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XPS m1710 and D/Dock issue with USB?

post #1 of 4
Thread Starter 
My m1710 is plugged into a D/Dock (the larger one with a PCI slot) which has it's own power cable. If I plug my Microsoft Sidewinder keyboard and mouse into the USB ports on the dock, they will just power off seemingly at random and for random lengths of time, then come back on and work fine. If I plug them straight into the laptop, they work fine. My first thought was that my dock was broken, but I borrowed my dock from work which has had a USB mouse plugged into it for years and tried it, and it does the exact same thing. Are the USB ports really underpowered or something and can't handle a lit keyboard and laser mouse? I don't really know what to think at this point.
post #2 of 4
USB ports do not have alot of power to provide, and if the ones in the dock are shared power you may have issues.
post #3 of 4
The USB standard for power is 5VDC @ 500mA per port. It may be your keyboard is using a bit beyond the 500mA. My suggestion to remedy this problem would be to get an External USB hub that has its own power source. The ports on the Laptop itself might have a bit more juice behind them (the standard is 500mA but that isn't to say a manufacturer can't let the ports push more).

I have all the ports on my DDock filled and I have a hard drive in the dock's bay AND an external DVD burner plugged in the external drive USB port. One port goes to my monitor's built in hub as well and I haven't had any problems.
post #4 of 4
Thread Starter 
The only other explanation I can think of would be that the port on the bottom of the laptop isn't grounding the USB ports on the dock well enough or something, in which case I'm screwed. Maybe I'll "borrow" a low-tech USB m/kb from work and see if it works better.
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