How to Update to USB2.0?

[drgrudge]

I have a Western Digital Passport (Portable HDD). When I connected to my lappy there was no problem, but here in my old PC it couldn't. After some research I found out that the USB need to be updated to USB 2.0.

Here's the screenshot of the driver manager for that thing:




I tried to update the drivers (by clicking on update drivers in the property settings), still couldn't do anything.


Can anyone guide me how to go about?

[infra_red_dude]

Which motherboard is that? Intel 81x? If so then its a hardware limitation. You gotta buy a USB 2.0 PCI addon card.

For 99.9% times you don't require any special drivers for enabling USB 2.0. You only need to make sure that its Windows XP SP2/Vista. The drivers are automatically installed by the OS for most hardware (and certainly in your case).

[drgrudge]

^^
From the MS support center - "Even though, I might have SP2 installed, the old driver things still remain which needs to be updated".

So I tried to update via the properties things, but no luck.

By the way - how to see what mobo I have? Mine is an old PC, almost 7-8 years old.

[infra_red_dude]

7-8 years? Then it surely won't haf USB 2.0. Get an addon USB 2.0 PCI card instead.

[The_Devil_Himself]

USB 1.0 was introduced in November 1995, though early uptake was originally very low. USB 1.1 came out in September 1998 to help rectify the adoption problems that occurred with earlier iterations of USB

The USB 2.0 specification was released in April 2000 and was standardized by the USB-IF at the end of 2001

So if your PC was purchased before 2001 then most probably it doesn't support USB2.0

[drgrudge]

How much will that cost? The cabinet is also a mini tower. I also wanted to add an ethernet card so that I can share net connection btw my Mac and PC. Now it seems that I'll have to keep my MacBook 24 hrs ON to leech stuffs.

Even if I use Linux, the same case? Is there any way, I access the contents in that HDD?

[The_Devil_Himself]

^^I think it should work albeit at the speeds of USB1.1 as USB is reverse compatible.(confirmed:USB 2.0 is backward compatible)

Even if I use Linux, the same case?

Yea dude even if you use Linux.Its a hardware limitation not software.I know Linux does magic sometimes but not in this case.

Price of USB2.0 PCI card Rs.300.
http://cgi.ebay.in/PCI-USB-CARD-2-0_...QQcmdZViewItem

[infra_red_dude]

You already bought MacBook???

The USB card won't cost more than 400bucks.

Yeah, its the same case even if you use Linux or any other OS. It'll work at USB 1.1 speeds only as the USB controller is the limiting entity here. What do you mean by "Is there anywawy to access the contents on the HDD"?

As to what I've understood, its working on USB 1.1 speeds and not USB 2.0. Is your comp. not able to even detect it? Then check the USB ports for faults. Also, the ports may not be supplying enough power to the USB HDD. It may need additional power. Check that also.

[drgrudge]

Guys -
It's not working! I want to work, thats all. I don't care if it's USB 1.1 or 2.0 speeds. When I connected, it automatically detected and it said :"The device would perform better if it runs in USB 2.0". The auo play also came - which scanned the files inside the HDD but in the end it was not able to open.


infra_red_dude -
The blue led lights up, once I connect to the USB port of my PC. It's a portable HDD, so no external power required.

I brought the MacBook Pro sometime back, when I was in Dubai. Now I'm in Chennai and the lappy is in Texas. Will lay my hand in another 7-10 days or so.

[infra_red_dude]

Guys -
It's not working! I want to work, thats all. I don't care if it's USB 1.1 or 2.0 speeds. When I connected, it automatically detected and it said :"The device would perform better if it runs in USB 2.0". The auo play also came - which scanned the files inside the HDD but in the end it was not able to open.

Since its recognised, at least there is no problem on that front. What error does it give when it tries to open?

infra_red_dude -
The blue led lights up, once I connect to the USB port of my PC. It's a portable HDD, so no external power required.

Check the WD harddisk. Many models in the Passport series come with the option of an external power adaptor in case older computers are not able to supply enough power to it. Tho the power adaptor is not included in the package you can find a DC power connectors on the HDD.

I brought the MacBook Pro sometime back, when I was in Dubai. Now I'm in Chennai and the lappy is in Texas. Will lay my hand in another 7-10 days or so.

