Another PCMCIA USB 2.0 Cardbus Problem

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April 20th, 2004, 02:40 PM
Rankinfile

Another PCMCIA USB 2.0 Cardbus Problem

Hi all. I'm new to this forum and I'm hoping you guys can help me. I have a Sony Vaio PCG-FXA48 laptop running Windows XP. The laptop is 2 years old but doesn't have any USB 2.0 ports, just two 1.1 ports. When I sprang for a new Maxtor USB 80gig HD I decided to get a PCMCIA card to add the speed of 2.0 so I purchased a Bytecc USB 2.0 CardBus (aka: cheapie) card. I installed the drivers from the inclosed CD, plugged the card into the slot and watched while XP did it's install thing. I then restarted my computer and plugged the Maxtor into the new card. Nothing happened... I checked the device manager and no alerts were coming up. Everything said 'working properly' including the standard enhanced PCI to USB host controller. The HD had already been working on the built-in 1.1 ports. In fact, when I plug it into the 1.1 port it now shows me the enhanced PCI to USB host controller and tells me that the hubs shown in bold type have free ports that can support the USB Hi-Speed device! I'm starting to lose it! Help!!!
April 21st, 2004, 05:37 AM
NooNoo

Welcome to Windrivers Rankinfile... any relation to Robert?

Have you loaded SP1?

your sony updates

very interesting bios update here

Your spec just says USB, it does not give any version or implementation details....
April 22nd, 2004, 12:43 AM
Rankinfile

Thanks for the reply and the welcome NooNoo. I have loaded SP1 but what kind of implementation details would you need to know. Sorry for my ignorance.
Rankinfile (and no relation to Robert that I know of :)
April 22nd, 2004, 02:42 PM
NooNoo
Did you load the bios update I linked to? It fixes
Quote:
This utility updates the BIOS and resolves the following issues:
A blue screen appears while using the Adobe® Photoshop® Elements application to add or remove color on an enlarged image (picture) file.
After installing Windows XP Service Pack 1, the computer freezes due to a system conflict that occurs with Quick Fix Engineering (QFE) 317277 which is contained in Windows XP Service Pack 1.
After installing Windows XP Service Pack 1, the computer hangs when a USB 2.0 hard drive is connected via a NEC USB 2.0 PCMCIA PC card.
Your cheapie card may well have an nec chipset in it.

There are loads of other updates there too.
The bios link does not work, the other link does, just select bios from the type drop down.
April 23rd, 2004, 12:42 PM
Rankinfile

I did install the bios update but still no luck. Any other suggestions or possibilities?
May 4th, 2004, 09:55 PM
Castor128

Similar problem

That BIOS update sounds exactly what I need to fix my USB 2.0 problems, whenever I plug in my external hard drive into my USB 2.0 cardbus I get a blue screen of death.

Could anyone make any suggestions?
May 5th, 2004, 02:00 AM
NooNoo

Castor128, Welcome to Windrivers!

Please start a new thread stating your make/model of laptop and what windows you are running to avoid confusion between which post is addressed to which member.

Rankinfile, sorry this got lost somewhere....

Ok suggestions.... When you plug it into your 1.1 hubs, does it work? I am a little confused about the message you got about the speed of the 1.1.

It may be xp thinks this is installed to the 1.1 and for some reason doesn't want to install to the 2.0

The other - and possibly more likely option - is that the usb cardbus device cannot supply enough power to run the hard drive. I see this alot - even on the same spec machine. You should have got a separate powersupply with the usb hard drive for just this eventuality. Try it in the usb 2 with the power supply connected and running to the hard drive before plugging it in to the usb2 cardbus.