[vutenor]

Help!! I bought a mini, self-powered USB hub for my iMac DV SE (4 port) and it works like a charm....except whenever I restart the computer, I have to unplug the hub from the port or I get a system error that won't let me start the computer. But as long as I plug it in after I start the computer, I'm fine. What could be this crazy problem?

[wlonh]

i can't recall, are you running MacOS 9.04?

9.04 fixes some of these USB issues for some and seems to introduce them for others

if you don't mind me using you as a guinea pig, try disabling the SerialShimLib extension if you have it, this can not hurt your Mac at all to disable this extension and though this extension may seem to be unrelated to the problem as this SerialShimLib is ostensibly NOT for USB ports, who knows though? and it is very likely that you do not need this extension because it is for IrDa (infrared port) it simulates a serial port or some sort of thing, i forget exactly and it may not even have gotten on your Mac at all though it is on my iBook (it is Apple software, no worries as to 'legitmacy' in that regard)

but i am thinking the key word here is PORT, and SerialShimLib has been pronounced troublesome in a few instances i have read of... give it a shot and disable it and restart

[vutenor]

No go. I disabled it....same error at startup. I am running OS 8.6 still...do
you think that could be the problem?
I'm in the process of getting OS 9.

I have similar problems - I have a RevA iMac with OS 8.6, an Epson 740 printer, Iomega Zip 100, and Umax scanner - all fine until I got an Entrega 7-port powered USB hub. Now I get intermitant freezes at startup - no icons and mouse/keyboard don't function. I updated the Iomega software to no avail.
I read a post on the Apple tech exchange that suggested ditching the Iomega drivers and using Apple's instead - is this an OS 9 thing? I don't want to buy OS 9 if I don't have to!
Any advice appreciated.

[wlonh]

yes ditch third-party USB drivers (except for USB Overdrive and Apple USB drivers of course), and Iomega drivers (not the Apple-supplied Iomega, the MacOS 9 installs a GOOD Iomega driver v. 6.06)

and yes vutenor, i'd say you'd be better off running 9.04

Quick question for Giles:

Did you update your Rev A iMac firmware?

Dear ESV,

Yes I did update the firmware. It scared me, but I did it!

Wel, I've removed every Iomega driver and extemsion that I and Sherlock could find, and installed Apple's USB Mass Storage for OS 8.6 instead - so far so good, but I've lost my file sync utility and ability to read password-protected Zip disks :-( but my iMac seems to boot a tad faster now. Too early to tell if this has cured the problem yet, but we'll see...

OK, slightly different problem now - about a tenth of the way through the start-up progress bar the mouse freezes. I now get icons on the desktop by keyboard and mouse don't respond (they are plugged directly into the iMac). A paperclip restart prodcues the same results every time... until I pull the power from my Umax 1220U scanner (still leaving it connected to the hub with the scanner power off) - then it boots up fine... perhaps there are Umax driver issues too?

me again.

In case anyone is in the slightest bit interested, there were 3 pesky Iomega extensions sill sitting in my system folder that Sherlock & I failed to spot... 2 called OME Clik or something and the one that I suspect was the culprit - FM or whatever it's called in the Startup folder - I think this is the extension that synchronizes backups with Zip folders. Anyway, removing those 3 extensions seems to have solved my hub/keyboard & mouse freeze on startup problems