Windows XP Home SP3 booting slow, but runs fast once booted

Unplug (remove) Webcam and Brother printer. Test one of ext. Seagate.

With both the Webcam and the Brother printer USB connections unplugged, the throughput is 24 MB/sec.
With just the printer unplugged it is 20 MB/sec. With just the webcam unplugged, it is 17 MB/sec.

Any idea why this happens, given that neither the webcam nor the printer should be generating too much of any traffic while they are not in use?

Would it help if I bought another powered USB hub and would attach those two devices to the new hub?

Slow USB device on a controller will cause the controller to drop to slow mode. Not just a single port drops, the whole controller drops down. When you plug a USB device into a port or hub (it is no matter it is not in use), there is a dynamic process that detect its maximum speed and automatically decides whether route the appropriate port to either the EHCI 2.0 controller or one of the UHCI 1.1 controllers. The USB driver software should do this automatically. Both of your culprit devices are slow specially printer (see on your screenshots), and on hub are connected to many different devices- high speed and low speed - that controller and software are cluttered.

You have one USB port free. Try to use this port for printer and webcam respectively.

Slow USB device on a controller will cause the controller to drop to slow mode. Not just a single port drops, the whole controller drops down.

That's what I was trying to ask earlier, but we might have had a miscommunication.

Both of your culprit devices are slow specially printer (see on your screenshots),

Actually, the printer itself clearly is a USB 2.0 device according to its specifications. But I am not sure about the printer's USB cord. Is there some way of telling USB 1.0, 1.1 and 2.0 cords apart from one another once they are out of the package? Or is this simply a quality and/or cable length issue? Does USB send some test packages on the wire and then assesses signal quality and thereby USB level based on what it receives back?

In Post #77 you asked: Or is there an issue where the overall USB speed is lowered to that of the slowest device?
Yes, you definitely have good intuition. Finally we find out – yes there is an similar issue. As you know sometimes right answer takes time.

USB cable (cord) is very important. You must use only cable certified to support USB2.0 high-speed data transfer rates.

This found on Wikipedia: The maximum length of a standard USB cable (for USB 2.0 or earlier) is 5.0m (16.4 ft). The primary reason for this limit is the maximum allowed round-trip delay of about 1,500ns. If USB host commands are unanswered by the USB device within the allowed time, the host considers the command lost. When adding USB device response time, delays from the maximum number of hubs added to the delays from connecting cables, the maximum acceptable delay per cable amounts to be 26ns. The USB 2.0 specification requires cable delay to be less than 5.2ns per meter (192,000 km/s, which is close to the maximum achievable bandwidth for standard copper cable). This allows for a 5 meter cable.

Few things are strange with printer:
USB Version: 1.0
Class: Storage
Max. Power: 2mA

USB cable (cord) is very important. You must use only cable certified to support USB2.0 high-speed data transfer rates.

I'll get a new printer cable so that I can be sure that it is a USB 2.0 cable.

The cable in question is only 10 ft (3 m) long. Should have taken a closer look at it before, though. The current cable is clearly labeled as Hi-Speed.

Device Manager/View

Devices by Connection displays devices by how they are connected in your computer. Each device is listed under the hardware to which it is connected.

I’m not sure - try: How to Configure Device Manager to Display Detailed Information

📎Device_Manager_connection.jpg

I'll get a new printer cable so that I can be sure that it is a USB 2.0 cable.

Got the new printer cable, clearly a 2.0 cable, but the printer still shows up as a USB 1.0 device rather than the USB 2.0 device it is supposed to be based on its specifications.

Replaced the webcam with a USB 2.0 webcam which lowered the performance impact from 3 MB/sec to 1 MB/sec.

Moved the printer USB off the USB hub and to a direct USB connection. so that by now I'm at least getting 22 MB/sec while the webcam is connected and 23 MB/sec when it is disconnected.

Probably will have to contact Brother's support to find out from them why it shows up as a USB 1.0 device even though its specs say it is a 2.0 device and even though it is at the latest firmware level.

If you want to improve transfer rate compare your laptop and wife’s computer with controllers drivers (wife’s PC – Intel chipset?). Use Device Manager. Select controller, right click Properties/Driver Something wrong with Brother: Class: Storage??? and Max. Power: 2mA? Mouse Max. Power is 50x more.

