No working USB ports when connected to D/Port

VicSmurf,

You will need to install the Dell Notebook System Software (NSS). NSS is a collection of essential software that provides critical updates for correct operating system functionality such as support for Dell 3.5" USB floppy drives, Pentium-M processors, CD-ROM/CD-RW/DVD drives, and USB devices. This software is designed to install needed files depending on operating system and service pack. When NSS is installed on a system with one of the following OS/SP combinations [Windows 2000 (initial release), Windows 2000 SP1/SP2, or Windows XP (initial release)], it installs a product called Orangeware. Orangeware replaces the native Windows 2000 or Windows XP USB stack with it's own, resolving many outstanding USB issues with these older service pack revisions.

Click Here.

Thank you for choosing Dell.

Hello,

We have the same problem. We have purchased 6 D600 Latitude notebooks 2 weeks ago but we cannot give them to our users because of the USB problems. The notebooks are installed with the Windows XP version that Dell supplied with the D600. We have tried fixing the problem by installing the latest D600 firmware (A05) and the latest Notebook System Software (A06). No luck.

The USB ports on the D/Port Advanced Port Replicator do not activate when the D600 is turned on. I know this because I have an optical mouse and the red light is not lit up when connected to the D/Port. Personally I think the NSS installer fails to update the USB drivers in Windows XP. When I look at the Hardware Manager, the USB devices still use the drivers from 2001. I have tried updating the drivers manally but I cannot find the updated drivers NSS installs on the harddisk.

I hope Dell comes with a solution soon because our company plans to upgrade at least 10 other notebooks this year as well.

With kind regard,

Mark Loman

DELL_JohnM 

Those NSS drivers you talked about where already installed on my system! I think they cause the problems instead of fixing them. When I install a new clean Windows XP installation it seems to work fine but when I install the NSS drivers it starts to fail. I cannot not find where I can de-install the drivers .

 

Hi,

We have looked into the problem and it seems when you install NSS release A06, the USB drivers "disable" the USB ports on the Port Replicator.

We have checked this by reverting to the old usb files by manually copying all %systemroot%\system32\drivers\usb*.dll and the %systemroot%\inf\usb*.inf files from a standard Windows XP SP1 installation to my D600 with NSS release A06. I also uninstalled "Intel(R) 82801DBM PCI Bridge - 2448" and "Intel(R) 82801DBM LPC Interface Controller - 24CC" from the Device manager \ System devices and rebooted my computer so Windows reinstalls these uninstalled devices.

I connected my optical mouse to one of the USB ports and it worked again. Other D600 notebook required some more patience - only when I applied our "patch" and rebooted several times it started working :/

Anyway, hope this helps. Thanks to VicSmurf for the helping us in this :)

I hope Dell will fix this soon. BTW, the usbport.dll has version sp2.12xx which indicates NSS installs a SP2 version of the file...

Mark

 

Additionally, I believe the problem is with A06 of the Notebook System Software (NSS). When we install NSS release A03 on a D600, we have no problems. When we upgrade to A06 the USB gets a bullet in the back and dies.

Mark

Has anyone been able to downgrade a system (D600, D800) to use NSS A03 succesfully?  We have tried on several systems, but have had no luck.. have been forced to re-install XP.

The D800's perform quite poorly without NSS A06, but that kills the dock and rep USB's.  I hope Dell has a fix soon.

I was able to downgrade my system to the A03 version! You have to get all the usbxxx.sys files from an SP1 installation and copy them to the C:\Windows\System32\Drivers folder. Then you have to remove the hardware related to the USB devices (in the hardware manager) and also the Intel(R) 82801DBM PCI Bridge - 2448" and "Intel(R) 82801DBM LPC Interface Controller - 24CC" from the Device manager \ System devices. Then you have to reboot (maybe remove first you laptop outof the docking) and boot again. Place your laptop in the docking and the usb devices shoot work now. Now you can install A03 instead of the A06 release. MARKLOMAN has posted this information also in this thread.

Good luck and i hope it works.

I'm glad to hear that Win2k SP4 seems to fix the USB problems, but how bout us Windows XP users - anyone heard any indication of what (like maybe SP2) will fix the problem on machines running XP?

 

:)

Just to let you know, this issue appears to be resolved in Windows 2000 service pack 4, which was released today.

It's not in Windows Update yet, but there's an article on OSNews with details...

The relevant links are:

Changelog is here.

Net Installer is here.

Base Net Installer is here.

Hope this helps someone...

