Problem with cyclone dongle

[SuperLuckyLady]

Got this yesterday, and loved it to begin with. Then, it suddenly stopped working properly. At first, it just lost all power. Have tried adjusting the post, but only seem to be able to get 2 results: 1) Pushing the button gets no effect, no button lighting up, nothing; or 2) the button just flashes blue.

Any ideas?

 

[BonnyC]

What are you hooking it up to for power? That is what it did to me when I tried to use it on an adapter plugged into an outlet, but the adapter didn't have enough power to run it. Have you tried it on another usb port?

 

[SuperLuckyLady]

Thanks for the suggestion Bonny. Just tried it on another computer, as well as in a wall adapter. Still all I get is the switch flashing blue.

 

[BonnyC]

I'm out of ideas. Have you fiddled with the wire? Tried to push it into the dongle a little better?

 

[Randyrtx]

Moving it to a different computer port likely won't help, since PC USB ports rarely provide enough current.

What is the current rating of your USB adapter? You need one rated for 1.5A minimum.

Are you testing with a carto installed? If so, see if it does the same thing without a carto.

 

[BonnyC]

Isn't using them on a computer/laptop usb port the whole point of these things? It works great on both my laptop and my computer in any of their ports.

 

[Randyrtx]

Ideally, it should be the point of them, Bonny. Unfortunately, passthrough designers didn't bother to fully check the USB specification when they started designing "USB-compatible" devices, IMO. The only part they really complied with is the connector and the voltage spec of 5V.

According to the USB specification, PC USB ports are only required to provide 500mA. Some will provide more in order to work with higher-power USB peripherals, so if yours does, you're lucky. But it's largely hit and miss.

External USB devices like powered hubs and AC-USB adapters generally provide more current, but not always. Further, some will be rated for a higher total current for all ports, but are still only rated for 500mA per port. Your best bet is to always check the spec of the port you're using, and never exceed what it's rated for.

 

[badkolo]

yeah, i have a monster pc here, 1000 watt power, 10 usb connection, 3usb.30, and still half of them wont provide enough power while the others are just fine for it.

 

[BonnyC]

Wow, you learn something new every day. Heck, mine even works in the USB port in the car's CD player. But, the original poster's dongle worked fine at first.

 

[Randyrtx]

Yeah, I'm suspecting a bad dongle, but verifying her power source is the best place to start. My Piper-D will behave that way sometimes when the internal wiring breaks, until I re-solder it.

 

[badkolo]

it could be a bad dongle as well, she was contacted

 

[harmonic]

heh i got more ports than i can count too and a hub and ect and my piper only works good on the front port off my card reader. the rest even if it does fire its too weak. took it out to my car where i got a 2A adapter and the thing rocks. i need to find a 2A wall wart but no luck local lol

 

[Tom950]

Mine did the same thing right before it died completely

 

[rse1]

heh i got more ports than i can count too and a hub and ect and my piper only works good on the front port off my card reader. the rest even if it does fire its too weak. took it out to my car where i got a 2A adapter and the thing rocks. i need to find a 2A wall wart but no luck local lol

These are sold for cell phones. I got mine from ebay for under $5 (including shipping) and got them in a couple of days.

 

[SuperLuckyLady]

Sorry, had network problems there for a while. Thanks for all your ideas,

No luck with any USB ports. The highest rated wall adapter I have is 1.9A, and it won't work on that either. Would an extra 0.1 A make a difference? I don't have one of those to try.

Thanks for the messages badkolo. Unless I can get this working soon, I'll take you up on your offer.

 

[Randyrtx]

The 1.9A adapter should be fine, sounds like you got a bad dongle.

 

[SuperLuckyLady]

Yes, it does. My dongle just dangles I'm afraid. Bad has kindly offered to replace. Thanks so much for your help.

 

[badkolo]

while i know this sounds dumb but did you pull up the pin on it to see if it wasnt making contact with your carto. and yes your all takin cared of

 

[SuperLuckyLady]

Yeah, that was the first thing I tried.

 

[BonnyC]

while i know this sounds dumb but did you pull up the pin on it to see if it wasnt making contact with your carto. and yes your all takin cared of

That's probably not it. When I got my stardust and it wouldn't connect to the dongle because of the pin being too low, the dongle still fired up. The stardust just didn't do anything.

Regardless, I hope your new dongle is dongle-tastic.