There are two other possibilities that no one has mentioned here, Ken.
1.) The software has hung the COM port... in this case, you should be able to simply open up task manager and shut down the task that is holding the COM port handle. (Which is effectively what the reboot is doing.)
2.) The FTDI overloaded the USB ports .5amp protection circut... which shuts down the USB port to avoid damage to it. They can only be reset with a reboot.
It seems the USB 3.0 adds extra pins with 4 more signal wires, but I think they are added on the top of the connector, so the 2.0 side does not change. I could not find a drawing, but the photo caption in the link in #23 says "Note the additional pins on the top side of the USB 3.0 port.", and the image can be zoomed, to show a underside that looks 'standard'.
There are two other possibilities that no one has mentioned here, Ken.
2.) The FTDI overloaded the USB ports .5amp protection circut... which shuts down the USB port to avoid damage to it. They can only be reset with a reboot.
To help protect the laptop USB and prevent a device from trying to draw too much current from that it may help to get an external powered USB hub. If you have one it would be good to try inserting that in-between the computer and PropBOE to see if that helps.
When you plug a USB 2.0 device (or cable) into a USB 3.0 port, you completely bypass USB 3.0 and it's new protocols. The USB 2.0 side did not change. The only way to 'use' USB 3.0 is to have the connected device support it. I doubt that any problem that a USB 2.0 device has while plugged into a USB 3.0 port has anything to do with USB 3.0.
I'm not so sure I agree with that. My Toshiba laptop has 3 USB host controllers. Two are Intel C200 USB Enhanced host controllers running Intel drivers from 2010, the third is a Renesas Electronics USB 3.0 host controller running Renesas drivers from 2011. So when I plug into my USB 3.0 port I'm using a different host controller and different drivers.
I'm not so sure I agree with that. My Toshiba laptop has 3 USB host controllers. Two are Intel C200 USB Enhanced host controllers running Intel drivers from 2010, the third is a Renesas Electronics USB 3.0 host controller running Renesas drivers from 2011. So when I plug into my USB 3.0 port I'm using a different host controller and different drivers.
If you take a look at the block diagram you'll see a separate USB 2.0 host controller. It's physically impossible to 'use' USB 3.0 without a USB 3.0 device is what I'm saying. If there's a problem with plugging a USB 2.0 device into a USB 3.0 port, the problem is with USB 2.0, not USB 3.0. I supposed it could be a driver issue that the USB 3.0/2.0 chip is using, but they made USB 2.0 spec host controllers and drivers for a long time now and I would hope that this new implementation wouldn't be any different.
It seems that that the USB3.0 not only needs a different port, but a special cable as well. The overload protection adds yet another dimension to 3.0. I am getting strongly reminded of Ground Fault Protection outlets - wonderful in concept, but always going down when you didn't want them to do so.
I guess I will holl back on USB 2.0 for a while. No reason to bleed on the leading edge.
Same here. Only two USB ports, both 3.0, I assume. Somehow, Chris got my laptop working with my Prop BOE at the Expo - took us quite awhile and I have no idea what finally did it. I have been having so much fun with my BOE-BOT since I put the Prop BOE on it, I bought another Prop BOE for just foolin' around. Now IT won't work with my laptop. I uninstalled all my drivers, re-installed them and still no luck and now the OTHER Prop BOE won't work either.
So, I think Parallax has to come up with a solution to this, since Ken is also having the problem (or a similar one) with his class and it seems to be somewhat universal. I shouldn't have to uninstall and re-install all my drivers every time I switch from one Prop BOE to the other. Very frustrating.
I'm going to try to find a USB 2.0 hub and see if that works...
Well after studying the datasheet for the chipset in my motherboard and physically examing the connector on my 3.0 storage device I confirm that Kye is right. Each 3.0 port on a computer has seperate physical electrical connections for 2.0 and 3.0 ports. The reason the PropBoe didn't work for me the first time it was plugged into a 3.0 port is that this was the first time I had plugged in 2.0 device to it and it was in the middle of loading the driver for that 2.0 port for that device and hadn't finished yet (I tested to quickly). So that means any 2.0 device plugged into a 3.0 port with a 2.0 cable should work just fine once the 2.0 driver for that port/device is loaded.
Edit: I used to think my motherboard had 4 USB 3.0 and 12 USB 2.0 ports but it really has 16 available USB 2.0 ports.
Comments
1.) The software has hung the COM port... in this case, you should be able to simply open up task manager and shut down the task that is holding the COM port handle. (Which is effectively what the reboot is doing.)
2.) The FTDI overloaded the USB ports .5amp protection circut... which shuts down the USB port to avoid damage to it. They can only be reset with a reboot.
Bill
http://www.usb.org/about/faq/ans1#q2
...any and everything you wanted to know about USB:
http://www.usb.org
To help protect the laptop USB and prevent a device from trying to draw too much current from that it may help to get an external powered USB hub. If you have one it would be good to try inserting that in-between the computer and PropBOE to see if that helps.
Robert
Correct, and I should have stated that it could be a USB 2.0 driver issue. Renesas drivers, so you probably have this chip - http://documentation.renesas.com/doc/DocumentServer/S19784EJ2V0PB00.pdf
If you take a look at the block diagram you'll see a separate USB 2.0 host controller. It's physically impossible to 'use' USB 3.0 without a USB 3.0 device is what I'm saying. If there's a problem with plugging a USB 2.0 device into a USB 3.0 port, the problem is with USB 2.0, not USB 3.0. I supposed it could be a driver issue that the USB 3.0/2.0 chip is using, but they made USB 2.0 spec host controllers and drivers for a long time now and I would hope that this new implementation wouldn't be any different.
I guess I will holl back on USB 2.0 for a while. No reason to bleed on the leading edge.
So, I think Parallax has to come up with a solution to this, since Ken is also having the problem (or a similar one) with his class and it seems to be somewhat universal. I shouldn't have to uninstall and re-install all my drivers every time I switch from one Prop BOE to the other. Very frustrating.
I'm going to try to find a USB 2.0 hub and see if that works...
Edit: I used to think my motherboard had 4 USB 3.0 and 12 USB 2.0 ports but it really has 16 available USB 2.0 ports.