usb devices, shouldn't they be able to plug in any port?

if u have a USB device, shouldn't it be able to plug into any of the ports and function? form what i've been studying on linux bout usb drivers, i thought so.. but my parents have these 2 devices, and the damn things are PICKY about what port they get plugged into. windows prompts for a driver to be installed if the device is not plugged into the port it was when it was installed... isn't this a case of poorly written drivers?? that can't be how usb works, is it?

ps. yes, this a hardware question.
pps. yes, the hardware forum is worthless.

Nope. It's a case of a poorly written OS.

USB should be hotswappable like that.

Worthless? Really?

Yep - I know what you mean. This happens to me too. I've got one of those portable flash drives. If I plug it into a port where I haven't had it before, it takes a bit of time to reinstall the drivers again before it shows up in My Computer. Crazy... but there you go.

Me too.... But I know which one on the front it is that I origonally used, so I always just plug it into that...

But that is a good point: I hate it when USB ports aren't interchangable, it can be a real pain.....

Writing the drivers and OS is not a hardware question.
</end defense of moderated forums>

heh, sorry karsh wasn't trying to put u down or anything. it's just that i've asked several questionst in there i thought were hardware related, and i've also sent friends there to ask questions, and neither i or them recieved answers. but one person can't do it all

thanks for replies everyone, this was really botherin me




i'm not one to argue with that statement usually, but.. are u saying that the windows driver API is at fault here? for example, on linux i can tell u that when u write a usb driver you have to provide a 'connect' function. whenever a device is plugged into usb, every driver registered on usb major number gets its 'connect' method invoked. u read status registers and determine if device belongs to u, and take according action.. so, on windows it does not worklike this? if so, then NO devices should behave properly, but my camera works fine on any port. b/c of that i got the impression the drivers were at fault here.

infamous I'm sure you know of http://www.devhardware.com/ have you tried asking there?

viper, that's like tossing him to the sharks... hehe

nope, never heard of them, thanks.

why don't you scroll to the top of this page, and look at the very top line where it says "Developer Shed Network"... then read a long a little bit

I Know but hey if he wants an answer they got lots of answers. They are very good there.