USB Question

[jimfath]

I have a tower with 8 USB's on the back and two on the front.

If I plug in flash drive to the front, a waring pops up that says the USB board experienced a power surge. Then the keyboard and mouse stops working so I have reboot.
I can only connect flash drives to the usb connections on the back of the machine so I have to climb under mydesk to reach them... I can use the two usb jacks onthe front for printing and anything else that isn't a flash drive. Anyone know how or why that would happen?

[Hamer]

Most likely - the front ports are USB 1.1, and the back are 2.0 (which your flash drive likely requires to power, hence the surge).

That's my guess.

[schaefe]

Does the flash drive require its own power source, or is it just the USB connection?

It sounds like the flash drive either is pulling too much power, or not enough.

[Inkling]

It sounds like the flash drive either is pulling too much power, or not enough.

That sounds right to me. If you want to spend a few bucks for a powered USB hub, try plugging that into your front ports and trying the flash drive in the hub.