USB port help

[Ergroilnin]

I am very sorry if I missed proper technical help subforum, but perhaps someone here would be knowledgable enough to help me or at least point me in the right direction...

Thing is, I have USB wifi dongle connected in my PCs front USB port (not enough ports in the back, those are filled with mouse, keyboard etc.) and it works great with one not major but definitely annoying problem.

About 90% of time when I start the computer, I have to plug the dongle out and back in so the computer recognizes it and starts the wifi. So to me personally it seems like the USB port probably most of the time does not power up until I plug something in when the computer is powered up I guess? I would be pretty sure about this if it were not for the rest 10% of time when it loads up on startup.

Anyone knows or has any ideas how to solve this? Like is there any for example BIOS setup where I can manually make the port permanently powered up so the wifi starts every time I simply start the PC?

Thanks for any ideas beforehand.

[CimminyCricket]

The only time I've had that issue was when I first built my PC and the power supply wasn't up to snuff

[Chibi Youkai]

Are you using Windows, and if so, which one? What it sounds like is happening is that the registry either isn't recognizing the device on boot, or that it's creating a new entry every time you plug the device in, which is ugly, and probably means you have a ton of entries that will need clearing out.

[Ergroilnin]

Hmm I will try to look at the registry thing... Using Windows 7 PRO.

[Chibi Youkai]

Probably should have said this before, but a quick google search on the model of the device could probably give you insight into the behaviors and issues. It could be a well known issue, and there may be a patch or hotfix for it. It's not likely a new issue. There's also a decent chance that it could be a driver issue. I would suggest checking for the latest drivers before anything else. Win7 isn't supported anymore for anything other than security updates, so make sure that the latest will still work with it before installation.

If you're comfortable with your computer, and do regular backups, there's also the below option. I'm going to say this multiple times, have good backups of everything if you even think about messing with the registry. Messing with the registry is bad juju if you just take a sledgehammer to it.

Before you do anything, make sure that you back up your registry. Seriously. Back it up. Export it somewhere. Make sure you have a copy. Start - Regedit.exe - HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Enum\USB. From there, you'll unfortunately have to look entry by entry to see if there's multiple copies. Don't delete anything unless you're 110% sure of what it is. It's a quick way to brick important things.

If you've found multiple entries, do some googling on those entries before you delete anything. Usually, if you delete a usb entry, it should just re-create itself next time it's plugged in, but you're always way better safe than sorry when messing with the registry. Don't change or delete anything unless you're sure. Can't stress this enough. I really don't want to be held accountable for bricking someone's computer.

[Mirage]

Anyone knows or has any ideas how to solve this? Like is there any for example BIOS setup where I can manually make the port permanently powered up so the wifi starts every time I simply start the PC?

Thanks for any ideas beforehand.

All USB ports should always power up every single time you power on the PC. If a port didn't, it can be considered broken.

Are your front USB ports connected as a USB hub (internally, this would mean that several front panel USB ports are connected to the motherboard with fewer cables than there are USB connectors on the panel)? If so, try connecting your wifi adapter to a port that doesn't go via a hub, and then move a different USB device to the front panel. You could try installing a proper PCI-E wifi card instead of a USB-based adapter. Your network performance might increase too. Alternatively, get more proper USB ports via a PCI-E expansion card. They're not very expensive.

https://pricespy.co.uk/product.php?p=2467085 This Wifi card supports higher data rates than any USB2 adapter could ever hope to achieve, for example. Of course, that also requires a good wireless router.

Expansion cards with multiple USB3 ports can be had for a dozen (or two) bucks too.

Typically, USB is not the optimal way to connect a peripheral, just the most user friendly way.

If you've found multiple entries, do some googling on those entries before you delete anything. Usually, if you delete a usb entry, it should just re-create itself next time it's plugged in, but you're always way better safe than sorry when messing with the registry. Don't change or delete anything unless you're sure. Can't stress this enough. I really don't want to be held accountable for bricking someone's computer.

Thankfully, accidentally bricking a PC is near impossible from within an OS. It's not bricked if it posts .

[Chibi Youkai]

Nearly impossible is the keyword, lol. I've seen some pretty impressive stunts pulled by new technicians. May have even done it before, not paying attention.

Hadn't even thought about it being a usb hub issue. Layer one is always a killer. Thanks for the reminder , although I should know better, been doing nothing but troubleshooting printers the last few days. Ugh.

[Ergroilnin]

Thank you all for so informative advice I checked the registry and the drivers and as far as I was able to tell, there wasn't anything wrong there so I will eventually be putting my computer in service so they can check the insides for me. I would do it myself but my comp still has a warranty and I don't want to break the seal just for minor issue like this.