[superstar]

Hello everyone,


I have an old "Hp Vectra VL400" model pc, and as you know it uses usb 1.0. I recently bought a webcam so my family can see me. I noticed that it was'nt moving images as top notch as it should. So I decided to go down to the local pc store and purchase a Usb 2.0 pci card.


I bought this one:



Official Site With More Info


Before installing it I asked well known geekstogo associate "SRX600" how I should install it. He said to simply install the card on the pci slot, boot up the pc, and that's it! He made a reference about not touching the bios because it would not be needed. The instructions that come with the card says you don't need to use the driver disc if you don't want to. It also says that any windows xp with at least service pack 1 automatically recogizes and installs the card.


So I opened up my pc case and took off an old 56k modem pci card I don't need on my motherboard, since all of my pci slots are occupied (except one I keep open for the video card fan to breathe). I inserted the card pressing down on it firmly, making sure it was in tight and snug, and booted up my pc. While win xp was booting it ended up freezing while the windows logo with the progress bar showed up on the screen (right before password login). I assumed this was a bios issue from the integrated usb 1.0 on my motherboard. So I held down the power button to my pc and shut it down, booted up again and went into the bios. I went to the following page in the bios and changed the "Integrated Usb Interface" from "AUTO" to "DISABLED":





I saved the changes in the bios not really knowing what it is I touched - lol - I'm not that advanced but I know I can change it back! So anyways the pc booted fine this time. Win xp loaded up and automatically installed the 2.0 Usb card on it's own without me using the included driver cd. There was absolutely no exclamation mark in the systray after xp installed it, so I assume all went well. I took the liberty of hooking up various devices to the card just to test it out. I hooked up the following:

- Digital Camera [Worked fine and fast]

- Webcam [Worked flawless]

- Gamepad Controller [Worked perfect]

- Apple I Pod Nano [Did not work. Win xp gave me a notification claiming the device was not recogized. To either disconnect it and plug it in again or replace the device. That' funny because the I pod worked on my motherboards integrated 1.0 Usb many times prior to installing the new card. I tried to connect it to other ports on the card and the same thing happened]


Okay now here's the kicker... I disconnected everything and decided to come here for help. Than out of nowhere I could hear clicks comming from my pc! It sounded like making funny clicks with your tongue. It only happened about three times in a period of 5-10 mins. Than my pc froze and I was unable to move my mouse or do anything! I held down the power button and waited for the pc to shutdown. When it shutdown I went back in the bios and switched what I had changed from "disabled" back to "auto". Well the darn pc froze at the windows logo again so I had to hold the power button so the pc would shut off. I than rebooted and got to my desktop without a glitch. All the while hearing a couple of those clicks while the pc was booting. The pc froze again and I said that's enough of that! I took the Usb 2.0 card out of the pci slot and put the 56k modem pci card I used to have in the same slot, right back in it's place.


I had to do this from fear of ruining my pc, not to mention the fact that I was powering down too much by holding the power button when the pc would freeze. I do not want to ruin this pc... I have a lot of valuable data on my hard drives. For a minute there I thought I ruined my pc. Anyways since the bios is back to what it was, and the 56k modem card is back where it was too the pc works fine now. I hear no clicks and my pc has'nt frozen. It's back the exact way it was before I installed the darn card. As for the noise... Hmm I dunno if it was commin from the card or my power supply. One things for sure, and that's the fact that it was not a motherboard beep warning. By the way just so you know the card I bought has that "NEC" chipset thing so it's not "VIA".


Anyways I'm doing system restore right now after I finish writing this to you guys, just so whatever Xp installed when I put in the card can be reversed. Or at least I hope that's what system restore will do. Because I also noticed the network connection for my 56k modem pci card is gone in the "network connections" area of control panel. Hope it fixes it.


Can anyone help me get this new Usb 2.0 pci card working please? Before my return policy time is up at the store! I only have a few days to take it back if I don't want it. I really need it because I bought it so my family in my country can see me well over msn, for my I pod since it's slow on 1.0 speed, I want to buy an external drive so I an back up my data, and I want to buy an external dvd-rom drive.




