USB 2.0 PCMCIA Locks up Toshiba Tecra

**shanep** · June 18th, 2004, 10:33 PM

I'm in need of some help. I'm attempting to install a USB 2.0 PCMCIA Cardbus Pc Card into a Toshiba Tecra 500CDT Notebook with Windows 98SE OS. The Card is a "no brand" cheapie and as soon as it is pushed into a slot or the computer is rebooted with the card in the slot the device is detected OK.

The problem is that after it has loaded the driver for the NEC USB Open Host Controller the computer completely locks up, mostly this is during the loading of the USB NEC Hub driver. The screen freezes and I have to depower.

If I check Device Manager after this process it shows no USB devices having been installed.

The device drivers provided are OUSB2HUB.SYS & OUSBEHCI.SYS dated 12/25/02.

Any help would be appreciated.

Cheers - Shane

**TripleRLtd** · June 18th, 2004, 11:13 PM

Welcome to WD shane.
How about trying this:
remove all USB devices from Device Manager and rebooting. After Windows redects everything and is up and running, insert the card again. and lets see what happens.
Also: let us know what your mainboard is and have you installed the latest Chipset drivers?

**NooNoo** · June 19th, 2004, 04:16 AM

toshiba support for your tecra shows a bios update that addresses one pcmcia issue... it might address your's by default as well.

The NEC pcmcia usb chipset had problems www.usbman.com has many suggestions - try that next.

**shanep** · June 20th, 2004, 01:17 AM

Thank you for the replies - TripleRLtd & NooNoo.

Some progress today, after running the latest Toshiba 500CDT BIOS update and loading a number of Microsoft Windows 98SE updates I have been able to now at least load the NEC USB Open Host Controller, System Talks USB 2.0 Host Controller & USB Root Hub without the laptop locking up.

All three now appear in Device Manager without any yellow exclamation marks an although I can't hot swap the card without getting a yellow exclamation mark for the System Talks USB 2.0 Host Controller everthing is OK if I boot up with the card in place.

The problem now is that as soon as I connect my USB External CD-R it detects a USB device and prompts me for a driver then again the laptop locks up during the loading requiring a complete depower/repower to restore.

I have had a look through www.usbman.com (excellent site with many helpful tips) and he points to the requirement for IRQ Steering being enabled in Device Manager, System Devices, PCI Bus. On my system although all settings that are required are enabled under the IRQ Steering Tab however IRQ Routing Staus indicates IRQ Steering Disabled and IRQ Table has some errors.

I have tried turning off the COM/LPT Ports & Soundcard in BIOS also any power management related items without success.

I feel this is probably where the problem lis but can't find any solution. Any thoughts?

Regards - Shane

**hudsonsmith** · June 20th, 2004, 08:26 AM

Sometimes you have to experiment w/ the IRQ Steering settings. According to MS, the following settings determine which routing tables Windows uses when programming IRQ steering:

Get IRQ table using ACPI BIOS:
When this check box is selected, the ACPI BIOS IRQ routing table is the first table Windows tries to use to program IRQ steering. If a PCI device is not working properly, click this check box to clear it.

Get IRQ table using MS Specification table:
When this check box is selected, the MS Specification routing table is the second table Windows tries to use to program IRQ steering.

Get IRQ table from Protected Mode PCIBIOS 2.1 call:
When this check box is selected, the Protected Mode PCIBIOS 2.1 routing table is the third table Windows tries to use to program IRQ steering.

Get IRQ table from Real Mode PCIBIOS 2.1 call:
When this check box is selected, the Real Mode PCIBIOS 2.1 routing table is the fourth table Windows tries to use to program IRQ steering.

NOTE: By default, the Get IRQ table from Protected Mode PCIBIOS 2.1 call check box is not selected. You should select this check box only if a PCI device is not working properly.

You should also check that IRQ steering is enabled in the bios. Do you have a cardbus controller listed in device manager? That may have an "enable irq steering" checkbox in its properties as well.

**shanep** · June 21st, 2004, 07:41 PM

Thanks for the response HudsonSmith.

Taking your advise I have tried all combinations of IRQ Steering without success, The BIOS has no setting for IRQ Steering.

The Cardbus Controller in Device Manager has no reference to IRQ Steering either.

I'm begining to think that maybe this just isn't a go-er with this card.

Regards - Shane