USB 2.0 - Hi Speed Finally

December 27th, 2005 at 01:58pm

USB 2.0 Logo
The world is getting faster by the day and USB is no exception. All the new USB devices are moving towards USB 2.0. With USB 2.0, the data is transferred at the rate of 480 Mbps (that’s Mega bits per second). Where as the earlier versions i.e., USB 1.1 (and 1.0), transferred data at the rate of mere 12 Mbps. And, 12 Mbps is way too slow.My motherboard at home, ASUS A7N266-VM has support for only USB 1.1. So, around a year back, I decided to go for a PCI to USB card, which would give me USB 2.0 ports. My vendor gave me a PCI to USB card which had a ALi chipset. I installed the card, but I never managed to get USB 2.0 working. No matter what I tried, it acted like USB 1.1. I tried reinstalling the drivers and tried all possible workarounds. But no matter what I did, the ports worked as if they were 1.1 ports. So, whenever I used to plug-in a USB 2.0 device (like my Sandisk Pen drive), windows would warn me that I have plugged in a Hi-speed device to a Low Speed port. :(. In fact, the problem continued after reinstalling windows (after the ants attack).

Finally, I posted this problem on one of the USB forums. And to my surprise, found that the ALi chipset cards are not very reliable, and are prone to problems!. The folks at the forum suggested that I replace the card with one that has NEC chipset. So, next, called up my vendor, and told him about this problem. Luckily, he offered me a replacement card. This time, it was a Intex PCI to USB card, with 4 (+1 internal) USB 2.0 ports. The Intex card was based on the VIA chipset. My vendor did not have any cards with NEC chipset.

I took this new Intex card home, removed my old card off the PCI slot, and plugged this card in (after clearing up the old drivers etc). Booted the machine. Windows detected the new card correctly (thanks to PnP!), and automatically installed some standard Microsoft drivers. And now…I have USB 2.0 ports. Now the data transfers are blazing fast!

Just to give you and Idea. .. Earlier it used to take around 12 to 14 mins to transfer 1 GB of data from PC to my Sandisk Pen drive using USB 1.1 ports. Now, the same process takes around 1.5 mins!!

Sigh!!


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13 Comments Add your own

  • 1. larry zeed  |  September 5th, 2006 at 6:14 am (subscribed to comments)

    Great story, please tell me how to install it
    ’cause I just bought one and have no instructions
    and nothing happens.
    I don’ t get t he wizard, the card is just not seen.
    Should I plug a power cord in it ( 4 prongs)
    Should I connect my old USB in the extra slot?
    I just don’t know.
    Thanks, I hope you can reply very soon.
    Larry

  • 2. Purushottam Dayama  |  September 24th, 2006 at 2:21 pm (subscribed to comments)

    Hi can U tell what price U bought it and where?

  • 3. nadeem  |  November 4th, 2006 at 9:40 am (subscribed to comments)

    Hi,

    I bought the exact same card as you suggested today, I plugged it in and windows recognized it and I get a install new hardware wizard which tries to search for the drivers for the card, but its unable to find the same, as a result I am left high and dry. could this be an issue with my os version ? as I am running in windows xp and not SP2, does this mean that windows xp does not have support for usb2.0,

    any help will be appreciated,
    thanks
    nadeem.

  • 4. nadeem  |  November 4th, 2006 at 9:43 am (subscribed to comments)

    Hey just to add to the previous comment, I have bought the intex pci to USB 2.0 consisting of 4+1 usb ports. My h/w config is as follows

    AMD athlon xp
    80 GB HDD
    ASUS MB (can’t remember the model no)
    windows xp (no sp2)
    768 MB RAM

  • 5. Purushottam Dayama  |  November 5th, 2006 at 6:58 am (subscribed to comments)

    I purchased card for Rs.400/- and used the cdrom to install
    driver. Now I have 6 ports -4with 2.0 and 1 as old 1.1
    Really interesting part is the USB Hub when attached to
    2.0 port works as 1.1 !!! however penndrive works fine.

  • 6. Mahendra  |  February 8th, 2007 at 10:33 pm (subscribed to comments)

    Hi,

    I bought the exact same card PCI USB Card of TCOMS make with USB 2.0, I plugged it in and windows recognized it and I get a install new hardware wizard which tries to search for the drivers for the card, but its unable to find the same, as a result I am left high and dry. could this be an issue with my os version ? as I am running in windows xp and not SP2, does this mean that windows xp does not have support for usb2.0,

    I have bought the TCOMS pci to USB 2.0 consisting of 4+1 usb ports. My h/w config is as follows

    CPU Type Intel Celeron-A, 333 MHz (5 x 67)
    Motherboard ID 03/02/1999-i440ZX-ALI513-2A69KPNDC-00
    30 GB HDD
    windows xp (no sp2)
    160 MB RAM

    Really interesting part is the USB Hub when attached to
    2.0 port works as 1.1 !!! however penndrive works fine.

    any help to find how to solve above problem will be appreciated,
    thanks

  • 7. Atul  |  July 1st, 2007 at 6:22 am (subscribed to comments)

    Hi,

    I bought the PCI USB 2.0 Card of INTEX 2-port & plug it my
    Windows(XP SP2) detected the new card and automatically installed some standard Microsoft drivers.
    but it still works as USB 1.1 ….

    at this forum i read that Intex card are based on the VIA chipset
    but in my Device manager it show as

    Standard Enhanced PCI to USB Host Controller
    ALi PCI to USB Open Host Controller

    so from where i get proper driver for my PCI card so i should get original speed of USB 2.0

  • 8. alodia  |  August 18th, 2007 at 9:49 pm (subscribed to comments)

    Hi! I just bought my intext usb card 2.0. Unfortunately the hardware does not include the CD rom installer, that’s why i can’t install it yet and it is still acting as a USB 1. It may take me one more week before i can go to my vendor and i need to have my usb 2.0 working now. Do you have any idea where can i download an installer?

  • 9. Pat Sat  |  September 11th, 2007 at 12:56 pm (subscribed to comments)

    USB 2.0 requires Service Pack 2 on Windows XP. I had the same issue and later I resolved it by installing SP2.

    If one has a pirated copy or blacklisted copy of Win XP, then any service pack can not be installed. So please make sure you have a Licensed copy of Win XP.

    Good luck

  • 10. amit  |  September 12th, 2007 at 10:09 am (subscribed to comments)

    I have USB port on my motherboard. As I connect a USB device in the slot. sometimes it gets hanged. I can not copy the data on USB to my HDD. I have to resort to reset the system.
    Kindly help

  • 11. alodia  |  November 7th, 2007 at 11:40 pm (subscribed to comments)

    @Pat Sat,
    Thanks for your comment… it’s been long overdue.
    Anyway my USB port is now working very well. That’s what i did, i installed XP service pack 2 and everything went well.

  • 12. GVK Sharma  |  November 28th, 2007 at 5:39 am (subscribed to comments)

    I too bought the Intex PCI to USB Card (with 4+1 ports) but I find that I get only USB 1.1 speeds. I tried downloading the drivers from the website
    http://www.intextechnologies.com
    but the download link is broken.

    Can you please send me the drivers to my email id
    gvk007@yahoo.com

    Thanks,
    Sharma.

  • 13. Nitin Ravindran  |  April 29th, 2008 at 9:01 pm

    This story is cool man. Also thanks for posting a comparison on USB 1.0 and 2.0. iTS GR8.

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