Installing Hi-Speed USB 2.0 PCI Host Card: D.I.D. (Damsel in Distr

[Guest]

I purchased a 5-port USB PCI Host Card to upgrade my older USB. I keep
getting a message to upgrade because my scanner is a hi-speed device. The
directions for installling this card are not clear. It says to use the
"eject or unplug" icon in the system tray bar to eject the old card before
removing it from the PC. However, there is no such icon in my system tray.
What to do?

I have a Sony RX 752, Windows XP. I also want to install a sound card at
the same time and disable my Sis 650/740. But I need to know about ejecting
the old USB port before I open my computer up. The instructions say that if
I do not do that, I can damage the hard drive and/or the USB devices.

Please advise and thank you!

 

[Nathan McNulty]

The eject you are speaking of is the Safely Remove Hardware icon that
appears in the system tray. This only needs to be used when removing
external USB devices that are not Optimized for Quick Removal. Once you
turn the computer off, this is no longer necessary as it does the
function for you when Windows is shutting down.

You are saying you want to install the new USB 2.0 PCI Card? That can
be done by just turning off the PC, open it up, push it into the PCI
slot, and screw it in. While you're at it, you might as well stick the
sound card in one of the PCI slots, screw it in, and close up the
computer. Once you turn it on, you may need to install the drivers if XP
doesn't automatically do it for you.

Last note, you may want to disable onboard sound in the BIOS once you
have set up your new sound card

 

[Guest]

Thank you, Nathan, for such a quick response. Yes, I want to install both
cards, but the instructions threw me when it said I should eject first before
taking out the old USB card. I assume that is what I have to do, is that
right? I should take out the 1.1 USB card and replace it with the 2.0 USB
card?

Also, I hope I bought the right card. It says "host card." Is there a
difference? Thanks again. I am at peace with the sound card installation,
but am worried about the USB installation. I don't need problems right now
as I am taking an online class. Thanks again for your help.

 

[Guest]

P.S. The instructions for the USB card say to install the drivers first,
then shut down the computer. Your thoughts?

 

[Nathan McNulty]

I can see why they would say that as it adds the drivers to the list of
hardware devices XP can recognize. So install the drivers for the USB
2.0 card first, shut down the computer, remove the old USB PCI Card, put
the new USB 2.0 PCI Card in (doesn't really matter which slot you use),
then turn the computer back on. It is actually pretty simple once you
get in there and do it. Windows should easily be able to handle the
change

 

[Guest]

Before installing the USB2.0 card make sure that you have SP1 installed on
the computer, then go into device manager and uninstall all of the USB
controllers.
Turn the computer off, open the case, install the cards, turn the computer

 

[Guest]

Thank you for your help. I do have SP1 and SP2 installed. I could not get
to the old USB card to take it out, and so I did not uninstall their drivers.
Please see my post to Nathan's response about my dilemma and thank you again.

 

[Guest]

Well, a few updates are in order. Before I got these two answers, I went
ahead and installed the card w/o installing the software first. Once inside,
I found that I could not take out the old USB 1.1 card as I can not get to
it. It's behind a mess of other things.

The scanner works, but the yellow exclamation point shows up in the device
manager, and I don't think the new USB ports show up on the Universal Serial
Bus list. There is a menu item on the list labeled OTHER DEVICES that has
the yellow question mark. Clicking on the plus sign reveals a device called
PCI INPUT DEVICE. It also has the yellow question mark.

I have service pack one and two installed as I get Windows updates
automatically.

The disk for the drivers and the instructions do not match. It says to
click on the set up driver icon, but there is no such icon when I look at the
disk using the RUN then BROWSE command. There are 3 .exe files, and I don't
know for sure which one is for Windows XP. I guess and installed the last
one. Here are the names of these driver files:

U2v2_1_4.exe
U2v2_1_6.exe
U2V2_1_8.exe

Do you think there is something else I can do? It does not appear that the
system is recognizing the card as a USB card though the scanner is working
and working much more quickly. Should I take it out of the slot, restart
Windows, load all 3 files, then shut down, put the card back in, and restart?
Very perplexing and I apprecite both of your responses and suggestions.

 

[WayneM]

I was wondering if PNW girl really has a USB 1.0 PCI card. Unless the
computer is very old, which it probably isn't since it has XP, USB 1 has
been built into the mainboard. Even my 5 year old FIC socket 370 board has
built in USB 1.0. I guess it is possible that she added a PCI card to get
additional ports but that card should be obvious and not inaccessible.

