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Troubleshooting: Windows-Specific Problems

Power Management Causes Dropped Connection

If you're on a Windows computer and can connect to your laser, but tend to lose your connection after a period of time, you may need to change your power management settings. This is most common with laptops, but can happen with desktop computers as well.

When Windows thinks a USB connection is idle, it can put the port into power-save mode. This reduces power usage, but can also cause communication problems for your device. The following directions will help you disable this feature.

If you're on a laptop, you'll have separate power plans for On Battery and Plugged In, so make sure to repeat this process for both.

  • Open the Control Panel
  • Click on Hardware and Sound
  • Click on Power Options
  • Under "Preferred Plan", click on Change plan settings for the active power plan
  • Click on Change advanced power settings
  • Expand USB settings
  • Expand USB selective suspend settings and select Disabled from the drop down menu
  • Click Apply and then OK to close the window.

Part 1

  • Open the Control Panel
  • Find Power Options
  • Click on Change Power Plan/Settings
  • Click on Advanced Power Settings
  • Uncheck both boxes in USB Settings
  • Save settings and close the window

Part 2

  • Go to Device Manager
  • Double click on the first listed USB Root Hub and go to the Power Management tab
  • Uncheck both boxes
  • Repeat this process for each USB Root Hub listed in Device Manager

When you're done, restart the computer to make sure these settings are applied