R32 USB Nightmares

[bkvenky]

Hi,

I have borrowed an IBM ThinkPad R32 from my friend which was purchased in 2003, for using it during business travels. I carry all my data in my Seagate 80 GB portable drive (ST90000U2) and use a USB wireless modem for Net connectivity on the move.

To my horror, neither my portable drive nor the USB modem works on R32. The R32 has two USB ports, and the portable drive works only when I plug in the "power only" cable of the drive into one port and the "power + data" cable to the other port. My USB modem has only one cable, and no luck with the R32.

From this, I understand that the USB ports in R32 deliver less than 5V (which is required by both the devices). Can you confirm the same and suggest any workarounds for this?

Much appreciate your time and inputs...

Regards,
V

[Terrahawk]

I have a portable USB hard drive with a 100GB Seagate in it. It is a little inconsistent in its operation in that when my R40 is powered by AC and I plug it in the side USB port, it works fine. However if I plug it in the rear USB port or am running under battery power, it refuses to start properly unless I plug in the extra power-only USB plug too.

This is not unexpected behaviour - a USB port is only rated to supply 5V at 0.5A, which is a total of 2.5W of power. Many hard drives require more than 2.5W to actually start up, which is why many USB hard drive enclosures have two plugs - one for power/data and another for additional power only.

As for the modem, I am not sure on that one.

[SeanM]

Exactly what Terrahawk said.

You can try connecting your USB devices to a POWERED hub, connected to your R32. I realize this isn't a good "on-the-go" solution, but a powered hub may offer more power at the port than the built-in ports of the R32.