Topic: USB2 & VIA rev 5

[daveeb]

Similar to a current usb thread i have the VIA rev 5 usb drivers loaded but the external usb-ide caddy drive i have attached to the my new usb2 card is still only recognised as a usb1 device.  I've been to the via site but had no joy, does anyone know about this patch for XP to run usb2.  i'm wondering if my 3+ year old motherboard (VIA GA-6VXC7-4X) is simply too old to support usb2.  I'm running XP pro sp1a.  Should i just settle for usb1 ??  

EDIT  in fact the caddy drive is not detected at all today by the usb2 card (yesterday it took windows >> half an hour to recognise it).  if i now go to "add new hardware" i'm told another device installation is underway.

[Sandra]

Dave try disabling the onboard USB in BIOS and see if it works then.
I had a USB ADSL modem that wouldnt work with my onboard USB so I bought a pci card which didnt use VIA chips.
It worked fine as long as the onboard USB ports were disabled but not when they were enabled, so I think its something to do with the onboard USB controller conflicting with your device  

[WeaveP]

(From PWS )
Do you think this may solve my digital camera not being recognised problem? Could you explain how to access BIOS to disable the onboard USB ?
Also could you explain how to install drivers after you have downloaded them, and how to remove old ones if you have to do that. Is there a way of checking which drivers are installed.
Many thanks. - Sorry if this is too many questions but what is the difference between USB 1.1 and USB 2.0 ??

[daveeb]

Dave try disabling the onboard USB in BIOS and see if it works then.
I had a USB ADSL modem that wouldnt work with my onboard USB so I bought a pci card which didnt use VIA chips.
It worked fine as long as the onboard USB ports were disabled but not when they were enabled, so I think its something to do with the onboard USB controller conflicting with your device  

hiya sandra, dave in trouble once again  

before i saw your message i got some XP usb2 drivers from the via site.
unfortunately these then prevented me from booting fully into windows, everything froze at a blank desktop stage.  tried a system restore from safe mode, this failed for some reason but the pc then rebooted automatically and the desktop loaded succesfully.  windows reported that it had recovered from a serious problem that is probably due to my creatibe SB live 1024 sound card.  i've downloaded updated SB live drivers for XP but not installed them as i'm very reluctant to attempt any more tinkering.  

If i disable the usb drivers in the bios as you suggest presumably this will also disable my usb1 card which runs my usb optical mouse amongst other things. Should i give it a go.

[Sandra]

To enter BIOS its usually hit the DEL key after the post beep.
Then you would have to look through the various screens to find which one the USB controller is in and disable it, save and exit BIOS and the pc will restart in normal windows.
You would have to have a PCI USB card installed though if you disabled the onboard USB ports in order to still use a USB device PWS.
Your idea about trying a card reader sounds the best solution cost wise plus you could use that for other things like mp3 players and such  

Dave, can you not plug your mouse into the usb card or use a usb to PS2 adaptor ?
Its worth a try to see if its the onboard ports conflicting even if you have to buy a plain old PS2 mouse to try it with  

[Sandra]

  windows reported that it had recovered from a serious problem that is probably due to my creatibe SB live 1024 sound card.  i've downloaded updated SB live drivers for XP but not installed them as i'm very reluctant to attempt any more tinkering.  

I had a really weird problem a few months back with a Creative soundblaster live 5.1 card and the extra fancy control panel with remote control.
I had no end of problems with it, including the pc wouldnt shut down at all, it had to be switched off each time I wanted it to fully shut down although the reset button would reboot it.
Turned out it was the Creatives own drivers on the cd.
I found that if I let XP install it it worked fine even when I got updates from windows update for it.
If I used any updated ones from the Creative site then I had the same problem again  
So it may be worthwhile uninstalling the Creative drivers and let XP install its own and update from windows update rather than use the Creative ones  

[Sandra]

Also could you explain how to install drivers after you have downloaded them, and how to remove old ones if you have to do that. Is there a way of checking which drivers are installed.
Many thanks. - Sorry if this is too many questions but what is the difference between USB 1.1 and USB 2.0 ??

Which OS are you using PWS ?
If its XP you can go into the device manager and click on the hardware that you are interested in, click on properties and then look for the driver information.
You can remove or update drivers from in there too.
To install new drivers you can click on update driver and then browse to the location where you have the new drivers saved and click next and follow the instructions.

USB 1, 1.1 and 2 are the oldest to the newest type of USB.

USB 1   is Low  Speed  1.5M bit/sec
USB 1.1 is Full Speed  12M bit/sec
USB 2   is High Speed  480M bit/sec

As you can see the jump from USB 1.1 to USB 2 is a big increase in the transfer speed of data  

[daveeb]

yes i'll try that then sandra    thankee

looks like the best possible outcome will be usb1 or usb2 but not both  :'(

[Sandra]

Depends if its the onboard USB 1.1 conflicting Dave or not.
If it is then from what I read a USB 2 hub can distinguish between a USB 1.1 and a USB 2 device so you can mix and match so you can still use both with no problems  

[WeaveP]

(From PWS)
Thank-you Sandra
How can i tell what version USB i have.
Also i have 2 USB ports at the front of the computer, 2 horizontal ones at the back and 2 vertical ones at the back. My digital camera instructions tell me to attach to a port directly connected to the motherboard, not via a hub. I am not sure which is the correct port to use, but i have tried them all with the camera.
My joystick and printer work fine in the USB ports they are connected to (Printer at the back and joystick is immediatly recognised when pluged into the front)

[Sandra]

I think you would have to look in the motherboard manual to see which speed the ports are.
Do you have one or do you know the make and model number of your mobo  
I would assume that if its a newish PC that it would be USB 2 most likely, especially with that number of USB ports  

[Pwilsonscott]

I am running Windows XP home.
My PC is less than 1 year old.
My motherboard is GA-7VT600 VIA KT600 chipset
I also received some advice about downloading a USB filter patch, which i have done. Is it installed in the same way as a driver, i am not sure where to install it. Thanks

[Pwilsonscott]

See also thread USB device not working -
I went into Windows Update and there was one that mentioned USB 1.1 and USB 2.0, so i downloaded it - and then connected my camera and would you believe it, it recognised the camera immediatly ! ( as a drive called F) Many thanks for all your help.

[daveeb]

Sorted my problem based on all the facts to hand, i took the card back for a refund  

system is now working normally***touches wood*** and back to the reliable usb1 crawl with large files onthe external drive.