Adding PCI card with USB 2.0

Peter B

Probably a very simple question.......

I have an old desktop computer at home. It has USB 1 but I'd like to somehow purchase USB 2.0 for it. Can I buy a PCI card with USB 2.0 for it?

It has Win XP Pro, Service Pack 2. Is there anything I need to check?

PogMoThoin

A quick google brought me this:

USB 2.0 cards require 2 IRQs to function and drivers from the manufacturer for Operating Systems other than Windows XP and Windows 2000. The USB 2.0 card should be installed in a PCI slot that either shares with onboard USB or one that shares with NO other device. Normally, the new USB 2.0 card will also share with video card if the video card is AGP.

Windows XP and 2000 users should install the appropriate Windows Service Pack before installing the card. For Windows XP Service Pack 2 contains the High Speed USB drivers and Windows 2000 requires Service Pack 4.

Assuming you dont get an Irq conflict, i'd say you'll be ok as Xp will already have the driver for it. Only way your going to know is to install one.

x keo21

is this what your looking for ?

http://www1.hardwareversand.de/articledetail.jsp?aid=1023&agid=823

Pete4779

Peter B wrote: »

Probably a very simple question.......

I have an old desktop computer at home. It has USB 1 but I'd like to somehow purchase USB 2.0 for it. Can I buy a PCI card with USB 2.0 for it?

It has Win XP Pro, Service Pack 2. Is there anything I need to check?

I did this recently to an old PC I had (5 year old mobo KT400A). PC World sell these cards, it has five USB 2.0 ports (4 on the back panel, 1 internal) and costed around €50. Can be had much cheaper online I would think.

Only tiny problem was IRQs. They don't need two, at least I have never read something like that quoted above before. The main to consider is that :

1. Install it in a PCI slot that does not share IQs with other slots. This is a similar situation for Ethernet cards as they *can* cause problems with IRQ shared slots. On my MSI KT400 board, 2 slots had unique IRQs and 4 slots were shared.

2. If you use onboard audio, ensure that you are not using the same IRQ as the PCI card for USB (and likewise Ethernet).

3. Windows XP SP2 does a good job of managing IRQs and cards. Basically they shouldn't even matter anymore, but older chipsets can conflict (e.g., on mine, when I installed it in a shared slot, Windows ended up shariing the IRQ with PCI ISB card, TV Tuner Card, Ethernet card! - this is simply not good use of your systems hardware so it's better to look in the BIOS and see what PCI slots use shared IRQs. Let Windows decide what to do then using ACPI, and assuming your mobo is from at least 5-6 years recent, it will be.

Well worth the €50, really adds a lot being able to get full speed for HDs, camcorders, external drivers.

To check IRQ conflicts:[/b]
Run msinfo32 from Start Menu --> Hardware Resources --> Conflits/Sharing

On my system this is the situation:

IRQ 21 Intel(R) 82801FB/FBM USB Universal Host Controller - 265B
IRQ 21 Generic CardBus Controller

IRQ 22 Intel(R) 82801FB/FBM USB Universal Host Controller - 2659
IRQ 22 Texas Instruments PCI7420 Integrated FlashMedia Controller

IRQ 23 Intel(R) 82801FB/FBM USB Universal Host Controller - 2658
IRQ 23 Intel(R) 82801FB/FBM USB2 Enhanced Host Controller - 265C
IRQ 23 Texas Instruments OHCI Compliant IEEE 1394 Host Controller

IRQ 9 Microsoft ACPI-Compliant System
IRQ 9 SCSI/RAID Host Controller

IRQ 16 Mobile Intel(R) 915GM/PM Express PCI Express Root Port - 2591
IRQ 16 ATI MOBILITY RADEON X600
IRQ 16 Microsoft UAA Bus Driver for High Definition Audio

IRQ 17 Realtek RTL8169/8110 Family Gigabit Ethernet NIC
IRQ 17 Intel(R) 82801FBM Ultra ATA Storage Controllers - 2653

PogMoThoin

:rolleyes: 50e :eek: Thats a complete rip off, did the shop have big windows? cos they definitely saw u coming
here

Pete4779

PogMoThoin wrote: »

:rolleyes: 50e :eek: Thats a complete rip off, did the shop have big windows? cos they definitely saw u coming
here

The ports on the mobo were broken, and I only had a day to get a few hundred GBs off an external HD (and no ethernet), so it had to be done. Like I said above, they are much cheaper online.

PogMoThoin

I changed my link as the first dynamode one i linked to is only Win 98 and 2000 compatible. Your quote shows the one i first linked to.

Pete4779, Just shows you how some bricks and mortar shops can really rip people off

Pete4779

PogMoThoin wrote: »

Pete4779, Just shows you how some bricks and mortar shops can really rip people off

Yeah! No question, the markup on components is huge, prices of RAM in there was absolutely shocking TBH!

Peter B

Thanks everyone for the help.

Ended up buying a Belkin 5 port PCI Card. €20 in PC World.

Now I'm trying to run my 100 GB external hard drive on it and not having much luck. For some reason I cannot get it to appear on "My Computer".

When I swap the usb connection between USB ports it does can sometimes appear but then disappears after a rew moments or fails in the middle of copying files. It is as if the connection is completely lost.

My external hard drive is powered through the USB so I thought maybe there is not enough power, although this seems unlikely as the PCI hard drive is plugged into a PCI card and not into an external hub.

Anyone know how I can channel more power through my USB 2.0 PCI card or anything else which may solve my problem?

Thanks again

By the way - seems to be working fine for USB memory stick

the_syco

Yo Peter B, check the card to see does it have any power slots like what the IDE hard drives used to have? The 4 pin rectangular ones. Got a PCI 2 card, and it wanted one, but as I've no USB powered device, I didn't bother.

Pete4779

Peter B wrote: »

When I swap the usb connection between USB ports it does can sometimes appear but then disappears after a rew moments or fails in the middle of copying files. It is as if the connection is completely lost.

Have you checked the cable for power? On my USB HD there are two inputs for HD: Power + Date, and just Data, with the other end in either case goiing to the comp. I don't think a regular USB cable will work.

Peter B

Pete4779 wrote: »

Have you checked the cable for power? On my USB HD there are two inputs for HD: Power + Date, and just Data, with the other end in either case goiing to the comp. I don't think a regular USB cable will work.

Don't actually think there is a a separate input for Power. It is the same as this only the 100GB model.

The PCI card is this model. For some reason I'm having no luck getting it to work on the new USB card through USB 2.0. I can still get it to work through a USB 1 port though.

Pete4779

Peter B wrote: »

Don't actually think there is a a separate input for Power. It is the same as this only the 100GB model.

The PCI card is this model. For some reason I'm having no luck getting it to work on the new USB card through USB 2.0. I can still get it to work through a USB 1 port though.

It says in the specs it has an integrated USB 2.0 cable. I think that might be part of the problem. On my one, I should have said: it's the CABLE that has the two ends, the HD just has a standard mini-USB. One end plugs into that, the other end is a Y-split: 1 is Power + Data from the host computer, 1 is just Power (don't know why, doesn't make sense to me).

Maybe the integrated USB 2.0 cable is screwed.

slave1

hows about USD$7.43 delivered, €50 ffs