Computer slows down when USB storage device plugged in

[ClickRight]

I have a client with a Dell Dimension desktop (sorry, I don't have the model, I was just taking a look at it for next time I'm there.) It's running XP Pro. Whenever you plug in a USB storage device (flash drive, USB HDD, etc.) the machine becomes extremely sluggish. There's no CPU usage in the task manager, and there's no HDD activity. The only USB device plugged into the computer are: a keyboard and a mouse, and then a USB storage device. When you unplug the USB device, the speed returned to normal.

The BIOS is up to date, the HDDs show no SMART errors, and there's nothing unusual in the event log.

History: This computer was in to have two hard drives replaced about 6 months ago. At that time, the computer was cleaned and completely checked over (and it was working perfectly with my USB flash drive.)

Any ideas on this one?

 

[MrUnknown]

I will second the drivers.

I had a similar issue with my system (Copying to/from the USB drive would be incredibly slow and make my system sluggish) and reinstalling the USB drivers fixed it.

 

[PcTestCard.com]

I agreed, chipset driver may cause the problem. Install the chipset driver and reboot.

The semi faulty PSU may cause the problem as well.
Otherwise a faulty PC mainboard.

Hope this helps!
Bill

 

[ClickRight]

Awesome, thanks for the suggestions! I guess I'll be updating/reinstalling the chipset drivers!

 

[MichianaComputers2]

10 bucks says bad chipset driver update.

Uninstall/Reinstall usb/chipset drivers.

Good luck

Yea, but make sure to get the right one!

 

[MichianaComputers2]

Awesome, thanks for the suggestions! I guess I'll be updating/reinstalling the chipset drivers!

Just make sure to the the right driver, don't guess. I've seen the wrong driver installed many time.

ClickRight is such an awesome computer repair company name. It is unique and it implies doing it the right way. Good name pick.

 

[NYJimbo]

Awesome, thanks for the suggestions! I guess I'll be updating/reinstalling the chipset drivers!

Please update us on this, regardless of the fix. Helps others in the future.

 

[ClickRight]

Please update us on this, regardless of the fix. Helps others in the future.

I always try to keep you guys updated. Here's what happened:

Went to update the chipset drivers (Intel) using the -overall command to overwrite the original drivers. The computer froze installing the PCI driver, I had no choice but to hit the reset switch. When the computer started booting I got the dreaded "system cannot find C:\windows\system32\pci.sys" error.

At this point, I shut the computer down, removed the PCI USB card, and used a boot CD to reload pci.sys.

I rebooted and reinstalled the chipset drivers. Then I rebooted again and tested the USB ports, everything was working great.

I reinstalled the PCI USB card and tested the computer again, inserting a USB device made the computer SLOWW.

Long story short, the problem was the PCI USB card!

 

[NYJimbo]

Long story short, the problem was the PCI USB card!

Ah, I didn't know you had an extra USB card in the machine, you didnt mention it in your original post.

 

[angry_geek]

Is the add on card a via chip? These are known to have slow down issues in machines.

 

[ClickRight]

Ah, I didn't know you had an extra USB card in the machine, you didnt mention it in your original post.

Yeah, I didn't know when I made the first post. My client had mentioned the issue as I was leaving and I just took a quick look at it at that time.

 

[ClickRight]

Is the add on card a via chip? These are known to have slow down issues in machines.

Yeah, I've seen that before. This one was an NEC chipset though.

 

[studiot]

So it was probably an older machine.

Look for irq conflicts in both BIOS and Windows.

Try another pci slot.

Ask the customer did this card ever work properly or has he just put it in?
(try another card)

 

[pcmedic]

We ran across this issue in the past. Are you using the USB connections in the front or back? Our problem only occurred when a device was plugged into the front. Simply using a USB connection in the back got things back up to speed.

 

[ClickRight]

So it was probably an older machine.

Look for irq conflicts in both BIOS and Windows.

Try another pci slot.

Ask the customer did this card ever work properly or has he just put it in?
(try another card)

I tried another USB PCI card and it worked fine. It was just the card that was in the computer.

We ran across this issue in the past. Are you using the USB connections in the front or back? Our problem only occurred when a device was plugged into the front. Simply using a USB connection in the back got things back up to speed.

Tried both front & back ports, didn't make a difference.

 

[ClickRight]

Apparently this issue is still unresolved

My client plugged a 16GB USB key into the back USB slot (on the motherboard) and this is how he explained what happened: "The screen went blank for a few moments and it took about 5 minutes before it “unlocked” and I could do anything about transferring the files – after that it went fine"

Any idea what could still be going on here? The faulty USB card was left out of the computer.

There is now also an issue with the onboard NIC where sometimes it is not recognized on reboot. The BIOS shows and error: "Error initializing PCI Express NIC bridge. Nic Failure." I'm doing some research on this now.

The system is a Dell XPS 400. It has the latest BIOS.

 

[studiot]

The onboard NIC, USB and other I/O will be through the southbridge chips.

Perhaps these are failing. Or perhaps one of the regulators feeding the I/O section is failing.

Have you looked on the Dell website for the chipset drivers and any problems?

 

[ClickRight]

The onboard NIC, USB and other I/O will be through the southbridge chips.

Perhaps these are failing. Or perhaps one of the regulators feeding the I/O section is failing.

Have you looked on the Dell website for the chipset drivers and any problems?

Yeah, that's the scary part.

I looked around Dell's website and Googled the NIC error. Other than several suggestions to clear the CMOS (which I'll do this week) there seemed to be no real answer.

The only mention of USB in the BIOS updates was "Improved USB support," but that was for revision A02, when he's got A06.

I'm going out to install a new Gigabit NIC and (PCIe) and and USB card (PCI) this week.

 

[studiot]

I'm going out to install a new Gigabit NIC and (PCIe) and and USB card (PCI) this week.

Not good long term if the southbridge-superI/O area of the mobo is failing.

what does Dell Diagnostics or other hardware test program yield?

 

[angry_geek]

You seem to have thrown a lot of time at this problem. How much is a replacement motherboard? I'm with others thinking the South bridge is toast. Remember that with the newer dells, you don't have to use a "dell" part.