Something wrong with Brother: Class: Storage??? and Max. Power: 2mA? Mouse Max. Power is 50x more.

The Brother is an MFC (multi-function center), which means it not only prints, but also scan and does faxes and in addition has slots for all kinds of (camera) memory cards/sticks as well as a pict bridge connector.

Give me (or repeat) more details. What system sees (USB version, Class and Max. Power) when MFC connects direct to free USB port? Want to exclude external hub as culprit (ext. hub – MFC miscommunication).

Here's what PC Wizard 2010 sees when the Brother is directly connected with a USB 2.0 cable:

General Information :
Type : Universal Serial Bus (USB)
Number of ports : 2

USB Port 1 :
Info : BROH7F809159
USB Version : 1.00
Product ID : VEN_04F9, DEV_01D7, PRT_00
Device :
Class : Storage
Max. Packet Size : 8 bytes
Max. Power : 2 mA
Open Pipes : 9
Transfer Type : Bulk

USB Port 2 :
Status : No Device

Summary
1. Brother’s cable and ext. hub are OK.
2. Brother is clearly USB 2.0 device according to its specifications, but we are beginning to suspect, because:
- with Brother connected, data transfer rate fall significantly
- PC Wizard 2010 shows USB Version: 1.00 (this is not 1.1, this is prehistoric 1.0)
- Brother is a multi-function device

Now I must find out what Windows exactly discovers when you plugin Brother.

USB 2.0 host port (root hub) has dual host controllers, one for Hi-Speed (HS), another for Full/Low Speed (FS/LS). When a device is connected to a root hub directly, Windows request Device_Qualifier using Get_Descriptor.
If the device reports HS configuration in Device_Qualifier, Windows switches the port to HS controller (USB2 Enhanced Host Controller).
Otherwise, Windows recognize it as a FS/LS device (it is, I’m afraid, your case) .
This speed check is done when the bcdUSB of the device descriptor is 2.0 or higher.
When it's 1.0 / 1.1, Windows regards the device as FS, without Device_Qualifier request.

Download USBlyzer. USBlyzer is the software USB protocol analyzer for Windows, which can be used for analyzing USB Host Controllers, USB Hubs and USB Devices activity. USBlyzer allows you to capture, decode and display important information used by USB drivers.
33-day evaluation gives you plenty of opportunity to test your devices and this tool.

Run USBlyzer, select Brother in Device Tree and post what are Value and Description in bcdUSB field.

My PC

📎USBlyzer.jpg

Now I must find out what Windows exactly discovers when you plugin Brother.

Run USBlyzer, select Brother in Device Tree and post what are Value and Description in bcdUSB field.

Even USBlyzer believes it is

Value: 0100h
Description: USB Spec 1.0

Should I uninstall and reinstall the printer driver and Brother software suite once more?

PS: My apologies for the long delay responding. I was busy helping several friends and acquaintances to regain control of their computers after they were hit by koobface.D

I really enjoy with these marathon Posts and your precisely responses.

The USB 1.0 specification was introduced in 1996 with 183 KB/s transfer rate and was canceled 1998! bcdUSB Value 0100h clearly shows Windows - Brother miscommunication. Some multi-functional (composite) devices like your Brother or a video camera with internal microphone for example could have two or three different bandwidth allocation on the bus. Your Brother has also two Device classes: 07h as printer, and 08h as mass storage (memory card reader). If a device cannot be fully and correctly enumerated, then it is hard for Windows to make speed check and associate the device with a separately provided driver.

1) Check driver for composite devices, Usbccgp.sys. It would be on location c:\windows\system32\drivers\usbccgp.sys.

2) Try to uninstall the Brother driver with Device Manager according with How to manage devices in Windows XP. Uninstall Brother MFL-Pro Suite. Before reinstalling driver, you must clean history (if any). Check hidden and non-present devices (my Post #44). Please use Sysinternals Autoruns Drivers tab to check and delete remnant Brother drivers.

-still the same!

3) If you haven’t functional problem with Brother try to use 4th free USB port. Brother would occupy USB1.1 Universal Host Controller and would not remarkably affect on fast Seagates data transfer rate which are on USB2.0 Enhanced Host Controller.