Xbox – the difference between the USB ports on the front/back of the XBox 360

hardwarexbox-360

I just got my Kinect this week and the instructions are adamant that the Kinect has to be plugged into the USB ports on the BACK of the device. It included a cable so I could re-route my wireless network device to the USB port on the front to free up the port.

Does anyone here know what the difference between the back and front USB ports are on an Xbox 360, and why the Kinect can't be plugged into one of the ports on the front?

Also, is it possible to use a cheap USB hub to have the network card AND the Kinect plugged into the back of the XBox so I don't have an ugly cable wrapping around to the front and using up one of the controller ports?

Best Answer

The front USB ports are most likely split like a mini-hub. The Kinect doesn't seem to work with USB hubs either, most likely it needs the full speed of the USB connection to work and can't share with other devices.