Another fun USB problem

[XPTB]

This is a neat problem that will probably kill my mouse pad but who freakin' cares... its a mouse pad.

I'm using the Flexipad FX Game Pad (http://www.ocia.net/reviews/flexiglow/flexiglow.shtml) which requires a USB port to work. If anyone read the review, it does a power on test by cycling through all the colors when you turn it on. No problems so far.

Now I installed this neat desktop fan, that cools me off during gaming, which uses a USB port to power it.... quite a neat feature. I have one of those expansion USB cards hooked up that use a PCI slot and connect to the motherboard for the Game Pad and the fan.

When the fan comes on, the Game Pad restarts in a way. It cycles through all the colors, but it keeps doing it over and over, like it keeps restarting. It does this whether you actually have the Game Pad turned on or off. Cut the fan off and the pad goes dead.

It's the craziest thing I've see related to USB, besides the instant USB port death due to installing a DVD-Rom back in the day.


Edit: Ok It doesn't do it for Inifinity, the Game Pad will stop after about 5 minutes of restarting. Then it will start up again in about 1-2 minutes

[silenze]

sounds like you're draining the power the USB provides, like it's not able to provide a steady current with both devices plugged in.. should buy a powered usb hub for that stuff :P

[KryoNexus]

yeh, i'm agreeing with silenze on this one.

[XPTB]

then they shouldn't provide a 4 port USB hub if you can't use it... bastards.


And why would it matter if the Game Pad was off? you mean it can't support this dinky fan?

[silenze]

hehe well they assume the things going directly into the machine are powered by themselves for the most part... aside from the general mouse/keyboard..

When the fan comes on, the Game Pad restarts in a way. It cycles through all the colors, but it keeps doing it over and over, like it keeps restarting. It does this whether you actually have the Game Pad turned on or off. Cut the fan off and the pad goes dead.

Edit: Ok It doesn't do it for Inifinity, the Game Pad will stop after about 5 minutes of restarting. Then it will start up again in about 1-2 minutes

+you mean it can't support this dinky fan?



That's what I meant by the current, if you have the pad on for a while the current is steady.. plug in the fan, it's going to drop, if it drops below a certain point, the mousepad is going to most likely reset itself, just like a computer will reboot under stress if the power supply isn't supplying a sufficient current.. eventually it would even back out, but you know devices use a little more power when starting up/turning on, that sounds like what you're experiencing to me.. *shrug*