gmgraves Posted March 27, 2016 Share Posted March 27, 2016 Recently I had a strange thing happen with my computer system. I have a Mac desktop system and I have four external HDDs connected to it (mostly for music and back-up. I keep my ripped and file-based music collection separate from my live recordings.). Three of those HDDs are USB and one is FireWire. I also have two disk burners/players connected (also USB). One is a blu-ray burner, and the other is just a regular DVD burner/player. One day I noticed that neither disk drive would mount a CD or DVD. I assumed that they had both failed (as they tend to do these days) and made a note in the back of my mind to order a new one. Then I noticed that suddenly, none of my USB HDDs were mounting either. That meant that my TimeMachine backup system had stopped working and I couldn't access my computer-based music. I started looking around for the cause of the problem and found that even the Apple Disc Utility couldn't find any of the connected drives either! I then pulled all the USB cables from the hub, and disconnected the hub from the computer. Inserting each lead from each drive, one at a time, directly into the same computer's USB port as the hub had occupied, I found that all HDDs and both CD drives worked perfectly. I then ordered a new 13 port powered Sabrent hub from Amazon. It came Friday, and I replaced my current hub with the new one, and everything works as it's supposed to again. I have never before heard of a USB hub failing after working reliably for a number of years. Thought I would pass my experience along because it might prove worthwhile to somebody at some point. George Link to comment
wwaldmanfan Posted March 27, 2016 Share Posted March 27, 2016 I have never before heard of a USB hub failing after working reliably for a number of years. Thought I would pass my experience along because it might prove worthwhile to somebody at some point. I have had a USB hub fail. Everything breaks, eventually. Things are not designed for durability anymore. You are dealing with tiny connectors. In your case, it was probably the wire/connections between the computer and the hub itself. Link to comment
Allan F Posted March 27, 2016 Share Posted March 27, 2016 I have had a USB hub fail. Everything breaks, eventually. Things are not designed for durability anymore.You are dealing with tiny connectors. In your case, it was probably the wire/connections between the computer and the hub itself. Sounds logical. While it's not a common occurrence, USB ports have been known to fail. So there is no reason why the same thing wouldn't happen to a USB hub. "Relax, it's only hi-fi. There's never been a hi-fi emergency." - Roy Hall "Not everything that can be counted counts, and not everything that counts can be counted." - William Bruce Cameron Link to comment
TubeLover Posted March 28, 2016 Share Posted March 28, 2016 I've also experienced a USB hub failure, and after quite a bit of research, discovered that inexpensive ones do fail, more expensive, better built ones, generally last far longer. But everyone seems to skimp on these assuming that a USB hub is a USB hub. JC Link to comment
BobSherman Posted March 28, 2016 Share Posted March 28, 2016 Recently I had a strange thing happen with my computer system. I have a Mac desktop system and I have four external HDDs connected to it (mostly for music and back-up. I keep my ripped and file-based music collection separate from my live recordings.). Three of those HDDs are USB and one is FireWire. I also have two disk burners/players connected (also USB). One is a blu-ray burner, and the other is just a regular DVD burner/player. One day I noticed that neither disk drive would mount a CD or DVD. I assumed that they had both failed (as they tend to do these days) and made a note in the back of my mind to order a new one. Then I noticed that suddenly, none of my USB HDDs were mounting either. That meant that my TimeMachine backup system had stopped working and I couldn't access my computer-based music. I started looking around for the cause of the problem and found that even the Apple Disc Utility couldn't find any of the connected drives either! I then pulled all the USB cables from the hub, and disconnected the hub from the computer. Inserting each lead from each drive, one at a time, directly into the same computer's USB port as the hub had occupied, I found that all HDDs and both CD drives worked perfectly. I then ordered a new 13 port powered Sabrent hub from Amazon. It came Friday, and I replaced my current hub with the new one, and everything works as it's supposed to again. I have never before heard of a USB hub failing after working reliably for a number of years. Thought I would pass my experience along because it might prove worthwhile to somebody at some point. Maybe the power supply for the hub died, not the hub itself? Link to comment
Paul R Posted March 28, 2016 Share Posted March 28, 2016 What Bob said, I think. Powered USB hubs seem to be very sensitive to power surges. Anyone who considers protocol unimportant has never dealt with a cat DAC. Robert A. Heinlein Link to comment
BobSherman Posted March 28, 2016 Share Posted March 28, 2016 What Bob said, I think. Powered USB hubs seem to be very sensitive to power surges.Plus he was running several things on it drawing a decent amount of current. I have had wallwarts die after years of use. Link to comment
mansr Posted March 28, 2016 Share Posted March 28, 2016 I then ordered a new 13 port powered Sabrent hub from Amazon. That'll have two cascaded hubs internally. While this shouldn't be a problem, it's something to keep in mind in case things act up. Link to comment
JoseNelson Posted March 28, 2016 Share Posted March 28, 2016 What Bob said, I think. Powered USB hubs seem to be very sensitive to power surges. Yup, i agree with you. Link to comment
gmgraves Posted March 28, 2016 Author Share Posted March 28, 2016 I've also experienced a USB hub failure, and after quite a bit of research, discovered that inexpensive ones do fail, more expensive, better built ones, generally last far longer. But everyone seems to skimp on these assuming that a USB hub is a USB hub. JC This one was a Macally who generally sells pretty good quality gear (I've a Macally keyboard that I've been using daily for more than 10 years. It's so old that it is the original iMac colors of translucent white over translucent blue! The "E" on the e-key is a bit faded but other than that it still works as good as the day I bought it. I'd say that was a pretty good recommendation for it's quality!). It's problem was not the cable or the connector (AFAIKS), and it still "lit-up", so I suspect that lets out the power supply! George Link to comment
gmgraves Posted March 28, 2016 Author Share Posted March 28, 2016 Maybe the power supply for the hub died, not the hub itself? The lights on each receptacle still light up so it's probably not the PS. George Link to comment
gmgraves Posted March 28, 2016 Author Share Posted March 28, 2016 That'll have two cascaded hubs internally. While this shouldn't be a problem, it's something to keep in mind in case things act up. Yeah, that's true. Luckily each cascaded hub has it's own switch, and I'm only using one of them. The other is switched off. George Link to comment
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