USB 2... it's meant to be fast, right?

[RedWarrior]

Not very amigan, sorry- but this is just my fave forum, and usually the only one that has useful information!

That said, I have a USB2 external harddrive (laCie 160gb) and a USB 2 card, but for some reason Xp insists I have a HI-SPEED device with no hi-speed host controller.

I've tried a bunch of driver cominations, installed everything that came on the cd with my usb2 card... with no joy. What is a hispeed host controller and how do i make it work?

There is a via chip on the usb2 card, if that's relevant...

Fresh format & reinstall yesterday... so goign through some teething problems, but this one has me stumped.

sometimes I just want to smash this computer to bits! (a la the printer in Office Space...)

[Ilwrath]

my friend just went through this.  You *MUST* install XP service pack 1 in order for Via chipset USB2 cards to function.  He had quite a few {bleep}-style words for Via and MS after discovering this.  ;-)

[RedWarrior]

Thanks for the tip- I read this as well... though I had already installed the drivers BEFORE downloading and installing SP1...

Have run SP1, uninstalled all my usb objects etc...

oh hang on- this time it didnt say it...

(turn off and on to be sure...)

oh great, now it's not doing it... so I've no way of knowing if it's working properly until later when I try to transfer large files... joy.

I'll be back...



 :-?

[Floid]

The USB2 controller (EHCI?) is pretty much 'independent' of the USB1.x controller (OHCI/UHCI) despite being on the same chip, so it might be sort of reasonable that you don't get "Hi Speed" support until the OS actually supports EHCI.  (Since the 1.x controller works, at least things get to work at all, rather than leaving you completely dead in the water as may have happened with last decade's standards.)

It might also be sort of reasonable that Via didn't cut their own driver for the EHCI end of things (or at least, all the code required to create one) at least until MS did their share of the work in making XP handle the 'standard' in some sort of hopefully-consistent way.

That's the entire extent of my understanding, maybe someone like Platon knows more?

Edit: So for curiosity's sake, I hit up Via's site, and find "Due to licensing agreement, VIA USB2 driver package requires Windows XP SP1 (Service Pack 1), Windows 2000 SP4, or system upgrade through Windows Update."  Well, that sure is crystal.  (Licensing agreement for what?)

[desborough]

>You *MUST* install XP service pack 1 in order for Via chipset USB2

I think this is pretty standard for all USB2 controlllers whetever the chipset. My Nvidia motherboard drivers warn me to install SP1 before installing USB2 drivers.

[blobrana]

Yep, you need sp1...
Also in the bios, make sure you enable, and with `legacy support`...


i read somewhere that some manufactures selling computers that are `usb2 compatible` but in fact they are just usb1 speeds
(also some computers come with usb2 and usb1 ports, make sure your using the correct one)

i would also pop over to the MoBo manufacturer to download the latest drivers for the device.