A rchive Date
[ 03-03-2001 ]
Category
[ Information Technologies ]
sub-Categoy
[ Microsoft ]
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[Test for USB support
It can be difficult to figure out whether or not a USB device will work with your system. USB devices have to be supported by your PC's hardware, driver software, and operating system. Here are three golden rules for determining whether your system supports USB:
1. If your PC was made during or before 1996, it probably does not support USB.
2. If it was made during 1997, it probably does support USB.
3. If it was made during or after 1998, you can safely bet that it supports USB.
More specifically, if you're using Windows 98/SE/Me/2000, have one or more USB ports on your machine, and have enabled the USB port(s) in your CMOS setup, you can almost certainly handle USB. Use the USB evaluation utility from USB.org to verify for sure. This utility will examine your PC's hardware and software and report back whether you're set up to use USB peripherals or not.
If you're running Windows 95 OSR 2, you may still be able to get USB support without upgrading your OS. Right-click My Computer, select Properties, and look at the General tab. If the system version is 4.00.950 B or higher, you can install Microsoft's USB supplement. (Warning: Installing this supplement may cause problems with restarting and power management.)
USB keyboard
USB keyboards are now widely available, but not all systems will support the keyboard outside of Windows. For example, you may find that the USB keyboard won't let you into the CMOS setup or operate under DOS. In virtually all cases, this means the system's BIOS isn't capable of supporting USB (or that USB support hasn't been enabled yet). First try this fix:
1. Disconnect the USB keyboard and hook a PS/2 or serial keyboard up to your machine.
2. Boot it up and enter the CMOS setup utility (also known as the BIOS setup utility).
3. Enable the USB port(s). If there's a separate entry for USB DOS support, turn that option on as well.
4. Save the CMOS setup and finish booting the system.
5. Power down the PC and reattach the USB keyboard.
Once you reboot, your USB keyboard should work even outside the Windows OS. But if you saw that the USB keyboard was already enabled when you went into the CMOS setup (or there was no DOS support listed for the USB keyboard), then you will probably need to upgrade the motherboard's BIOS--or even buy a whole new motherboard--to obtain full USB support.
USB network
You can actually connect USB ports to make a simple network without NIC adapters. Of course, you can't just connect USB ports together directly. Rather, you'll need a device known as a USB bridge or a USB-to-USB network adapter. Belkin produces one that allows you to connect two or more stations. The USB-to-USB adapter provides all the resource-sharing of a 10BaseT Ethernet network. An instruction manual, software, and USB cable are included with the package. If you want to save a buck and only need to network two computers, StarTech Computer Products produces a USB to USB Direct Networking Cable. It supports TCP/IP, NetBEUI, and IPX Protocols for sharing files and Internet connections, as well as for playing multiplayer games.
Resources
http://209.185.240.250/cgi-bin/linkrd?_lang=EN&lah=8db8dbfbbbd27d5767fe79e52ff7c897&lat=983619770&hm___action=http%3a%2f%2fdownload%2ecnet%2ecom%2fdownloads%2f1%2c10150%2c0%2d10010%2d103%2d0%2d1%2d7%2c00%2ehtml%3ftag%3ddd%2ehp%2etweakfreak%2dhtml%2d022801%2ealso%2edl_usb%26qt%3dusb%26cn%3dDrivers%26ca%3d10010%26SWLink%3dfalse
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