Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with WindowsXP and usb

Random repeating keys

corpse — Tue, 19 Jun 2007 07:51:19 -0800

So I am having this problem with keystrokes randomly repeating in all Windows XP programs. I will be typing along merrily and all of a sudden a key will start repeating (helloooooo), for like 15 characters then stops suddenly. This occurs every 10 or 15 minutes of use.

I have looked at all the usual suspects. I have tried different model keyboards (USB), updated drivers, different ports, nothing seems to stop this behavior.

It there is also some weird behavior with the mouse as well, when I click on some text (in all programs), it selects chunks of it (not the whole paragraph) instead of just placing the cursor.

Has anyone seen this before?

Going slow?

jonathanbell — Sat, 27 Jan 2007 14:35:54 -0800

Is there a simple utility that tests data writing speeds? I have a new external device which purports to be USB 2.0 (as is my Win XP computer, I think), but just seems... slow. For example, 3.5GB just took 59 minutes to copy over from my HD to the external HD. How can I speed things up?

How can I get my computer back together with my camera?

scarylarry — Thu, 16 Nov 2006 20:48:30 -0800

Why did my computer suddenly stop recognizing my digital camera? I have a Canon PowerShot A520 (not great, but does the job) and a laptop running Windows XP. About a month ago, my computer suddenly stopped recognizing the camera when I plugged it into the USB port. I've tested it on friends' computers (both PCs and Macs), and it communicates just fine. I've uninstalled and reinstalled all of the software that came with the camera, installed the latest drivers I can find, and uninstalled and reinstalled the camera from my computer's list of hardware. Nothing helps. I am not incredibly tech-savvy and have run out of ideas.

It can't be the camera, because it works with other computers. It can't be the USB cable, because I've used the same one when I've tried plugging it into other computers. It isn't a faulty USB port, because no other USB devices are giving me problems. And I don't know what to do from a software/driver perspective, since I've uninstalled and reinstalled everything several times. Ideas? I'd like to see my pictures!

Thumb drive woes

caution live frogs — Wed, 23 Aug 2006 08:48:40 -0800

Need help with managing volume policy permissions for removable devices in WinXP. I have a workstation on a domain. My standard user account uses the domain log-in. We are not to run our systems as administrators (which makes using XP a pain) but I can run specific programs as administrator if I have to.

Unfortunately I cannot for the life of me figure out what I need to do to be able to change the write caching policy for removable devices. Zip drives and USB drives are automatically installed optimized for performance rather than quick removal. Changing this permission as administrator does not change it for my standard user account. I have tried mucking with registry permissions and the group policy editor. Currently I have managed to give myself permission to load and unload drivers, view and manage devices, but still cannot change the write caching policy - am I missing an obvious registry key permission or local/group policy that should be changed to fix this?

Microsoft support gives me multiple pages of info about write caching and about permissions but no data on managing this issue. I can open device manager, I can get volume policies for my drives, but the option to change policies is grayed out.

Having to manually stop writes to the drive every time I need to remove it is screwing with my workflow. If my work system trashes my entire drive due to write caching I'm going to be pretty pissed.

Is it possible to share network/internet connection via a usb dongle (from XP)?

mule — Fri, 07 Apr 2006 22:31:57 -0800

wifi sharing via USB dongle filter: Is it possible to share network/internet connection via a usb dongle (from XP)? if so how? My mum just purchased a new laptop (ibook) which she would like to connect wirelessly to her home network. She has a wired Linksys broadband modem connected to her WinXP box via ethernet.

I advised her to pick up a wifi usb dongle to share the internet and network from her PC to the iBook, thinking that the dongle could be used to 'push' the netwprk out. With plenty of fiddling the laptop can see the network as a peer to peer but not share the connection to the net.

I'm pretty experienced with the mac side of things but the Windows stuff seems like an endless loop of wizards.

Can anyone point me to set of instruction on how to get this working?

How can I stop the dreaded Delayed Write Error?

Servo5678 — Wed, 11 Jan 2006 06:22:28 -0800

Ever since I installed my new cable modem via a USB port on Windows XP (SP2) my computer has been experiencing "Delayed Write Error" messages nearly every time I use a web browser (IE, Firefox, and Opera) that quickly brings the computer to a locked-up halt. How do I stop this from happening? This error pops up in a warning bubble that says whatever file the computer was working on has been lost (usually a Firefox cookie file or some other temp web file). Typically there's several of these errors in a row and then the whole computer freezes and has to be turned off by the power button. If I try and restart right away Windows XP will not start and instead hangs with a "disk error" (no other details given about that). I have to keep the machine off for a few minutes before restarting in order to get back into Windows. Multiple spyware and virus scans have come back clean, too.

How do I stop these errors from happening? Google searching reveals that a lot of people have delayed write error problems with hard drives and Firewire ports, but I can't find anything regarding cable modems. The symptoms are all the same though. Any advice for me? I can't stand dealing with these errors and lock-ups any longer!

Help me fix my USB microphone?

fet — Thu, 29 Dec 2005 23:08:04 -0800

Why does my Blue Snowball mock me? I've been attempting to get my new USB Microphone working on my Windows XP SP2 box with little luck... help! The microphone has been plugged in and recognized by my PC, with the appropriate "USB Composite Device" showing up in Control Panel -> System -> Devices. Windows Sound Recorder records the output of the microphone just fine, but attempting to use Skype, Google Talk or Audacity results in no recorded audio and the CPU pegged around 65% with Process Explorer showing the culprit as USBPORT.SYS with the following error: ntkrnlpa.exe!KiUnexpectedInterrupt+0xf0.

I have reinstalled my USB root drivers, the device is plugged directly into the system root hub (not off of another device) and updated my BIOS. NVIDIA NFORCE4 chipset drivers are at their latest as well. Google has failed me, and I'm pretty frustrated... so anyone with suggestions (outside of 'reinstall you wuss') would be greatly appreciated. It smells like an IRQ problem but I have no idea the root.

Will my old Canon printer work with Win XP?

NorthCoastCafe — Thu, 03 Feb 2005 14:34:48 -0800

Printer filter/ I'm downsizing to travel cross country and would like to use an old Canon bubble jet (BJ10ex) with my new Dell laptop running XP. Does anyone know if this won't work? I have to wait for a USB Parallel converter cable to arrive to test it. Are there other compatibility problems I need to know about?

Is there a way to use a (USB 2.0) hard drive that is formated as HFS Journaled (MacOS X) under WindowsXP?

symbebekos — Sat, 01 Jan 2005 12:19:18 -0800

WindowsFilter: is there a way to use a (USB 2.0) hard drive that is formated as HFS Journaled (MacOS X) under WindowsXP? I've tried the otherwise excellent MacDrive and it can't handle it.

Problem with XP recognizing a USB connexion

vito90 — Sat, 27 Dec 2003 08:34:23 -0800

My computer (Windows XP) will not recognize the USB connection I've added to it. [more...] I got a kind of cheap MP3 player for Christmas (RCA Lyra 1080). It came with installation software for the USB connection. The back of my PC has two USB slots. I've tried both, I've tried installing the software with and without connections in place, and every iteration of rebooting, installing, and plugging to no avail. I have also tried "Add New Hardware" from the Control Panel. I know barely enough about computers to be dangerous, so if any solutions can border on the non-technical that would be great. Thank you all for your help.