# Can't run 2 USB devices at same time



## jhgreene (Feb 2, 2007)

Hello -
I'm running XP Pro here at home, and my box has 2 USB ports on the side - pretty convenient. However, I have never been able to operate 2 different devices at the same time. For example, right now I'd like to have my home network printer plugged into one of the ports, and my scanner plugged into the other. But if I want to use the scanner, I have to unplug the printer and reopen the scanner app. (I'm not sure if I would have to unplug the scanner to use the printer.)

I know this seems like a simple conflict, but i'm a bit rusty at figuring this stuff out, so any quick pointers or help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.


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## Prophet (Oct 24, 2004)

do both ports work independantly?


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## jhgreene (Feb 2, 2007)

Thanks for the reply. Each device (printer and scanner) work on each port with the other port disconnected - so they each work independently. When both are plugged in, the printer seems to work fine, but the scanner does not. When I try to start the scan operation, it reports an error message indicating that it thinks it is being used by another application. I can close the scan app, reopen, and try again - same result. Or I can unplug the scanner momentarily from the USB port, plug back in, retry - same result. The scanner and printer are fairly new - nothing odd here.

Thanks again - any other ideas? This is very annoying.


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## JimE (Apr 16, 2009)

Will they both work if connected to the back panel ports or if one of them is moved to the back panel?


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## jhgreene (Feb 2, 2007)

Hmmm....wierd.

I tried the scanner in the back ports one by one, and on one of them, I got a message telling me a new device was detected, inviting me to restart the computer. So I did, hoping that would somehow load a driver that didn't get loaded before (although I did install the scanner s/w a while back). After restarting, both the printer (still plugged into a side port) and scanner (plugged into back) worked. I then moved the printer into another one of the back ports, and it still worked. So now they are working together on the back ports, but I'm not sure why they didn't both work together on the side ports - perhaps a conflict or bad m/b? 

Anyway, hopefully I can get a 3rd device I add later to work as well. Thanks for your help, and if you think you know why these two devices didn't work on the side ports together, please let me know. Thanks again.


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## Prophet (Oct 24, 2004)

the back usb ports are connected to the motherboard the side or front usb ports are connected via a cable to the motherboard. It could be a faulty usb cable/dualport or more likely the sideport usb isn't getting enough power from the psu.


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