I have a Dell 8600 laptop that gives power surge error when the arm usb ocd is connected to the USB port. I even used a Belkin cable which they say has 20-gauge power wires and it still did not work.
The sure solution is to get an USB power adapter Y cable. This allows the initial power surge to be shared between two ports. You can even take the extra power USB cable out after the initial surge and use the programmer normally (while powering your board etc). You can also use long (and cheap) cables without a problem.
I bought the “Apricorn USB Power Adapter Y Cable” made for external USB hard drives. You can find it for $17.78 with free shipping (http://www.nextwarehouse.com/item/?3149 … ORN_AUSB-Y). It will work with any other USB device that needs extra power too.
If that seems expensive you can always build one yourself. Or jerry rig some sort of capacitor … :roll: