[TheWuss]

my computer at work has stopped recognizing my usb dac (ibasso D4).
i tested the dac by taking it home, and it works fine on my home computer.

but, when i plug it in at work, it no longer does ANYTHING.
i have a sneaking suspicion that there's some process being blocked by a program on my work computer (like a firewall or spy sweeper or something). but, i'm probably showing my ignorance here. because i have absolutely no idea what is or is not happening.

all i know is that i'm having to listen through the headphone output on the computer and it is absolutely GARBAGE!!! argh!!!

if you maybe know what's going on, please help...

 

[Metalspree]

I guess USB ports at your work place are disabled by some application .Try connecting any other USB device and check what's happening .

 

[triple-u]

So this worked before and suddenly stopped working?

What OS are you using? It might be drivers issue that happened when installing or uninstalling software on your computer.

I'm not familiar with any firewalls or security software that disables USB ports or why they might do that, but depending on the type of company you work at (banks, government, etc.) they might disable certain devices that are not commonly used.

Like what Metalspree said, try other usb devices to see if they work. If you have a USB mouse or keyboard, that would probably be the best device to try, since I can't think of any reason why input devices would be disabled.

 

[TheWuss]

the OS is windows XP professional. And the computer is a PoS. it's seriously probably 8 years old.
um... there was something happening that might be symptomatic. the last time i got it to successfully work, i plugged it in and got nothing at fist. but then, about ten minutes later i got the "ga-dong" sound, and it said "found hardware".
seriously? ten minutes? really?
yep. ten minutes.
next time i switched on the dac, i got nothing. not even an hour later, so i switched it off and took it home.

so - is it just a computer that can't keep up?
i didn't bring the dac with me today, but will tomorrow. and, will try out all the different ports to see if it might be simply a usb port gone bad.

 

[TheWuss]

not that anyone really cares ; )
but i finally got it to work. replaced the cable and used a different usb port on the computer, and voila. suddenly it worked.
no other combination works, for some strange reason.
go figure. pos computer.

but, i'm back in business...