Thank You


P.s.
Check my signature below for my system specs.

Edited by superstar, 26 March 2007 - 08:44 AM.

[Advertisements]

You shouldn't need to disable your integrated USB for it to work, they should work well side by side, also enable your "reset configuration data" so that any necessary changes will be made. Besides checking in your Device Manager check your System Information to see if everything is OK. Make sure everything has an IRQ assigned.

The clicking sounds sort of ominous and my be the hard drive?

[Tyger]

You shouldn't need to disable your integrated USB for it to work, they should work well side by side, also enable your "reset configuration data" so that any necessary changes will be made. Besides checking in your Device Manager check your System Information to see if everything is OK. Make sure everything has an IRQ assigned.

The clicking sounds sort of ominous and my be the hard drive?

[SRX660]

I said much the same thing as tyger has said in a PM to superstar.

Superstar, do you remember the conversation about quality chipsets and hardware for USB. Look at the USBMAN website for details on the subject.

(quote)
The BEST Card is based on the NEC (Japan) USB 2.0 chipset, not the cheaper, problematic VIA version.(quote)
(quote)
VIA, SiS, ALi, NEC and some early Intel PCI/USB Host Controllers

These Host Controllers have exhibited numerous incompatibility problems, particularly with high draw devices such as scanners and cameras, general inoperability and unknown device errors. Appropriate filter drivers and various patches produce mixed results. (quote)

http://www.usbman.co... and Tricks.htm

http://www.usbman.co..._and_tricks.htm

SRX660

[superstar]

enable your "reset configuration data" so that any necessary changes will be made. Besides checking in your Device Manager check your System Information to see if everything is OK. Make sure everything has an IRQ assigned

I have no idea what you mean by that or how to do it.

The BEST Card is based on the NEC (Japan) USB 2.0 chipset, not the cheaper, problematic VIA version.

That's exactly what I bought. A Nec card made in Japan.


I'm going to have to swap it at the store and get a new one of the same one. It was probably defective out of the box. If the second one does'nt work than I know it's a problem with compatibility. Or something I'm not doing right during installation. If a new usb card is installed and win xp automatically installs drivers by itself, should you ever use the ones that come on the cd with the product after?

By the way I have'nt heard that clicking sound at all after taking out the usb card I bought. It's ben a full day and my pc has'nt made that sound.

Edited by superstar, 27 March 2007 - 06:10 AM.

[Samm]

Hi Superstar

I agree with Tyger on this, the clicking sound could well be the hard drive (not a good sign). Are you still getting the clicking noises?

It doesn't sound like there's really much of a problem with the USB card as all the USB devices work except the Ipod.
There could be number of reasons for that.

You may want to try unplugging the Ipod then uninstalling the driver for it. Reboot the system then reinstall the Ipod & its driver as normal using one of the new USB ports. I suggest that you unplug all other USB devices before doing this.
It's possible that it could be a power issue instead (Ipods tend to draw a lot of power from the USB port as they use it for charging)
The other thing to check as SRX660 suggested, is the IRQ assignments. If you go to Start-Run & type devmgmt.msc (click OK).
In device manager, click on View->Resources by Type, then expand the IRQ branch.
Look to see which IRQs are assigned to the USB host controllers, then check to see if any other devices are also using either of those IRQs.