Alex

Hi all,

I was browsing thought the D600 support pages when I stumbled upon a perhaps new version of the Dell Notebook Systems Software. Strang enough, the release version equals the previous and broken release, A06. The only difference I could find at the moment, is the release date! 06/25/2003, 2 days ago!?! I am downloading it right now. Perhaps it fixes the serious problem with the USB ports on the D\Port and D\View equipment.

I also found out that the A00 SpeedStep Fix for WinXP is also "updated" (now dates 06/25/2003).

Update: I could not find any differences between the old A06 and the "new" A06. The package is the same. Problem remains. Same goes for SpeedStep Fix. Too bad.

Mark

Message Edited by markloman on 06-27-2003 12:33 PM

Message Edited by markloman on 06-27-2003 01:01 PM

Hi,

I am having the exact same problem with a Latittude D800. I have tried all of the suggestions on here and none have worked yet for me. I have tried the A03 version, and A06 version ... installed Clean Windows XP version , tried SP1 , all/none of these combinations work. The moderator, John M. responded with what he claimed is a solution, but does anyone know if he is aware this is still an ongoing problem?

shane

This is just one of those blinding stupid/annoying things. I think I figured out what the issue is ....

This was a brand new machine ordered from Dell ... laptop, D/Port advanced replicator, USB keyboard, USB mouse, all came as one order. I booted the laptop seperately and went through initial registratrion/setup for Windows XP and Dell licensincing. I then attatched the Laptop to the D/Port with the USB mouse/keyboard combo plugged into the D/Port USB slots.

Nothing.

I unplugged the laptop, checked that USB mouse and keyboard worked when directly plugged into the USB slots on the laptop. Good to go.

I installed service packs, A03, A06 , nothing.

Finally on a hunch, I docked the laptop, then plugged the USB Mouse directly into the laptop port (On a Latitude D800 there is a USB port on the right side, still accessible when in D/Port). I left the USB keyboard attatched to the D/Port USB port.

The USB mouse (optical) came on, and as this was an initial install I had not set the administrator password (was blank) so was able to just 'click-through' to log on. Immediately upon logging in, Windows announces it had detected new 'plug-n-play' hardware, a USB controller, and promptly began to install the drivers. Once done, the keyboard worked perfectly fine. I moved the mouse to the D/Port USB and it worked fine as well.

I'm not sure if the USB keyboard had to be plugged into the D/Port for windows to detect that usb controller, but that seemed to do the trick. The problem it seems is that the D/Port uses a different USB controller chip then the laptop itself, and only detects and installs drivers for it AFTER you've logged in. Which if your laptop is in the D/Port and the docking port accessory (that holds the monitor above it) ... the keyboard is closed so you cant' use that. Using Windows XP you have to log on before plug-n-play hardware is detected, so this is a problem.

Somehow you have to log in at least once initially (use a PS/2 keyboard/mouse or use laptop USB connector) for the hardware to be detected and correctly installed.

shane

I have a similar issue with a Latitude D400 and a D/Port Advanced Port Replicator.  The USB optical mouse does not always load, neither does the IEEE-1394 DVD/CDRW drive.  Whilst plugged directly into the laptop each device responds correctly.  We bought five laptops and replicators and we experience the same on all.  We are using 'straight out of the box' Dell Windows XP SP1.  I have also tried installing Windows XP from scratch but to no avail.

My main problem is that I have a USB ISDN modemand as the port replicator appears to lose contact with it my connection to the Internet is being reset and I also lose my VPN connection (which is frustrating.....).  I can't replace the modem with a serial modem either as my COM port is already in use with another device.  I also have a GPRS device in the PCMCIA slot!

I tried to install the R60192.exe but this has made no difference!

 

 

I have similar problems with my D400 and the D port.  The D/port detect all my USB devices when I first power the laptop up.  When I restart the laptop, the D/port doesn't detect any USB devices.  I have to physically unplug the USB devices and plug them back in for the D/port to detect them.  A little hassle, but it would be nice if Dell comes up with a fix for this soon.

I also am having problems with my D600 and my Dell D/Port APR where my USB mouse, plugged into the APR, intermittantly freezes. To gain access to my mouse again I need to unplug the mouse and re-insert. I am reluctant to install the NSS drivers as my machine is a corporate image and do not want to deviate too far from what has been installed.

 

Please advise on how this can be resolved.

 

As a point of interest, it may be worthwhile to advise MCI IT since they are now globablly deploying this machine and APR.