the ps/2.

it looks like this: (sorry for the pic)