In Firefox, web site displaying flash intermittently disconnects USB keyboard [ Edited ]

[occhris]

Hello All,

I am using an IBM Thinkpad t60p with a docking station (type 2505) and an exteral IBM USB keyboard.  When I visit a website using Firefox (2.0.0.13) with heavy flash, the computer reguarly disconnects the USB keyboard plugged into the dock.  Sometimes it disconnects and reconnects after a few seconds, and other times it never reconnects.  During those times, I have to manually pull out the cable and reconnect it to another port. 

Does anyone have any suggestions?  I don't seem to encounter this problem with Internet Explorer. 


Message Edited by occhris on 04-08-2008 03:14 PM

[wschroeder]

I, also, have had a similar problem.  My USB mouse, when connected to my T60 through the 2505 port replicator USB ports, intermittently stops communicating with my T60.  In Firefox, this usually occurs when the cursor moves over a link.

HOWEVER, this is not the only application in which I have this problem.  I have the same problem when dragging objects around in Visio.  In fact, I have the same problem in many settings.  I have tried different mice, with no improvement.  The "solution" is to plug the USB mouse directly into one of the T60's USB ports, rather than into the 2505's USB ports.  When I do this, I have no operational problems with the mouse.

I am looking for some driver updates that may address this issue. 

Any suggestions, anybody?  Thanks.

[goretsky Community Moderator]

Hello,

I am not sure if it will help, but have you tried installing the Client Security Solution 8.1 patch for Mozilla Firefox from Lenovo, available for download from http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site.wss/MIGR-69426.html?

Regards,

Aryeh Goretsky

[insonic]

I have the same problems - T60 + Advanced Mini Dock and keyboard, mouse and joypad being reconnected several times when working with some specific applications (like Firefox with Flash content, but not only there).

I found a suggestion to update BIOS. Now I have version 2.20. I tried to update a keyboard driver. I tried to uninstall this keyboard personalization software from ThinkPad (don't remember it's name now). Nothing helped . But it seems to be only Windows issue - the things seem to work correctly under some linux distributions (according to posts I've found on other forums, since I don't have any linux installed).

It's incredibly irritating and sometimes the only one way to make it work once again, I have to reboot the computer.

Any other suggestions?

[randallt]

I also run into this VERY ANNOYING problem daily. I have a ThinkPad T60p with docking station (type 2504).

[antelope]

Similar problem running the USB keyboard and mouse through the dock or even through a USB hub connected directly to the laptop while it is docked.

The problems for me are delayed keyboard strokes when typing (MS Outlook, Work, Autocad) and delayed and/or crude cursor movement with the optical mouse especially when using Autocad.

I did the Lenovo System Update 3.14 yesterday but it didn't seem to help anything. Haven't updated the BIOS yet.

None of my devices are wireless.

HELP!!

[davidemartin]

I have a T60p (2007-W2T) and a advanced mini dock (2504-10U). When I do something that pushes the video driver (visiting a heavy flash site, moving the mouse around rapidly) the USB mouse and keyboard disconnect. Sometimes they reconnect quickly.  Other times I have to unplug them and plug them back in.  The quirk I have found is that if the laptop screen is open, I don't have a problem.  With the screen closed, I get frequent USB disconnects.

[insonic]

Finally! I think I've found a solution. It seems that the problem is related to power consumption from the USB ports. Yes, it's weird, because how much power may a keyboard and a mouse take? They report around 100mA each.

I bought a 10-port self-powered USB-hub and the problem disappeared! Connection is like this:

[Docking station] <---> [USB hub] <--- [power]

and all the devices are connected to this external hub now.

Simple test showed it is related to some power issue. This hub can take power from a computer or an external power adapter can be used. In the first case the problem remains, in the latter not.

There is one more observation besides the already mentioned Firefox-problem above. In case my keyboard and mouse are connected directly to the docking station (or through an unpowered hub) and I turn on the laptop, for the first time it does not recognize the internal fingerprint reader, only after ctrl+alt+del it is seen. With this externally-powered USB hub everything works just perfectly!

Just in case you would like to know what hub it is (maybe you've already tried some without a success), it is 10-port USB 2.0 hub from Trust: www.trust.com/16131

Hope you can solve your problems the same way. Good luck!

[Ursus]

I've had this problem for a long time, and also had it with my old Dell D600 (in fact this is why I bought my T60p only to have the same problme there).

After much research and testing, I finally narrowed it down to disk I/O. You can open the Flash player's internal control panel and tweak the amount of disk space to allocate for local settings and see the different results. Basically if you turn it all the way down to zero then the problem disappears, but then you also lose the ability to store local settings for the object (IE, youtube video no longer remembers audio settings, or may not have sound at all, etc).

I also notice this behavior with some very large images (not Flash objects, just large GIF images). I'm not sure if this means that the problem is with the Flash player or if its a Mozilla disk I/O issue, or maybe they both have the same basic problem that shows up in different places (Flash settings vs Mozilla image caching).

I have not gone any further with this, but there are a few likely root problems that are causing this to occur. The most likely explanation is that the Flash player handles disk I/O in such a way as to trigger hardware resource conflicts. This would explain why it happens on multiple laptop brands, and why changing USB device layout can sometimes work. I also suspect that this is exacerbated by laptop "low-power" operating modes, such as the hard-disk going into low-power mode.

Message Edited by Ursus on 05-29-2009 05:17 PM

[danieletienne]

As for my configuration, it seems to be indeed a power issue. I use a docking station and a T60. If the usb keyboard is plugged in the docking, it freezes during flash animations. If the usb keyboard is solved in one of the thinkpad port, it works smoothly.

How strange, I would have thought that the USB slots of the docking station have more power. In any case, problem solved.