Dock and USB TV tuner problem

[mdrayner]

Hi,

I have an FE11 and the docking station. If I use my TV stick when the laptop is undocked, everything works fine.

However, when it is docked, the picture starts jumping/stuttering. This happens if I have the TV card in any of the USB ports (on the dock or the laptop).

My theory is that the dock is either "stealing" some of the USB bandwith and preventing the TV stick from working correctly or it is putting too much strain on the system with the extra ports etc.

Any suggestions??

[Blencogo]

Hi mdrayner and welcome to Club Vaio.

Sorry I don't know the answer but I suspect it will one of two things: -

1. As you say there may be a bandwidth restriction. Have a look at your USB Universal Host Controllers in Device Manager. Under the Advanced Tab it will show the bandwidth allocated to each controller - this must be shared by all devices on that controller. See if you can work out if the USB ports on the docking station have their own controller or if they are all added to an existing controller and have to share bandwidth.

2. The USB power current output may be insufficient through the docking station ports. Again look at your USB Root Hubs in Device Manager and look under the Power Tab - it will show you the current available on that hub. See if you can work out if the current available on the hub associated with the docking station is the same as on the hubs on the Vaio.

Clutching at straws I'm afraid but it may give you some ideas.

[mdrayner]

Thanks,

The problem occurs even if the tuner is in the laptop port so unless the dock takes power from these, I dont see it being a power problem but I will have a look.

As for the bandwidth, if this does get shared between the ports, would disabling them in device manager restore it back to normal or is it all hardware driven?

[mdrayner]

Looks like this is a bandwidth issue.

If I am understanding the properties in device manager, 98% of the bandwidth is used when the tuner is in use. If I remove an external USB hub, it goes down to about 95% but it still does not play properly.

Also, removing or disabling the other USB devices does not make any difference.

So I either need external USB contoller (probably a PCMCIA card) which defeats the point of the dock as this would mean the tuner sticks out the side or find a way to prioratise the bandwidth or increase the amount available to that port. Is this possible?