USB speed - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: abdullahseba
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: July 02, 2015, 12:08:26 pm
content: I have a responsibly fast computer with one huge disadvantage: USB 1 with avrage speed of 980KBs.So I got a USB 2 PCI card and I have just installed it.Now the speed is 25 MBs but on all the ports not just the card.Does any one know why?I expected 25Mbs on the card and 1Mbs on the mother board.I got a powered hub expecting to use it to save me reaching to the back every time I need to plug something in.

author: oPossum
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 02, 2015, 12:14:00 pm
content: How are you testing the speed?

author: Psi
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 02, 2015, 12:17:00 pm
content: Quote from: abdullahseba on July 02, 2015, 12:08:26 pmnot possible, any PC so old it has USB1 ports will be VERY slow and unusable with modern OS and software.My guess is that your motherboard always had USB2 but for some reason the driver wasnt working correctly.Installing a USB2 pci card may have caused a hardware redetect and fixed the issue.

author: nitro2k01
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: July 02, 2015, 12:32:12 pm
content: Quote from: Psi on July 02, 2015, 12:17:00 pmOr, the the USB card came with its own driver which happened to work for the motherboard ports as well. This is a reasonable assumption if for example OP's OS is Windows XP without service packs.

author: abdullahseba
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: July 02, 2015, 05:07:40 pm
content: Quote from: oPossum on July 02, 2015, 12:14:00 pmWindows 8.1 copying shows the graphI know thats not the proper way to test it

author: suicidaleggroll
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 02, 2015, 05:21:35 pm
content: Quote from: abdullahseba on July 02, 2015, 05:07:40 pmIf the machine can run Windows 8.1, then there is absolutely no way it could possibly have USB 1 ports, bottom line.I'll reiterate the earlier suggestion that the drivers you installed for your PCI card fixed the problem you were having with the on-board ports as well.

author: abdullahseba
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: July 02, 2015, 05:33:28 pm
content: Quote from: suicidaleggroll on July 02, 2015, 05:21:35 pmhoQuote from: suicidaleggroll on July 02, 2015, 05:21:35 pmhow did I get such a slow speed even when installing which took hours no ex.

author: abdullahseba
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: July 02, 2015, 05:45:26 pm
content: Quote from: Psi on July 02, 2015, 12:17:00 pmIt might be but installing the OS took hours and the card didn't come with a driver it worked as soon as I plugged it in.Windows did not pop-up with the installing driver balloon.the task manager is now showing "enhanced Intel controller" which is USB 2.0 so you may be rightat first all that was showing was USB root hub and a controller without "enhanced" The NEC controller is the new card.

author: SeanB
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 02, 2015, 05:57:10 pm
content: USB1.1 and USB2.0 are different parts of the chipset, and work separately. By default the USB1.1 driver is installed, and most likely the device enumerator did not detect the new hardware, as you probably did not specifically scan for new hardware, so the functionality of the chipset was not fully used, and Windows was happy with the driver as is, it did not see any change. the new card installed a driver, and this triggered the full rescan which enabled the USB2.0 side of the on board chipset.

author: Psi
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 03, 2015, 08:32:01 pm
content: Just a point of note.When installing windows, your pc is not ready once the install in over.Even if it seems to all be working fine with no unknown hardware listed in device manager.You must goto your motherboard manufacturers website and download all the drivers they list for it. The drivers windows installs are best-fit only from what it has available on the CD/DVD and are often slow, missing features or not really compatible. They just get Windows running so you can install the proper drivers.The only exception is when you use a install CD/DVD that is branded as a recovery disk from your PC manufacturer (when buying a brand name computer). Those will usually install all the correct drivers and restore your PC how it was when you got it. Laptops often do this.