[SteveM324]

I need help. I just received my IHP-140 today.

When I tried to connect it to my laptop PC using the USB 2.0 cable, I received an error message from my computer stating that I had no high speed USB connections on my computer. I have 3 USB ports on the back of my laptop. The message stated that I need to add a HI SPEED USB Host controller. My laptop computer is not very old, I've had it less than a year. Is the HI SPEED controller something that can be installed at BestBuy or CompUSA? How much will it cost? Can I install it? Thanks for any help or advice.

 

[ProFingerSk8er]

that mean one of the following:

1. you dont have usb 2.0 installed in your laptop
or
2. you have usb2.0 installed, but the driver is either not installed or is not up-to-date

 

[ian]

Should still work. USB is backwards compatible. I'm using two USB 2.0 devices (Rio Karma and something else) and I get the same message hooking up to my USB 1.1 laptop. Everything works fine but just not at the USB 2.0 transfer rates.

 

[cmascatello]

If you are in dire need of a USB2 conenction for the laptop you should be able to find a PCMCIA USB2 card at a CompUSA or other retailer. I have one on my Inspiron 8200 and have no problems with connecting the iHP and/or Karma. However, I also have no problem connecting to the older USB1.1 ports on the laptop and transferring that way (but WAY slower). I would check the driver and status of your USB1.1/2 controller(s) in the Device Manager. Something does not seem right there.

 

[asbradbury]

It sounds like you don't have the driver for the USB 2.0 host adaptor installed or configured correctly (assuming you have one). You see a computer with USB 2.0 actually has 2 usb host adaptors - a USB 2.0 and a USB 1.1. If a USB 2.0 device is connected, it is handled by the 2.0 adaptor (ehci) whereas if a USB 1.1 device is connected the 1.1 adaptor handles it (ohci/uhci). If you only have a 1.1 adaptor, because USB 2.0 devices are backwards compatiable your 1.1 adaptor should handle the connection with the 2.0 device as it would with a 1.1, and transfers will be at 1.1 speed.

I'm on an nforce motherboard which has USB 2.0, but I'm forced into using 1.1 with my Zen Xtra (I use Gentoo GNU/Linux 1.4). It seems there's something buggy about the implementation of the ehci (2.0) controller in my kernel, though I heard it works great in the 2.6.x kernel series. So I had to disable ehci support in my kernel, and let it fall back on my ohci 1.1 controller.

I suggest you actually try transferring stuff at 1.1 speed (presuming it will let you). I find hte speed to be perfectly adequate, it took a little while to originally sync my mp3 collection, but now I'm only adding an album or two at once and compared to the time taken to download or encode the mp3s, it isn't that bad at all.

 

[SteveM324]

Thanks for the replies. If I transfer at the 1.1 rate, will the transfer speed drop to half of the 2.0 speed? Also I called CompUSA and they offer a plug in USB HI SPEED card for $60 and they want $30 to install it. I think I can just plug it in and install it myself but I'm not sure. Before I spend $60 for the plug in card I would like to know how much speed I'm losing by transferring at 1.1 rate vs 2.0. Thanks again.

 

[asbradbury]

There are 3 USB data rates, USB 1.1 has low speed at 1.5Mbit/s (for keyboards, mice etc) and full speed at 12Mbit/s (this is what speed you'd get plugging a USB 2.0 device into a USB 1.1 only port). The third data rate is high-speed, which is only available to USB 2.0 and is 480Mbit/s.

It's worth noting that 480Mbit/s is the theoretical maximum, in practice I really don't know if you'd get that - but as you can see, in terms of speed USB 2.0 can be *much* faster than USB 1.1. However, I find USB 1.1 speed perfectly adequate. Why not try and get USB 1.1 connectivity working and then decide if it's too slow for you?

 

[srwatters]

Which OS are you using?

There was a service pack available for XP and 2000 with updates to USB 2.0 drivers etc. Check your system against the Windows update site to see if it applies to you.

If you post your laptop model, I can tell you what speed ports are built in. Or you can find out yourself on the Mfg. web site.

 

[cmascatello]

Do not even think about paying CompUSA to install the card to your laptop. The PCMCIA add-on cards for FireWire and, in this case, USB2 are plug-and-play under Win 2000 and XP and come with an install disc for those running 98 and Me. I think I paid $50-60 for my combo USB2/FireWire PCMCIA card and the install took 30 seconds and 1 reboot. The prices that Comp charge for this kind of work is highway robbery. You would be better off installing the card yourself and using the savings to get a powered USB2 hub (the PCMCIA USB2 slots do not provide power to peripherals). That way you can charge items like an iPod mini and other portables.

 

[SteveM324]

Thanks for all of the information. I will try the 1.1 rate tomorrow and if I'm not satisfied, I will get the upgrade card for 2.0 and install it myself.