[G4] G4 refuses to recognize printer and scanner

[Anthony Kluck]

Sorry, perhaps I should have been more specific: My USB hub is an AC 
powered one (Belkin), and "appeared" to be working okay. <shrug> I've 
had it as long as I've had the G4.
Anthony

On Jul 12, 2005, at 9:55 AM, keithw wrote:

> Anthony Kluck wrote:
>> Well, folks, here's an update on my 
>> G4-not-communicating-with-the-scanner-and-printer situation: it seems 
>> like it all might boil down to an issue with my USB hub rather than a 
>> software issue with the G4 and peripherals. However, the issue with 
>> the hub seems transient, and I'm not sure what that means.
>> Over a week ago my cursor froze while I was in Mail (the first freeze 
>> I've had in OS X, btw), and suddenly my keyboard and mouse were 
>> inactive (they are usually plugged into my monitor's USB sockets. In 
>> troubleshooting, I plugged the keyboard/mouse into the USB hub which 
>> reactivated them (which at least told me it wasn't the keyboard/mouse 
>> that were at fault). After some optimizing and restarts and 
>> wondering, "what NOW?" I found the USB ports in the monitor worked 
>> once again. But it was around that same time that the printer and 
>> scanner stopped being recognized.
>
> I'll just insert a couple of comments here.
> I have found that when you have more than two USB devices, it's a good 
> idea if you use a powered USB hub.
> You don't mention whether your hub is merely a multiple port feed from 
> an existing USB port, or it's powered with it's own AC transformer.
> I solved a number of mysterious USB problems by going to a powered hub.
>
> keith whaley
>
>> Just out of curiosity I plugged the printer into the second USB port 
>> on the monitor and the scanner into the left USB socket on the 
>> keyboard and now the G4 recognizes them. Hrrmph! And I thought I'd 
>> been thorough in eliminating the USB hub as a factor in the equation. 
>> I guess not.
>> Of course, in the interim I had re-downloaded and re-installed the 
>> applicable software for both peripherals (yet again...<SIGH>), so 
>> there's no telling whether that had an additional positive effect on 
>> the outcome.
>> Fact is, though, that communication is restored between the G4 and 
>> peripherals, which is a HUGE relief. Now I'm wondering if the USB hub 
>> is the issue or the USB port in the G4 (a situation I have yet to 
>> determine). I guess I'm very fortunate that I have enough ports 
>> (between those on the monitor and the keyboard) to run all my 
>> peripherals for the time being.
>> Thanks to all of you who responded and offered your experience. I 
>> must admit I'm a trifle embarrassed I didn't catch the problem before 
>> posting my inquiry, but as I said, the problem with the USB hub seems 
>> to be transient. For all I know in a few days it may work again 
>> <shrug>...
>> Cheers,
>> Anthony
> _______________________________________________
> G4 mailing list
> G4 at listserver.themacintoshguy.com
> http://listserver.themacintoshguy.com/mailman/listinfo/g4
>
> Listmom is trying to clean out his closets! Vintage Mac and random 
> stuff:
>         http://search.ebay.com/_W0QQsassZmacguy1984
>