Why are often front USB slots inactive?

It occured several times that I plugged in an USB stick
into one of the USB slots at the front side of various desktop computers.
WinXP told me "USB device not correctly installed" or something similar.

When I plug in the same USB stick on the USB slots at the back side
everything works fine.

Why ?

Do I have to enable front side USB slots explicitly ?

J.

In article <47b6a42b$0$23001$9b4e6d93@newsspool1.arcor-online.net>, Jason Stacy wrote:
> Why ?

Bad wiring. (The rear USB jacks are soldered direct to the motherboard.
The fronts are connected with skinny, cheap wires and connectors.)

--
Roger Blake
(Subtract 10s for email.)

"Roger Blake" <rogblake10@iname10.com> wrote in message
news:slrnfrdjdl.rha.rogblake10@moog.netaxs.com...
> In article <47b6a42b$0$23001$9b4e6d93@newsspool1.arcor-online.net>, Jason
> Stacy wrote:
>> Why ?
>
> Bad wiring. (The rear USB jacks are soldered direct to the motherboard.
> The fronts are connected with skinny, cheap wires and connectors.)
>

Roger, this is an interesting issue, and I'm very curious. Do you know if
replacing (upgrading) the wires that go to the header connectors will fix
the problem? Does length play a role, or maybe just shielding?

Will slow USB devices work OK, say 1.1, and fast 2.0 devices fail as Stacy
described?

Thanks...

-John O
(posting from ms.pub.winxp.hardware)

"JohnO" <johno@!NOOSPAM!heathkit.com> wrote in message
news:Ota2BaKcIHA.6024@TK2MSFTNGP06.phx.gbl...
>
> "Roger Blake" <rogblake10@iname10.com> wrote in message
> news:slrnfrdjdl.rha.rogblake10@moog.netaxs.com...
>> In article <47b6a42b$0$23001$9b4e6d93@newsspool1.arcor-online.net>, Jason
>> Stacy wrote:
>>> Why ?
>>
>> Bad wiring. (The rear USB jacks are soldered direct to the motherboard.
>> The fronts are connected with skinny, cheap wires and connectors.)
>>
>
> Roger, this is an interesting issue, and I'm very curious. Do you know if
> replacing (upgrading) the wires that go to the header connectors will fix
> the problem? Does length play a role, or maybe just shielding?
>
> Will slow USB devices work OK, say 1.1, and fast 2.0 devices fail as Stacy
> described?
>
> Thanks...
>
> -John O
> (posting from ms.pub.winxp.hardware)

Front mounted usb jacks are typically encased in a molded cable that has a
10 pin connector on its end where it connects to the motherboard. You can't
replace the wires, besides the likely hood of a broken wire is slim. More
likely would be a bad crimp on one of the wires in the connector that
attaches to the motherboard, chances of fixing that are slim also and it's
very unlikely that the speed of the device would matter.

JohnO wrote:
> "Roger Blake" <rogblake10@iname10.com> wrote in message
> news:slrnfrdjdl.rha.rogblake10@moog.netaxs.com...
>> In article <47b6a42b$0$23001$9b4e6d93@newsspool1.arcor-online.net>, Jason
>> Stacy wrote:
>>> Why ?
>> Bad wiring. (The rear USB jacks are soldered direct to the motherboard.
>> The fronts are connected with skinny, cheap wires and connectors.)
>>
>
> Roger, this is an interesting issue, and I'm very curious. Do you know if
> replacing (upgrading) the wires that go to the header connectors will fix
> the problem? Does length play a role, or maybe just shielding?
>
> Will slow USB devices work OK, say 1.1, and fast 2.0 devices fail as Stacy
> described?
>
> Thanks...
>
> -John O
> (posting from ms.pub.winxp.hardware)
>

On some older Antec computer cases, the small PCB mounted in the
front of the computer case, has to be replaced. Yes, shielding
is important, and examining the publicly available USB spec would
show you what usb.org considers an appropriate cable construction.

