Getting USB to work

[tim.100]

My PC has a VIA motherboard with 2 built in USB sockets, and Win 2000 Pro.

I tried to install the built-in sockets by:
1) Enabling them in the Bios (Phoenix)
2) Running the Win 2000 wizard.

3) I got a message to say that the ports wouldn't be installed as the 'Data is invalid'

I fiddled with the BIOS settings, and found a new driver on the web for USB. I still got the same message.

Fed up, I bought a USB 2.0 card with 5 sockets, NEC chipset.

I get the same 'The data is invalid' message!

I am not really in a position to upgrade to Windows XP, or replace hardware.

Any other ideas out there?

Thanks in advance,
Tim

 

[peterchurch]

Hi,
Sounds like the hardware is shagged as a thought have you tried looking for drivers on the VIA website ? The only other sugestion I can think of is to try running a bootable Linux install (a Gentoo Linux Live CD would be good) to see if it can pickup the USB ports on the Motherboard... (it will boot off CD and run in memory so your W2K install will be fine )

If that does not work then I would think you have got a Hardware rather than driver problem... Anything in the eventviewer ???

Regards,

Peter

 

[tim.100]

Hi,
Sounds like the hardware is shagged as a thought have you tried looking for drivers on the VIA website ? The only other sugestion I can think of is to try running a bootable Linux install (a Gentoo Linux Live CD would be good) to see if it can pickup the USB ports on the Motherboard... (it will boot off CD and run in memory so your W2K install will be fine )

If that does not work then I would think you have got a Hardware rather than driver problem... Anything in the eventviewer ???

Regards,

Peter

Peter,

Thanks for your thoughts. Since the problem had occurred with both the built in ports, and the card, I had decided not to blame hardware. Is the Linux CD the kind of thing that's cheaply available on e-bay?

Will have a hunt for the event viewer this evening.

thanks,

Tim

 

[Steve_Perry]

Linux distros are free

Try www.distrowatch.com

My personal fave is MEPIS, though Knoppix seems quite popular.

S.

 

[Shude]

Try this:

remove all references to the USB ports in device manager
quit windows/turn off pc
remove the extra hardware
fire up the pc, go into the bios/cmos settings and disable the USB, restart
when windows is next finished loading, shut it down again
back in the bios/cmos settings again, re-enable the USB ports
next time windows loads up it will probably tell you it's mysteriously found some new hardware, if not you can try the add/remove in control panel and see if it picks it up that time.

Sometimes windows needs a bit of a kick to pick up hardware additions or changes.

 

[tim.100]

Try this:

remove all references to the USB ports in device manager
quit windows/turn off pc
remove the extra hardware
fire up the pc, go into the bios/cmos settings and disable the USB, restart
when windows is next finished loading, shut it down again
back in the bios/cmos settings again, re-enable the USB ports
next time windows loads up it will probably tell you it's mysteriously found some new hardware, if not you can try the add/remove in control panel and see if it picks it up that time.

Sometimes windows needs a bit of a kick to pick up hardware additions or changes.

Have tried to kick-start the hardware recognition again last night. However, same old problem. A search on the web suggested I should get an error code, e.g. 'Code 1.' No such luck...

Tim

 

[peterchurch]

next thought would be:

Have you had any driver upgrades performed when/if you use microsoft update? (I ask this because I spent a week trying to fix a computer only to find that it had got a "driver upgrade" from microsoft that had caused all the problems....

 

[tim.100]

I did install Service Pack 4 a few months back, but it is a requirement to make USB work with W2K.

I have tried another driver from the VIA web site, but have to admit I wasn't sure it was suitable. The built-in USB is a VIA device.

The USB card came with its own drivers, which are installed before you physically install the card. I'm not sure that the wizard necessarily used these drivers, although the messages said it had found an NEC chipset, which the card has.

Regards,

Tim

Tim

 

[tim.100]

The final solution

Tried the Linux CD-ROM, and it confirmed the USB hardware was working.

I then bought a new hard disk, and re-loaded Windows. That failed

After this I flashed the BIOS with an update, and re-installed W2K again!!

The old BIOS had USB support, but I was running out of options.... This time it found the USB and it worked..... at last.

I then installed my upgrade card, and now have 7 USB ports, 5 of them are USB 2.0 - very fast.

So far I've only attached a USB mouse, but soon I'm getting a digital camera and broadband.

Tim