[Jack123]

01-Superstar-[USB Card Problem]-27th MAR-2007

So I opened up my pc case and took off an old 56k modem pci card I don't need on my motherboard, since all of my pci slots are occupied (except one I keep open for the video card fan to breathe). I inserted the card pressing down on it firmly, making sure it was in tight and snug, and booted up my pc. While win xp was booting it ended up freezing while the windows logo with the progress bar showed up on the screen (right before password login). I assumed this was a bios issue from the integrated usb 1.0 on my motherboard. So I held down the power button to my pc and shut it down, booted up again and went into the bios. I went to the following page in the bios and changed the "Integrated Usb Interface" from "AUTO" to "DISABLED":

The reason for the system lockup, I think was that you replaced the Modem, which is a serial device, with the New USB Card, which technically, is another serial device. Also there are some BIOS settings associated with the Modem Card, which may have conflicted. Another issue could have been the IRQ assignment. This is usually done automatically, depending on another BIOS setting. And it was more likely the same IRQ assignment, being that the automatic assignment was allocated per PCI slots. That was ok, but depending on the sharing of the IRQ, would have been a cause for the I-pod not to function. And that may been the major factor causing the last system hang-up.

Now USB is supposed to eliminate the Serial Bus Configuration Issues, and it has for the most part. But the middle & last names of USB is Serial Bus, and the conflicts still occur with the IRQ sharing of Audio/Video/Input devices -

My suggestions are

1. Check Bios setting of Modem – Disable Wake-Power UP ON EXT MODEM or POWER UP on PCI DEVICE –
2. If you are not using any COM Ports – You can Disable the COM Ports in BIOS setting – To free up either or both IRQ3 & IRQ4
3. You should be able to keep the Existing Onboard USB Support enabled for USB use -
4. Open Device Manager – Uninstall the Installed Modem Drivers to prevent IRQ Conflict
5. Power Down the PC – Now Remove Modem Card & Install USB Card
6. Power up PC – PnP should install new USB Card

Next I would open Device Manager & examine the USB Controllers – USB Root HUBS & USB Devices. Look for IRQ Assignments – Connect your USB devices up & verify setup in Device Manager for any conflicts or driver problem on each USB device. You want to verify that there is a USB 2.0 Host Controller under the PCI USB Folder -

If you have some conflicts – you may be able to steer the IRQ assignments by changing the order of PCI Card Slot installation – That is why I suggested to try & free up IRQ 3 and/or IRQ4 -

You can also Open the SYSTEM Folder & look at IRQ Assignments – IRQ Sharing – Trouble Devices-

The clicking noises were most likely a disc drive, but could have been the Power Supply – USB power being overdriven?? Did you have a USB External Drive? It could also be an indication, that you need a BIOS Update

Jack123

Edited by Jack123, 27 March 2007 - 09:41 PM.

[superstar]

The clicking sound went away after I took out the card. It has been a couple of days now and I have not heard that sound ever again. One thing I noticed about the usb card is that some of the metal parts of the card look as if heat smoked it up. Hmm how can i describe this????

Kind of like when you take a soldering iron and put it too close to pcb though it does not turn black. Instead the pcb turns sort of white but you can still see the color of the pcb. I dunno if that makes sense. Could be this card was defective out the box, or that the I pod fried it no?

I dunno what I'm going to do is check some of the stuff you guys said. But I really don't want to put this card back in my pc after that experience. I think I'm just going to take it back for an exchange of the same one. But than again if it is an incompatibility issue and I bring home another one of the same card, I don't know if I'll be able to take that one back for a second time. Meaning I'll be stuck with it!

Either exchange it or go to future shop and buy a nice $60 usb 2.0 card from bytecc. I hear that if you spend money on usb cards they work flawless!


What are your thoughts?

[superstar]

I exchanged the card for a new one today and installed the new one. It was the same model and brand I exchanged it for. This one loaded up with no problems and has'nt given me no probs yet. I attached an ipod nano to it and it worked fine. I have'nt experienced any computer freezes. I dunno what could have been the causes of the first card I took back... Well I'll let you guys know how it's doing by tonite if it gives me problems or not. So far so good and i restarted once too and the pc did not freeze at the win xp logo screen. I have not experienced any of the prior problems. On top of that I don't hear the clicking noises coming from my pc. & I scanned my two western digital hard drives with a diagnostic tool for them made by wd. It scanned them for errors and all and both passed with flying colors. Okay I'll let you guys know how the card keeps up tonite... Hope it does'nt do anything unexpected.