Registered: Dec 1999
Location:
Posts: 11

Hi all,

I recently purchased an Iomega Zip CD R-W USB drive. I hooked it up and everything went fine, however, I can no longer snyc my Visor to my PC. When I try to sync my Visor, my Iomega drive kicks off.

I followed the advice on the Handspring support site which suggested I remove the other device, then sync. This works, but it is an unacceptable solution. Also, the Iomega drive does not have a second USB port to "chain" devices together, and I'm not going through a hub.

My computer is only about a year old, both USB ports are fine, and I doubt this is the fault of the zip drive. I have heard that the Lexmark USB printers have also had a similar issue, and they have released a patch to solve the problem. Has anyone else experienced this with a second USB device? Any solutions?

Thanks. I miss my Avant Go, and if it weren't for my Backup module, I'd never let my Visor out of the house.

Registered: Nov 1999
Location: Ann Arbor, Michigan USA
Posts: 790

What about asking Iomega?

http://www.iomega.com/support/askiomega_options.html

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Jeff

Registered: Dec 1999
Location:
Posts: 11

Jeff,

I've already been to the Iomega site and they don't have any documentation on the problem. Anyway, the problem is NOT with Iomega, since the zip CD drive is running fine. The problem is with the Handspring Cradle not wanting to coexist with another USB device. This is confirmed by Handspring's advice to "unplug the other device."

Registered: Nov 1999
Location: Ann Arbor, Michigan USA
Posts: 790

I'm pretty sure Iomega's site gives similar advice. What about sending an email to Handspring or Iomega tech support?

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Jeff

Registered: Dec 1999
Location: Connecticut USA
Posts: 2682

la_Orange,

You can try re-installing the Handspring drivers. It may be that the Zip drive knocked out some registry setting or something pertaining to the USB controller. Or it could be that the Zip drive takes over the controller for its own purposes. I've heard of several new USB printers doing this but haven't experienced anything personally.

I have 7 different USB devices (cameras, scanners, TV Tuner, Visor, USB-Serial converter, etc) running from 2 4-port hubs connected to the PC and don't have any USB conflicts.

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Registered: Aug 2000
Location:
Posts: 36

la-Orange, how do you know that the ZipCD isnt the problem? just because the cradle only works when the ZipCD is unplugged could very well mean that the ZipCD IS the problem, therefor no zipCD, no problem. i would recommend trying some other usb device to help pinpoint the problem. I am running a USB microsoft keyboard with the cradle and the mouse plugged into it, and a joystick on my computers other usb port. it works fine.

Registered: Dec 1999
Location:
Posts: 11

MarkEagle and ejacobs,

Thanks for the ideas. I have already uninstalled/reinstalled the Visor software to no avail. I'm encouraged that you guys have multiple USB devices plugged in and everything is running smoothly. I'll go the Iomega route, but like I said before I couldn't find anything on this in their knowledge base, though half the battle is asking the right question. I've lived most of my life by not reading the readme file, so perhaps that is a start as well

When I figure this out, I'll post back again with the fix, since I'm probably not the only Visor owner either with a USB CD-RW from Iomega or thinking about getting one.

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laOrange
"An expert is one who has made every mistake in a given field."

Registered: Jan 2000
Location:
Posts: 219

quote:

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Originally posted by la_Orange
My computer is only about a year old, both USB ports are fine, and I doubt this is the fault of the zip drive

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Taki
<!-- Begin UMSB Link --><A HREF="http://www.ad-visor.net/UMSB/"><IMG SRC="http://www.ad-visor.net/image/UMSB.gif"ALT="UMSB"BORDER=0></a><!-- End UMSB Link -->

Registered: Aug 2000
Location:
Posts: 38

For what it is worth I would look into the Iomega option as well. I too have a parallel port Zip drive and had similar problems with it. Different versions of the driver needed to work with different printers, etc. I have an Acer USB scanner coexisting with my USB cradle without any trouble. I will say that I had some trouble getting the Sync to work once early on with my Visor, I did the reinstall, etc. and ended up doing a soft reset on the unit and then everything worked fine. You might try this.

Taki - did you try running Iomega's parallel port accelerator program? I am not sure what this does, and it only works on some machines (it would not run on my old laptop), but it did work on my new desktop and really sped things up. It is now about 1/3-1/2 as fast as a SCSI external zip drive we have at work. Not bad.

- Ryan

Registered: Jan 2000
Location:
Posts: 219

Ryan, I did run parallel port accelerator but didn't do much. I'll try hooking it up to another parallel port since I have an extra parallel port now(the one my old digital camera used).

quote:

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Different versions of the driver needed to work with different printers, etc.

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Taki
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Registered: Oct 2000
Location:
Posts: 3

Toast anyone?

By any chance are you using Adaptec Toast on a Mac with the ZipCD? Toast loads a USB Shim which conflicts with about every known USB device EXCEPT USB CD-Rs.

Registered: Sep 2000
Location: Nazareth, PA
Posts: 99

There is the minute chance that it's a power problem. Is the USB cd-rw bus powered or do you have to plug it into the wall? If it's bus powered you may not be getting enough power to your hotsync cradle to initiate a hotsync.

Registered: Nov 1999
Location: bright side of the moon.
Posts: 996

this is a shot in the dark and probably only relates to a handful of people, but recently i installed a PCI USB card and i plugged my visor cradle in and it worked perfectly. Then i tried plugging in a USB modem and all hell broke loose. To make a long story short, it was my chipset. I have an old Pentium 200 (before MMX) and the BIOS loaded didn't have something called a 'PCI menu' something or other. So it couldn't assign proper settings to the second device plugged into the USB card. The advice i got from the motherboard manufacturer was to download an update to my BIOS which supports USB better.

I tried that and haven't really fanangled too much with my BIOS yet (i'm waiting for a boring, snow storm weekend when i have nothing to do). In the meantime i'm using a serial connection modem and only my visor cradle is loaded in USB.

Odds are you aren't using an old computer though....

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Registered: Oct 2000
Location:
Posts: 34

PCI Steering is what you're looking for, I believe. It wasn't in place until some of the mid range Pentiums.

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Green Vdx
The Mountain Dew of PDA's.

Registered: Nov 1999
Location: bright side of the moon.
Posts: 996

quote:

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Originally posted by Vegaman Dan
PCI Steering is what you're looking for, I believe. It wasn't in place until some of the mid range Pentiums.

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Thanks!
(the motherboard manufacturer suggested upgrading the BIOS. Do you know of any other ways to get around this?)

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