I need more USB Ports

[erluna]

....and my Mac is telling me that the ones from my Kensington hub are not providing enough power? What should I do? Get a PCI USB card?

[dkatz42]

Get a powered hub. There's lots of 'em and they're cheap.

[erluna]

The Kensington hub I mentioned is powered.

[dkatz42]

What are you plugging into it? Are you sure the power is getting there (they also self-power; see if you can get any lights on it when it's not USB plugged to anything; see if you can get some bus-powered device to run with the hub powered but not plugged into the computer.)

Usually the powered hubs have more than enough juice for anything.

The hub is supposed to communicate its power needs via USB to the computer; seems like that should be zero when it's powered, but you never know...

[erluna]

Virus TI
V-Synth GT
about 2 hard drives
monome
ipod dock
frontier tranzport transmitter/receiver
keyboard
kensington bluetooth transmitter/receiver
VSL key
Midisport 8x8
Logitech Wireless mouse transmitter/receiver

I'm probably forgetting something.

A lot of the things, ie the Virus and iPod dock, will not function without plugging directly into the computer. I'm pretty sure there's lights on it.
It's the round dome Kensington. There's no switch for self-power.

I have to get back to you on the tests as the computer is downstairs...

[dkatz42]

Originally Posted by bamse

Virus TI
V-Synth GT
about 2 hard drives
monome
ipod dock
frontier tranzport transmitter/receiver
keyboard
kensington bluetooth transmitter/receiver
VSL key
Midisport 8x8
Logitech Wireless mouse transmitter/receiver

I'm probably forgetting something.

A lot of the things, ie the Virus and iPod dock, will not function without plugging directly into the computer. I'm pretty sure there's lights on it.
It's the round dome Kensington. There's no switch for self-power.

Yowser, that's a lot of stuff. You may need multiple powered hubs to drive all that stuff.

[erluna]

Well, I do actually have a second USB 1.0 i could try for some of the stuff. I keep on reading that it's recommended to plug certain things straight into the computer though. IE the Virus and my MIDI interfaces...

[dkatz42]

Originally Posted by bamse

Well, I do actually have a second USB 1.0 i could try for some of the stuff. I keep on reading that it's recommended to plug certain things straight into the computer though. IE the Virus and my MIDI interfaces...

That shouldn't be necessary (so long as you're not trying to run a USB2.0 device through a 1.x hub) but then there's a lot of broken stuff out there. So much for standards...

[erluna]

So you think the hub is broken? Would plugging the hub into the other port on the computer matter?

[esaias]

If you plan to buy another hub, take a look of D-Link's 7-port powered hub.
I have one and it has working just fine (unlike some other ones I tried) and it has a nice bonus that it has lights that show which ports are active, if a device draws too much power it shuts down the correponding port and therefore you can pin point the source of the powring problem.

-Tomi

[erluna]

The Kensington has those lights too, and sometimes one will go out. But what do you do then if you need to power that USB device?