SL510 with flakey USB ports

[mpcook]

My wife has a new SL510 from her employer. I have noticed while backing up and reinstalling and updating for her, that the USB ports (there are 4) do not reliably operate. In particular, it seems to show when a USB drive is plugged in, it will hang on shut down. It is using XP SP3. Also, on occasion, it does not recognize the drive if it is plugged in. I saw a couple of posts on Lenovo message boards about a similar issue. One mentioned trying different combinations of ports, sometimes having success. I haven't tried troubleshooting but I will advise the IT group not to buy this model again in any case.

I am curious if anyone else has noticed either success or failure using a USB drive with this machine.
Thanks
Mike

[Harryc]

Is it running the latest BIOS? There are several mentions of 'hang' fixes plus mention of a USB power issue - "(Fix) Fixed an issue that occurred in the USB port power control function after two times standby operation."

http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site. ... MIGR-73435

[mpcook]

Is it running the latest BIOS? There are several mentions of 'hang' fixes plus mention of a USB power issue - "(Fix) Fixed an issue that occurred in the USB port power control function after two times standby operation."

http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site. ... MIGR-73435

Thanks for the advice. I will check to see what BIOS she has and update.

Mike

[mpcook]

I updated the bios and that seems to solve the shut down problem. Although, I still seem to still have erratic connection to the USB drive.

Mike

[Harryc]

Mike, is it possible that the USB drive requires more power than is supplied by the USB ports? Try an external power source or a powered USB hub to see if that makes a difference.