Why do USB ports cease to no longer function until reboot?

[steffi]

So,

Right now I've come home plugged my MacBook Pro Unibody back into my Dell 2408 WFP which is plugged into a relatively cheap powered USB hub but for some reason devices that are connected to that hub aren't recognised by the MBP until it's rebooted.

Can anybody recommend a good reliable 8 port USB hub?

My keyboard is plugged into one of the USB ports on the 2408 WFP and it's working fine so only devices plugged into the hub itself seem to have an issue.

For the record both the hub and the keyboard are plugged into the same two ports that are at the bottom of the monitor and not the ones on the side.

 

[Samuriajackon]

So,

Right now I've come home plugged my MacBook Pro Unibody back into my Dell 2408 WFP which is plugged into a relatively cheap powered USB hub but for some reason devices that are connected to that hub aren't recognised by the MBP until it's rebooted.

Can anybody recommend a good reliable 8 port USB hub?

My keyboard is plugged into one of the USB ports on the 2408 WFP and it's working fine so only devices plugged into the hub itself seem to have an issue.

For the record both the hub and the keyboard are plugged into the same two ports that are at the bottom of the monitor and not the ones on the side.

I had a white macbook with 10.5 on it, not sure how but the Mac wouldn't mount a drive unless the drive was plugged in during boot up. Reinstalling the OS solved the problem, but I never determined what caused that.