Can a USB 1.1 be upgraded to 2.0 with software ?

[jaytone]

Hi
I have a friend with a Dell that is about 5 months old. Its a P4 1.6 and has 4 USB ports that are 1.1 He is running Windows XP
He wants to get a Canon Scanner that is only USB 2.0 and is not backward compatible with 1.1

He called Dell and they told him he can go to Dells site or Microsofts site and download drivers to make it 2.0 We searched both sites and could not find anything related to this.

So, is it the USB hardware ports that have to be 2.2 or can the exisiting 1.1 ports be ugraded with software to 2.0

If so, any ideas where the patch is ?
Thanks

 

[NFS4]

USB 1.1 ports CAN NOT be "software" upgraded to 2.0. The Dell dude was bullsh!tin' ya

Anyway, you can get a USB 2.0 PCI card for pretty cheap these days ($10 - $20 after MIR)

 

[CrazySaint]

I once had a sales rep (not Dell, though) tell me that I could download more RAM if I needed it! :Q

 

[Pink0]

Okay first of all, there's no such thing as a USB 2.0 device that won't do usb 1.1. In order to meet the USB 2.0 spec, it must be backward compatible. It will work fine with 1.1. anyway, it's not possible to upgrade usb with just software. You'll need to get an add in PCI card.

 

[zippy]

Originally posted by: Pink0
Okay first of all, there's no such thing as a USB 2.0 device that won't do usb 1.1. In order to meet the USB 2.0 spec, it must be backward compatible. It will work fine with 1.1. anyway, it's not possible to upgrade usb with just software. You'll need to get an add in PCI card.

 

[SteelyKen]

Is there an echo in here?

 

[Pink0]

Is there an echo in here?

 

[Wolfsraider]

Originally posted by: Pink0

Is there an echo in here?

yes
yes
yes

can't you hear it

 

[Kevin]

Originally posted by: NFS4
USB 1.1 ports CAN NOT be "software" upgraded to 2.0. The Dell dude was bullsh!tin' ya

Anyway, you can get a USB 2.0 PCI card for pretty cheap these days ($10 - $20 after MIR)

Yeah, you can pick up USB 2.0 PCI adaptors real cheap on eBay if that pleases you...

 

[Pauli]

...or can the exisiting 1.1 ports be ugraded with software to 2.0

...and then Jaytone awakened from his dream...

 

[Trashman]

I'm reaching here....i know... but you wouldn't think Dell would ship out a system with USB 2.0 support? before USB 2.0 drivers came out for XP.
The update for WinXP and USB 2.0 isn't what he is talking about...is it??

 

[Pink0]

in that time frame it would have had to be an NEC chip integrated into the mobo like some MSI boards had before USB 2.0 was integrated into the southbridge. These were inferior in terms of speed and required a seperate bracked. Dell just didn't do this.

 

[SocrPlyr]

make sure he had SP1 for winXP installed... dell chose to ship computers w/ chipsets (ICH4) that support USB 2.0 but didn't include any type of USB 2.0 drivers so they just ran at 1.1 speeds... SP1 includes those drivers... i would just try it out to see if it works... (i know this for a fact b/c here at the CWRU about 75% of the students are in this situation (we can get sweet deals on dells...) and when they install SP1 they are like sweet...) i obviously can't guarantee this is the case w/ that computer... if you give a specific model etc maybe we can track it down and see whether or not it would work, but the easiest way is to just install SP1 then look and see if a USB 2.0 device had been installed...

Josh

 

[Trashman]

wouldn't WindowsUpdate find USB 2.0 drivers??

 

[Pink0]

wouldn't WindowsUpdate find USB 2.0 drivers??

Yes it would. Also, SP1 would have them if it actually supported USB 2 although you might have to go into devman and choose to update driver from there. At any rate, winodwsupdate has been able to detect USB 2 for months and months. If it doesn't find it, you don't have it.

 

[The Sauce]

Half those reps are total NOOBS fresh out of wherever with no computer knowledge except for what they were taought in a 60 minute training session. One dopey chick once told my dad to try putting the CD in upside down if it could not be read by the (obviously broken) drive.