This device simply refuses to work with my new IBM R51 under WinXP Pro. After searching the web (o boy, why didn't I do this before) I found out, I'm not the only one who has problems with it. Belkin doesn't mention this problems with one single word.

Don't waste your money on this crap!

I purchased this a couple of days ago, plugged it into my computer (Running Win2000), plugged in a couple of USB devices and everything worked fine. The next day I booted up my computer and it didn't see the hub or (obviously) the devices hooked up to it. I plugged and unplugged everything including the hub from the computer but it was like the hub didn't even exist. I rebooted the computer, nothing. I plugged in the power supply to the hub, nothing. I rebooted the computer again, nothing. I plugged and unplugged the hub and devices one more time, nothing. OK, I'm going to reboot the computer just once more before I take this thing back. And of course, this time it worked! So I unplugged the hub from the computer two times and when I plugged it in each time the computer recognized it and it worked fine. However, on the third time the computer would not see it and no cajoling was going to make it see the hub again.

While I have had good luck with other Belkin products, after reading reviews of similar problems here I'm taking it back for a different brand.

I also suffered from the "device failed to start" error. Fix was simple, I changed the registry settings according to what I found on another forum when I did a search for this error in google and and removed the card drivers in device manager, restarted the computer and allowed XP to reinstall the drivers. External USB drive was recognized and now works fine.

I found this page through google by searching so I'm hoping if I ever have this problem again I can find my post again by searching google again like I always do when I have a problem so in essence I'm helping myself ;)

Unlike the other reviewers, I have had a very positive experience with this hub. I plugged it in and it worked...at USB 2.0 speeds. It also looks sleek and is compact. I am not sure, however, how Amazon arrived at their price. I suggest checking your local major brick and mortar electronics superstore for this unit. You may be pleasantly surprised by the price difference. :-)

Apparently I purchased one of these after known issues were taken care of. It works just as advertised-- 2 ports are fine without DC power, but if you need to use 3 or 4, you have to use the adapter. The adapter is much less bulky than others I checked. The unit is very light; I just velcroed it to the side of my cabinet. I learned something minor about this-- had tried another compact hub before (Targus) assuming that when it said "FullSpeed" it mean 2.0 compatible. "FullSpeed" refers to the faster capacity of USB 1-- To get 2.0 compatibility the hub needs to say 2.0 compatible or High Speed. On the Targus I kept getting the "connecting USB 2.0 high speed device to USB 1.0 Hub" message from Windows XP. With the compact Belkin, I now get full performance.