In the picture here, you can see that a proper front panel assembly
keeps the bare wire part of the cable to a minimum. The shield starts,
just a little above the 2x5 header. Frontx makes a drive bay product,
that allows the DIY addition of various ports to the front of the
computer. That allows you to bypass any bad assemblies provided with
the computer case.

http://www.frontx.com/cpx108_2.html

Paul

In article <Ota2BaKcIHA.6024@TK2MSFTNGP06.phx.gbl>, JohnO wrote:
> Roger, this is an interesting issue, and I'm very curious. Do you know if
> replacing (upgrading) the wires that go to the header connectors will fix
> the problem? Does length play a role, or maybe just shielding?

Upgading the wiring would probably help. It's not something I've really
explored, on systems that exhibit these problems I've just run USB
extension cables from the more stable rear ports. :-)

> Will slow USB devices work OK, say 1.1, and fast 2.0 devices fail as Stacy
> described?

They might -- I've also seen USB 2.0 devices (such as flash drives) connect
at 1.1 speed via the front panel ports.

This is a very common problem that I've run into across a broad spectrum of
systems. I just chalk it up to most PC chassis being cheap Chinese-made junk,
built with the lowest cost parts from the friend-of-a-friend-of-a-relative
supply chain.

--
Roger Blake
(Subtract 10s for email.)

>
> On some older Antec computer cases, the small PCB mounted in the
> front of the computer case, has to be replaced. Yes, shielding
> is important, and examining the publicly available USB spec would
> show you what usb.org considers an appropriate cable construction.
>
> In the picture here, you can see that a proper front panel assembly
> keeps the bare wire part of the cable to a minimum. The shield starts,
> just a little above the 2x5 header. Frontx makes a drive bay product,
> that allows the DIY addition of various ports to the front of the
> computer. That allows you to bypass any bad assemblies provided with
> the computer case.
>
> http://www.frontx.com/cpx108_2.html
>
> Paul

I have one of those cases, an SX1040B on my older P4 system.
The front panel USB connections didn't work as USB2. I sent
an email to Antec and had a new module within 3 days. The
hardest part of replacing it was getting the case front off and
back on. The cable assembly wasn't replaced, but the USB2
worked perfectly.

Ian D wrote:
>> On some older Antec computer cases, the small PCB mounted in the
>> front of the computer case, has to be replaced. Yes, shielding
>> is important, and examining the publicly available USB spec would
>> show you what usb.org considers an appropriate cable construction.
>>
>> In the picture here, you can see that a proper front panel assembly
>> keeps the bare wire part of the cable to a minimum. The shield starts,
>> just a little above the 2x5 header. Frontx makes a drive bay product,
>> that allows the DIY addition of various ports to the front of the
>> computer. That allows you to bypass any bad assemblies provided with
>> the computer case.
>>
>> http://www.frontx.com/cpx108_2.html
>>
>> Paul
>
> I have one of those cases, an SX1040B on my older P4 system.
> The front panel USB connections didn't work as USB2. I sent
> an email to Antec and had a new module within 3 days. The
> hardest part of replacing it was getting the case front off and
> back on. The cable assembly wasn't replaced, but the USB2
> worked perfectly.
>

You know, at one time, Antec had a web page, that listed all the
computer cases they made, that had the bad PCB in the front.
But they soon removed it (presumably when the first wave of
tech support hit them). I don't know if I could find it today,
on web.archive.org or not. The list was actually quite large.
I think two of my three cases, are affected (my Sonata is OK).
The web page was not linked from other pages on the site, so
it was tricky to find.

Paul

> This is a very common problem that I've run into across a broad spectrum
> of
> systems. I just chalk it up to most PC chassis being cheap Chinese-made
> junk,
> built with the lowest cost parts from the friend-of-a-friend-of-a-relative
> supply chain.

Heh, I'm sure you're right. Thanks guys, that's just what I was looking for.

-John O