Troubleshooting Belkin UPS/Bulldog: Slow keyboard and mouse

Rosemary Brown describes a problem noted by a few other MacFixIt readers, where a UPS (uninterruptable power supply) seems to "hog" the chain, and produce strange problems for the keyboard and mouse.

"I connected the Belkin 650VA Regulator Pro UPS/AVR to my G4 (Mac OS 10.2.6) and installed the Bulldog software about 2 weeks ago. (No hubs are involved. The UPS is connected directly to my computer, as is the Apple keyboard; the mouse is connected to the keyboard.) [...] My mouse often jumps erratically around the screen. Worse, my keyboard is extremely slow to respond. I end up having to slow down my typing to a snail's pace, unless I want whole sections of words dropped out."

"Apple technical support says I probably have a bad USB port. I really don't think that's the issue, because I've tried both ports on the CPU, both ports on the back of the display, and even a hub. The problem continues."

One possible cause of Rosemary's problem, which has popped up before, is lack of enough power on the USB chain - though this seems a bit illogical with the Belkin's UPS' externally supplied power. An Apple Knowledge Base article (#30653) states:

"Mac OS will generate a Not Enough Power for All Functions message if there is enough power to supply some but not all of the functionality the device is designed to provide. What to do? As above, see if the USB device has its own power cord and, if it does, plug it into an electrical outlet. Otherwise, try plugging the cable for the USB device directly into to your iMac or to an available port on a self-powered hub. If you're connecting the USB device to a self-powered hub, make sure the hub is plugged into an electrical outlet."

Some readers have reported that you must log in as root or use an app like Skeleton Key (which enables root access temporarily) before running the installer for the Belkin Bulldog 3.0 software in order for it to properly function. Apparently the software fails to authenticate, and therefore cannot install a certain component.

If you have any other suggestions for this problem, or are experiencing it yourself, please drop us a line at late-breakers@macfixit.com.

Resources