At any rate just plugging in the card as suggested by others should work. In
my case, my completely patched XP Pro did not find my USB 2.0 PCI card and I
had to install the drivers provided on a CD-Rom.

Wayne

 

[Guest]

Thanks for your insight, Wayne. The problem is, even when looking at the
back of the PC, the original USB ports are near the top of the chassis. The
two remaining PCI slots are way down low near the bottom. When I open the
chassis, in-between these two areas are other large and small devices. I
don't see how I can go around them to grab the old card that is obviously on
the other side of the PC. Any thoughts?

 

[Guest]

I just read your post again and I misread it the first time, I think. I was
wondering the same thing, because I can not get to the top of the computer
where the original USB ports are located.

 

[Guest]

The specs say that the Sony RX 752 comes with 4 USB port connectors, two in
the front and two in the back. Translation?

 

[namniar]

Translation: Two USB ports in the back (which you have found and cannot be
physically removed, as well as, two USB ports in the front of the case
likely under some form of plastic bezel probably around the power button
and/or cd tray. These may or may not be removable depending on if they are
part of the mainboard or connected via cables - regardless there is no point
in physically removing them.

Regarding the USB / Soundcard: Remove both, reboot, use system restore to
get to a point before installing / removeing anything to do with new cards,
reboot as per system restore, install USB drivers as per instructions (disk
should autorun unless autorun is disabled - explore cdrom and run setup.exe
if necessary), shutdown and install as per USB instructions, reboot. Check
for yellow triangles in device manager - hardware. If no triangles or
errors noted plug in your scanner w/o turning off PC (USB's are hot
pluggable) and scanner should be detected (watch system tray icons), test
the scanner.

Next, install soundcard as per instructions - Soundbaster series usually
require the card to be installed, restart, cancel XP's attempt to load /
find drivers, autorun SB cdrom and follow the prompts.

Installing more than one card at a time is usually not a good idea in my
opinion.

Repost back to let us all know the outcome SVP.

r.

 

[namniar]

Oops forgot to add that as per SB instructions they recommend disabling the
on board soundcard before SB install begins. This is done in BIOS setup,
accessed by pressing DEL during post (depending upon the mainboard brand).
Consult your mainboard / Sony manual and or Sony website.

Also, your original USB ports can still be used for devices requiring only
USB 1.1 speed.

r.

 

[Nathan McNulty]

Your original USB is connected to the motherboard and cannot be removed
without soldering and quite a bit of work which you really don't want to
do

I would try installing the USB drivers included on the CD that came with
the USB PCI Card and reboot. If it still doesn't work, try the System
Restore approach namnair explained so well.

 

[Guest]

The sound card seems fine and I'm loving it. I removed all files that I
found that I had installed for the USB 2.0, removed it, brought my system
back up, installed the driver, shut down, reinstalled the PCI card, rebooted.

My system said it found a USB hardware device but it went too slow for me to
know exactly what it said. Then the message went away.

I am still getting the PCI input device error at startup: can't install the
hardware because doesn't know about driver. It is still showing up in device
manager as a PCI input device with the yellow question mark.

Do I need to change my BIOS or anything else to enable the Hi-Speed USB to
be recognized? If so, how do I do this? Is there anything else I can do?

The frustrating thing is that the instructions on the CD rom do not match
what is happening. There is no autoinstall or set up on this CD. It only
prompts me to install Adobe reader so that I can read the instructions, so I
cancel that as I already have an updated reader. The instructions just say
to click on the icon. Well, which icon? There are 3 icons! I've installed
all three and each time, the same filename is used as the install file name.
This is very confusing. What am I installing?

Help please. Your time spent on this subject is very much appreciated.

 

[Nathan McNulty]

Open Device Manager by clicking Start, Run, Type devmgmt.msc and click
OK. Now find the problematic device with the yellow exclamation mark.
Right click on the device, click Update Drivers, then let it search the
CD ROM for the appropriate drivers. This should install the drivers for
you.

What happens right now if you plug in a USB device to the new card by
the way?

 

[Guest]

I've done that and it can't find them on the CD. The scanner appears to work
okay so far, I am just not sure at this point what is going on and don't want
problems down the road.

I've read on this forum of people "updating their BIOS." I used to do this
on my older computer online by downloading software. There was never a
charge. Have things changed? My internet searches are taking me to sites
where it will now cost me to upgrade my BIOS. What gives?

 

[namniar]

No charge for BIOS updates via flashing from manufacturers website.

See my post regarding Sony website. BIOS update is in there.

r.

 

[namniar]

Curious, what USB card (brand name and model) do you have?

r.