computer won't turn on with USB Hub connected

A google search is yielding a motherlode of info on problems with Win98SE and USB Hubs, but while I'm going through those results, I thought I'd post my question here in the meantime.
I've hooked up a USB Hub to some friends' computer, and while all the peripherals plugged into it work fine, once the computer has been turned off, it will not turn on as long as the USB Hub is plugged into it. I have to unplug the USB Hub, turn off the switch on the power strip (not sure if that's what it's called -- it's a strip that most of the computer's electrical equipment is plugged into), and turn the power strip back on before I can get the computer to restart.
This is the second USB Hub unit I've tried that created this problem (Cicero 4-port USB Hub for PC and Mac), so I don't think the unit itself is defective.
I ran an Intel USB System Check, and it came back saying "this system has FULL support for USB ".
Any suggestions out there?
Thanks,
Rebecca

 

Hi Rebbeca,

More information is needed. When the power button is pressed, do you see anything on the sceen? Can you hear the fans going? Do drive lights flash? Does it shut itself down? Do you get thrown to the BIOS screen?

Does the hub have it's own power supply?

One guess may be that it is a resource conflict, although that "reset by turning the power strip off" seems strange.

Is it a "branded" computer, like an IBM, Compaq, HP, Sony, etc.?

Matt

 

Finally had to give up and just return the USB hub to the store, but for the sake of completeness here: absolutely nothing happened when I pressed the power button yesterday, as long as the hub was connected.
The hub had its own power source, and this apparently was enough to keep both scanner and the computer itself from totally shutting down (didn't know electricity could work that way!). Even when the scanner was plugged directly into the computer (as opposed to the USB hub), as long as the USB's power remained plugged into its outlet (which was separate from the power strip everything else was plugged into), the scanner light remained on even after the computer was turned off, as did the power light on the tower itself (even though the was no "action" noise of any sort - no fans, no whirring drive or lights).
Even after unplugging the hub from the tower, though, like I said, when I'd press the power button, nothing would happen until I reset the power strip --
it was as if I hadn't pressed the switch at all. Once the power strip was turned off and on again, the computer would boot up normally - no error messages or anything. Shutting the system down, which seems to have been an issue for a lot of other users with Win98SE with USB hubs, was never a problem in my case. I'd click on Start and Shut Down, and that message about "it is now safe to turn off your computer" always came up.
Never got a BIOS screen.
Doesn't look to me like this is a branded computer, as there's no name imprinted on the front of the tower the way there is on mine...
Thanks for offering to help, Matt! My advice to anyone else with this problem is what the store employee (and a lot of my google search) told me: with this sort of a problem, the solution is probably simply to get a new computer!

 

Rebecca, thanks for detailing all that.

The computer itself may(?) be the problem, but I would not discount that having so much equipment attached to that powerstrip may be overloading it.

When I first set my main computer up where it is now, there was only one power outlet on the wall, I had it changed to two. I have a surge arrestor that plugs into one outlet and I run the computer from that. The other has a powerstrip that run all my other peripherals (printer, monitors, modem, etc). I have two other computers that are side-by-side, but I make sure that each has it's own wall outlet.

Before getting another computer, look at redistributing the power load that your system is using, it may be too much for that powerstrip (and even one wall outlet).

Matt

 

me too

I have a problem when i have a removable disk inserted into my HP PC

-External Zip drive for USB 1.1
-256 MB Memorex TravelDrive for USB 2.0
-a good ol' floppy

i can understand a the zip drive and flashdrive, but the floppy worries me as it might keep bootable files from running when i need them most