The tablet was working fine so far until the CPU was shifted to the machine room which is approximately 10 mts away. Although the tablet is powered on I cannot configure it to the whole screen that consists of dual HP LP2465 monitors. After doing search I came across this old 2005 thread that points to the distance between the CPU and tablet.

http://community.avid.com/forums/p/2830/14550.aspx#14550

Is this a DS issue? because we also have Smoke and Flame that has no issue like this.

We have 2 DS ver. 8.4 and the problem is on both the machines. Is there a quick solution?

The tablet is Wacom Intus 3, 12*9 and the driver is updated.

I think You should check how many USB ports are you using on that computer. I had that problem and removing some of them  solved it.  Its a MB not a DS thing.  Try to use the tablet with other software (like Photoshop...)

Just 2 USB ports are in use. One for the dongle and the other for the extender. The problem persists in Photoshop.

Going past 5 meters with a USB-cable you will probably need an
active USB-extender like these (well, just some examples
and a USB 2.0 compatible extender is the way to go):
http://www.vpi.us/usb-extender.html


Some more reading on the USB "length-subject":
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Usb#Maximum_useful_distance

So with that in mind, ie. the 5 meter limit, when the USB-distance
is reaching 10 meters you might need TWO of these ACTIVE
extenders cascaded.

But that's only ONE part of the problem, dealing with the USB2
specifications length limitations, and this will work for USB-devices
that doesn't draw much current or has it's own powersupply,
ie. "self-powered" USB-devices.

The old serial-port connected Wacom's used to be self-powered
9-pin serial devices, so extending the serial cable often didn't
impose any problems "powerwise", but not so the USB Wacom's
delivered with for example a brand new DS10.

They work prefectly fine when you connect the Wacom "directly"
to the xw8600, but if you shove in a 5 meter non-active USB-cable
extender you will probably experience problems.

In my case, "DS10 and the Wacom that comes with it", having to
extend the cable route about 5 meters, but realizing the problematics
ahead, I put one of those ACTIVE extenders in, and it worked for
about half a day.

So what happened? Well, it seems that the "ACTIVE USB extender"
gave in, due to the Wacom tablets power hunger. The "electronic
"lump"-part of the cable was very hot when I checked and I never
got it to work with even low-power surge USB devices after that.

So I got a new active USB (5 meter) extender cable BUT also a
self-powered USB hub. And everything seems to have been
rocking ever since

//mike

Thanks Mike and Slicker,

We have ViewLink CATx  powered USB extender manufactured by Rose Electronics, Texas. And I guess this is not a proper extender.

Hmmm, I wouldn't think that the Viewlink would be a problem
communication-wize, but it might be that it can't output enough
power for the Wacom board.

You could try to connect a USB-hub with external powersupply 
inbetween the Viewlink and the Wacom and see if that makes
any difference.

//mike

For these products
http://www.bellequip.at/viewlink-catx-rose-electronics-mini-kvm-extender.htm
they don't mention the max. power that can de output from the USB-socket.

while for this
http://www.bellequip.at/rose_electronics/usb_kvm_extender/crystalview_usb2.htm
the specs says:
"Up to 500 mA of power is available at each USB port for powering high-power USB devices"

and 500mAmps is the standardized max. current output from a single USB-port.

That's why devices needing more than 500mAmps, for example larger USB-harddrivs,
are delivered with a "split-cable" (well, it's actually the opposite) where the main 
connector is used for communication and power, while the second is used only
for getting more power from a second USB-port.

Hmmm, found this:

GENERAL SPECIFICATIONS FOR ALL INTOUS4 TABLETS
Power requirements:
DC 5V, less than 300mA, from primary USB port or powered USB hub.

So it would be interesting to know what the Viewlink can deliver
when it comes to milliAmps...

//mike

P.S.
Just wondering about the Smoke and Flame. Are their computers
located as far from Wacom as the DS, i.e cable-wize? And do they
use an equal or simliar CATx/USB-extender?
D.S.

Thank you very much for your response. I have asked our engineer to add a power USB hub between the extender and the tablet. He may do it today. 

The Flame and Smoke are furthur away from their CPU, they use different extender. I have aslo asked the engineer to use the Smoke extender with DS to check.

Just curious, but did you have any luck with this?

//mike

Hi Mike,

A direct cable from the CPU to the tablet worked but there were many problems with DS 10.1.2. One of them was, we could not get the Quicktime working for some days even after trying various things. Finally all the problems were solved after reinstalling Winodws XP, in fact we did a repair. Thanks Mike for your help.