nForce2 And USB 2.0 Question

[Netopia]

Hello All,

I recently found that I was getting much slower disk access from an external USB 2.0 drive than what I had expected to be getting. When I went and looked at the Device Manager (Win XP) it showed no "USB 2.0" controllers. After hunting around the 'net for a while I found some posts indicating that in the install directions for the nForce drivers it says that you have to install WinXP SP1 BEFORE the nForce drivers or you can kiss your USB 2.0 goodbye or reinstall the OS. I figured that I must have installed them out of order, so I just got finished reinstalling in the recommended order.

Strangely, I STILL have no USB 2.0 under Device Manager. What I do have is a:

Standard Enhanced PCI to USB Host Controller

...but no mention of USB 2.0. My older Via KT333 based board shows "USB 2.0" under device manager. I also looked at another nForce2 machine and it also has the "Enhanced....Controller".

My question... is this nVidia's lingo for USB 2.0 or is there something wrong with BOTH of these mobo's? Could some of you with KNOWN PROPERLY WORKING USB 2.0 on nForce2 boards look and see what your Device Manager says?

Many Thanks,

Joe

 

[Netopia]

HELLO?

There must be people out there with nForce2 boards!

 

[WobbleWobble]

nForce 2 user here and I know USB2.0 works fine on my machine. No mention of "USB 2.0" in Device Manager, just device drivers that only mention USB (not the 2.0).

 

[Netopia]

Does it say that "Standard Enhanced...." stuff?

Thanks

Joe

 

[WobbleWobble]

Standard Enhanced PCI to USB Host Controller
Standard OpenHCD USB Host Controller (x2)
USB Root Hub (x3)

 

[mechBgon]

Howdy Joe, haven't seen you around for a while My question is whether your USB cable is a real-deal USB 2.0-compliant one? Sorry I can't think of anything more intelligent to ask

 

[Wigwam]

Originally posted by: Netopia
Does it say that "Standard Enhanced...." stuff?

Thanks

Joe

the standard enhanced controller IS the usb 2.0 controller; it doesnt say usb2 in device manager.
you'll find it has [if you have front usb2 slots on your case hooked up or the additional daughter board] 6 channels which means you can run 6 usb2.0 devices if you hook them up with the proper cable.

 

[Mem]

Wigwam is right,

Look for:
Standard Enhanced PCI to USB Host Controller
or similar. That's USB 2.0.

Mine says that as well for my USB 2.0, and I used a Slipstream XP CD,so nothing to worry about .

 

[pspada]

But....you need to have the proper chipset drivers loaded, not the default windows drivers. Or your Enhanced controller will only support USB1.1. Put your mobo CD in, and have it search for new drivers for that Standard Enhanced device on the CD.

 

[Mem]

USB 2.0 - Hi-Speed USB - FAQ .

 

[Netopia]

Ok then... it would appear that I reinstalled for nothing! Strange isn't it, how on a VIA based box you get "USB 2.0 Host Controller" but it shows as this "Enhanced" stuff under nForce boards?

Ok... time too look at the external drive box. It's weird though... with two different drives/boxes the most I get is around 20MB/s when at USB2 speeds I should be getting closer to the mid/high 40's. One of the drives is a laptop drive, but it's a 5400RPM with 8meg buffer, so I wouldn't think it would be slow. The other one however, is a 200GB, 7200RPM 8MB buffer that gets close to 50MB sustained (about 47-48) on an ATA/133 controller, so I'm a little curious as to why it's only in the 20MB range via USB2.

One other thing I'm going to do is test on FireWire. I've got a case on order (USB2 & FireWire) and when it gets here I'm going to compare the same same box hooked up to each interface and see what I get.

If any of you have the time, I'd love to see what speeds some of the rest of you are getting via USB2 as measured with HDTach.

Thanks

Joe

 

[metalmania]

I googled a lot. It seems that your USB2.0 speed is pretty normal.
My stupid via KT333 mobo has USB2.0 ports, the thing is external HD can only reach 7MB/s.