USB Error Message..Related To My Broadband Getting Cut Off?

LouLou

I have 4 USB 2.0 slots on my PC. One is my modem, a BT Voyager 100. The others are my external soundcard, Creative Soundblaster Live, the lead for my mobile and one for my cordless mouse receiver.

The soundcard is pretty new. Recently I keep getting the error message, "There does not seem to be sufficient USB bandwidth. Please disconnect one of your devices and try again."

My 2MB Broadband regularly disconnects every day, which is driving me mad. After the connection cutting off, when I reboot the "arrows" for Broadband are always Red.

A BT engineer came out and tested everything and all was fine. Is the disconnecting related to the USB error message? And if it is, what should I do?

Thanks

fguk

Is the error coming from your soundcard, or from windows itself?

Does it happen when you try something specific?

A USB error certainly could give you issues with your broadband modem, have you thought of a modem/router like the Netgear DG834? Bit of a sledge hammer to crack a nut, but it would be one less device plugged into your USB, hopefully leaving everything else to run happily.

L400ras

is your soundcard externally powered? - ie does it plug into the mains?

USBs can only supply a small amount of power, and if the sound card is nicking it all, the modem wont have any! - try unplugging the sound card and surfing - see if that improves things. if it does, look for a powered USB hub and use this as a go-between your sound card and PC.

HTH

LouLou

Thanks for the replies

I think the USB error is from Windows? The disconnecting seems to happen randomly.

The soundcard is powered solely by the USB. I'll try unplugging the soundcard later and see if there's a difference. I'll shop around for a powered USB hub, I hadn't even considered that!

Would this do the job?

I am a Moneysaver, after all

L400ras

if the soundcard is found to be the problem, that hub from ebuyer looks like the right idea.

LouLou

Thanks for the tip, my modem isn't throwing strops anymore. The powered hub seems to have sorted things.

I didn't realise USBs only had so much power supply, d'oh. Thanks for your help. :T

L400ras

glad to hear it.