XP and SP1 USB2.0 Drivers

[Ron Lessnick]

My Dell Inspirion 2650 laptop is supposed to have USB2.0 ports.
However the USB ports are presently running as USB1.1.
Device manager shows NO enhanced root hub etc. and connected external
devices only run at the slow 1.1 speed.
Running XP home with SP1. I thought SP1 installed MS's USB 2 drivers but
perhaps I'm wrong about that.
So if someone can tell me if SP1 should have installed USB2 drivers or if
not where do you get the USB2.0 drivers I would be most thankful.

TIA
Ron

 

[Shenan T. Stanley]

My Dell Inspirion 2650 laptop is supposed to have USB2.0 ports.
However the USB ports are presently running as USB1.1.
Device manager shows NO enhanced root hub etc. and connected external
devices only run at the slow 1.1 speed.
Running XP home with SP1. I thought SP1 installed MS's USB 2 drivers
but perhaps I'm wrong about that.
So if someone can tell me if SP1 should have installed USB2 drivers
or if not where do you get the USB2.0 drivers I would be most
thankful.

If they are HiSpeed USB 2.0 ports, SP1 should have given you what you need.

 

[Len Segal]

Ron,

Check the Dell support website for updated BIOS or drivers for your laptop.
That may be why SP1 didn't change your USB ports to USB 2.0.

If that doesn't work, I'd recommend calling Dell Support and ask them about
the problem.

 

[Unnamed]

Ron,

Check the Dell support website for updated BIOS or drivers for your laptop.
That may be why SP1 didn't change your USB ports to USB 2.0.

If that doesn't work, I'd recommend calling Dell Support and ask them about
the problem.

Just a note that might help as I have recently gone over all this and solved
it for a few machines:

1) I have an elderly P3 600Mhz myself and I have an external USB2 compatible
hard drive case with 80gig HD inside. I knew I didn't have USB2 so bought a
USB2 card to put in it. USB2 did *NOT*, even with all drivers installed
correctly, work at USB2 rates at first though it worked fine at USB1.1
rates. After mucking about with it a while, I finally realised that you have
to be SPECIFIC in the order that you attach the USB2 device to the USB2 card
(or port in that other person's case). My external device shows a "safely
remove...." icon in the tray when connected and I had been using this before
removing etc. I got a little annoyed at my failing attempts and thinking
that the plug just may be faulty or not properly pushed in, I pulled it out
without bothering about "safely remove..." and heard XPSP1 make it's unplug
noise. Then, I just shoved it straight back in and heard the connect noise
happen. From that point on, it worked properly at USB2 rates. Prior to that
I had been inserting the USB plug and only THEN was I turning the device ON
and doing it that way would NEVER allow me to use USB2 rates.

2) Installing the same card on a machine that is only a year old and I
thought WOULD have had USB2 ports but appeared NOT to have them, the above
scenario didn't happen in exactly the same way. I had installed the USB2
drivers for the external case and though they were there, when I installed
the USB2 card and drivers and connected the USB2 device then turned it on,
it RAN at USB2 anyway without a problem. The only difference was that the
external case's "safely remove...." didn't happen.

Thus, for older machines and possibly newer ones, the order you do it in
seems paramount though it shouldn't be. Eg, turn the device on, if possible,
THEN shove it in the USB2 socket. On newer machines, see if you can get away
WITHOUT installing an external driver.

Note that I have no idea why the above worked the way it did. It didn't make
sense, really, but it was definitely something I could prove over and over
again. So, worth a try!

 

[George Cruppi]

You may need to check with DELL for drivers for your USB 2.0 on your
motherboard.