Audio Interface Power Surge

GrandPaddyFlash

New member
Hey forum! I recently bought a used Roland/Edirol UA25 for use as a USB audio interface. I plugged it in today, downloaded the drivers, and it worked fine. A little while later, it stopped working, and I got a notice on my computer that there was a power surge in my USB port. I've reset the ports, and the UA25 still doesn't want to turn on when plugged in. Anyone experience anything similar, or have any advice? Thanks!
 
USB port power have auto-reset fuses. Well, at least on some computers. These need to cool down completely an that can take up to 24 hours when the computer is off.

Have you checked with a mouse, fi, if the USB port still provides power? Some computers have no fuses, or no user replaceable fuses.
 
I did test the USB ports after plugging in the device, and they all worked just fine, with a mouse and external drive. I am running Windows 7, and I tried it on a couple other computers running a version of iOS, and they both displayed the same power surge notice.
I'm curious why it started this after it had already worked for a couple hours. It wasn't plugged in and on the whole time, but I will try tomorrow to see if maybe it needs to cool down...
 
Hey and welcome to HR!

If your device is drawing too much power and causing USB ports to shut off for safety, there's a reason it's happening.

Either the unit is faulty/damaged or the cable is. I'd swap the cable out first and then see what's what.
 
same error on multiple computers then it's what Steen said...it's either the unit or the cable...hope it's the cable but I am sceptical it is...Good luck man!
 
Would it be possible for the laptop to have blown the interface? I've never had that kind of issue, and it was working earlier

You didn't say if you tried another cable or if you tried it after it "cooled down"

Anything is possible but if you tried a different usb cable and the problem persist my finger points to the unit not the laptop... The PC supplies power and communicates with the unit. All other usb devices DON"t have a problem with the PC usb port...The problem is with the unit...could the laptop of done the damage?.... maybe but unlikely either the previous owner was aware of it and sold it as if it was good or it was just bad luck on your part that it failed at this juncture.. The other thing is sometimes these issues are intermittent and may come and go...bottom line if a different cable didn't fix it...you are probably in need of a new interface....If that is the case best bang for you buck and a 3 year warranty is the Behringer Uphoria 404hd at $100 delivered from Sweetwater... IMO better supported drivers and more modern technology than the much older and poorly supported Roland...Just went to Sweetwater and they have a demo with the same 3 year warranty for $90 HERE

Good Luck with how things work out and whatever you decide...
 
I would say the AI is faulty....As I often tell folks here I am NO PC guru but I AM 'electronic'! I have been buggering about with PCs for the best part of 15 years and built a couple. I have also been pretty cavalier in what I have plugged into USB ports! In all that time I have never had that "Surge" warning and I have never had a USB port fail on me save two on a desktop front that I bashed with my knee (and replacing the ports on the wee PCB was fiddly but fixed it)

I HAVE had the odd report that "the connected device require too much power" and oddly only with USB sticks, never an AI, some sticks DO get pretty warm mind!

The 5V would, IMHO come via something like a 7805 reg' device and should be all but bombproof.

Dave.
 
I just tried it with a new cable, same thing. I'm going to go ahead and say it's definitely the interface. I have no idea what could have happened to it that caused this, but I believe it's time to get a new one. Thanks for the suggestions! Cheers
 
In all that time I have never had that "Surge" warning...
I HAVE had the odd report that "the connected device require too much power"

I just tried it with a new cable, same thing. I'm going to go ahead and say it's definitely the interface. I have no idea what could have happened to it that caused this, but I believe it's time to get a new one. Thanks for the suggestions! Cheers

Yeah, I was thinking that. Did the word 'surge' actually feature anywhere?
Drawing too much current is definitely something USB chipsets can detect and react to. That's going to happen if 5V shorts to ground somewhere along the connectors or cable, or if some component in the interface fails with the same result.

If there was a genuine surge involved it seems like frying the interface without any other damage is pretty unlikely. Dave?
 
The warning from the OS doesn't come from too much current drawn, I think. I seem to remember it comes from the USB handshake. When you plug in a USB device, it signals how much current it needs. The other end acknowledges that possibility, or it tells the device it can't do it. In the latter case, the device should shut down.

That was USB 1.1. And USB 2.0, mostly. With USB 3 things might be different. Don't know. The specs for USB3 are a real mess.

And some devices, especially simple low power stuff like mice don't always do the handshake properly. So YMMV.
 
Yeah, I was thinking that. Did the word 'surge' actually feature anywhere?
Drawing too much current is definitely something USB chipsets can detect and react to. That's going to happen if 5V shorts to ground somewhere along the connectors or cable, or if some component in the interface fails with the same result.

If there was a genuine surge involved it seems like frying the interface without any other damage is pretty unlikely. Dave?

We ARE very lucky in UK (but PAY for the bstd!) in that our mains supply is very clean and very stable but surely, computer systems are built to "worse case" supply conditions*? I don't recall ever seeing a schematic for a PC power supply but I can see that there is a (VERY mature technology!) SMPS unit producing a variety of voltages, 12, -12(?) and 5V and then various sub' regulators on the MOBO? To my mind it would take some serious MFer voltage surge to blast through that lot and bugger a USB device without collateral damage, aka SMOKE! Only very close handy lightning would do such a thing IMHO (fixed, well mostly binned, a lot of TV &VCR that was damaged by the Flashing Blade) .

I worked for one company for 10 years with upwards of 100 desktops in use 5 dsaw and another with 50 DTs and some laptops and PSU troubles were never an issue.

*If the amp Co I worked for can do this, surely Dell, HP, Lenovo et al can?
Dave.
 
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