usb port question

I have come to know that some portable external usb drives
(the type that derive their power from the usb port) will not
run on the "front installed usb ports" of some computers. I.e.
say their are 4 usb ports on the rear of the tower and the
two on the front (for easy access) . The drive will run on
the rear ports but on the front port the light will come on
but no spinup or detect. Why would the front ports supply
less power ?

RB schrieb:

> I have come to know that some portable external usb drives
> (the type that derive their power from the usb port) will not
> run on the "front installed usb ports" of some computers.

I observed the same, independent from in/external power supply.

DoDi

RB <NoMail@nospam> wrote:
> I have come to know that some portable external usb drives
> (the type that derive their power from the usb port) will not
> run on the "front installed usb ports" of some computers. I.e.
> say their are 4 usb ports on the rear of the tower and the
> two on the front (for easy access) . The drive will run on
> the rear ports but on the front port the light will come on
> but no spinup or detect. Why would the front ports supply
> less power ?

This may either be a limitation on yout mainboard or in the cabeling
and circuitry of the front port assembly. But it is not anything
fundamental.

Arno

On 2009-08-20, RB <NoMail@NoSpam> wrote:
> but no spinup or detect. Why would the front ports supply
> less power ?

Thin, crappy wiring in the Chinese-made cabinet.

--
Roger Blake
(Subtract 10s for email. "Google Groups" messages killfiled due to spam.)
"Obama dozed while people froze."

I have a Gateway E4000 desktop which I have no problems with except when I connect something via the usb ports - thumbdrive or solid state external hard drive. When I connect the external device the pc reboots. The pc works fine in every other aspect except this one. Any reason why this is happening?