Power Surge on Hub Port

Hi folks, I have a Dell Optiplex GX240 running Windows XP Pro, Pentium 4,512MB of Ram,40G hard drive and an external 200GBHDD. A 250W power supply. The unit has 3 built-in USB 1.1 ports and I added a USB 2.0 PCI Card for the external. I presently have an USB hub port hooked up to one of the USB 1.1 ports, which leaves the other 2 free. On the USB hub port I have an old HPScanjet 3300 scanner, an Intel Webcam and my Sony Cybershot camera. On the USB 2.0 PCI Card I have only my maxtor 200GB external. I am recently getting a balloon red x alert in my system tray that reads "Power surge on hub port" (A USB device has exceeded the power limits of its hub port)and what to do to solve the problem. When I click the message to solve the problem I see a question mark which I then highlight and hit reset.I follow the instructions to reset and it reappears. What can be causing this. Is it the Hub Port gone bad or is it the PCI card ?

 

Is your external USB HUB a powered one? If not, you have probably exceeded the power of the USB controller. You will probably want to think about a powered USB HUB.

BTW....when did you first start seeing the message?

 

the Usb hub is self powered. I started seeing this message two weeks ago after doing a windows update. I also purchased a USB flash drive which I started using about a month ago. I disconnect it though when not in use.

 

You might consider a usb card for a pci slot, thats alot of things for a usb hub. I dont think they cost much more than a powered hub.

 

I believe he said he had one.

I would start disconnecting USB devices other than on the USB hub. If that doesn't work, disconnect the USB HUB. You need to isolate the device that is cusing you to go over the power limit.

A USB channel can supply a maximum of 500 mA of current. No single USB device is allowed to use more than that or the USB port will shut down until you unplug-replug into it. If you have a powered hub, then the hub draws little or no power from the computer's USB port. Instead, the hub supplies up to 500 mA to each of it's outgoing ports, and shuts down an outgoing port if it draws too much.

 

Thanks, I'll look into it further. Appreciate the help