Oh thats cool. I thot you were still deciding on buying.

[The_Devil_Himself]

^^try connecting in other ports if you haven't tried yet.Make sure the connections are tight.
You can try any linux distro(use LIVECD) cos the hdd is detected but you are not able to access its content.

[infra_red_dude]

^^^ Yes, since its detected but not working on Windows, try on a Live CD Linux Distro.

[drgrudge]

Ok, got the screenies this time.

[img=http://img339.imageshack.us/img339/8246/16839686qb1.jpg]






So you can see what I meant.
Here's the sequence of events:

1. It tells the device can perform better.
2. when I click that ballon, then the 2nd screenshot opens up.
3. Then, we get the auto run window.
4. Gives error as USB not recogonised.


The thing is the Optical drives are also not working and they aren't connected to the mobo. I really wanted to install Linux as running XP in this system makes it even slow.

[The_Devil_Himself]

1.This is normal.It tell that the port is USB1.1 and your HDD is usb2.0.
2.where is that second screenshot?
3.It means even the content are recognised.
4.I don't think there should be any error.

The same thing used to happen to me in case of my mobile phone's MMC...the card was recognised with the same warning(1) but was not accessible and was not shown in my computer.But my problem was solved by just using another USB port(my mobo has 6 in total).I guess there are different types of USB ports or some of them are damaged.

try using a pendrive...If it works perfectly then most probably as Infra red dude told it may be due to the fact that USb1.1. port is unable to supply enough power to the HDD.

Don't purchase any usb2.0 PCI they wont be of any help IMO.

Time to get a new motherboard grudgy.

[drgrudge]

^^
The second screenshot is the 2nd image here. The one after the image link. The 4th error that I mentioned:
http://img339.imageshack.us/img339/8246/16839686qb1.jpg


I remember that my broher was telling Pen Drives was working fine. I got to try that as well.

One more thing that I forgot to type was all this happened in one of the 2 USB slots only. When I tried in the other slot, the Blue light was glowing darker n then lighter, ie bright and dim alternatively. I think what infra_red_dude said might be the case. It's not driving enough power. Now how to do I rectify this?

[The_Devil_Himself]

then its clear buddy...Hdd is not able to derive enough power from the port as neither the port(pendrive working fine) is faulty nor the HDD(works on your macbook).

I think what infra_red_dude said might be the case. It's not driving enough power. Now how to do I rectify this?

I dunno how to rectify that.Let someone else help you here(ask Infra or choto cheeta).



wait you can try this:You said pendrive works fine...get hold of a pendrive....download DSL(damn small linux) or any other small linux distro(there are millions)....make a pendrive bootable with the ISO's....Install linux and then check whether HDD works or not.....if it not then its surely the power problem.

[infra_red_dude]

Ashwin, did you check for any additional connectors on you WD hard disk for extra power? It most prolly is a problem with insufficient power.

Some of the external hard disks come with a dual headed usb A cable. One to transfer data and another one to suck in more power. But afaik, WD doesn't bundle such a cable. So see if you can somehow get hold of that cable and/or an external power adaptor for your external WD HDD (if it supports). Getting a USB 2.0 may be of some help.

To confirm if its the problem of insufficient power do this: Get hold of an external HDD which is a laptop HDD enclosed in a case (mebbe from your frenz). Ensure that its connector has dual head (i.e. there are 2 USB connectors on the cable to be connected to you system). Plug in only of them to the USB port, see if this problem can be replicated. If yes, then plug in the other one too and see if it solves the problem.

[ashnik]

is it a laptop HDD? then u might require to attach one more usb cable to it for power supply. Older PCs don't provide enough power through single usb port.
It is same with transcend storeJet 2.5 usb cases...

[infra_red_dude]

^^^ thats a moulded WD external HDD. I don't think it comes with a dual head USB connector.

[drgrudge]

Guys,
I've decided to d/l DSL and see what happens. I got confused with the number of things that were in list... can anyone please point out the URL I need to leech? Also I've never used Linux b4, so support and guide me as how to go about.

infra_red_dude -
I don't think anyone will have the Lappy HDD casing + lappy HDD. WD has only USB connectivity.

The_Devil_Himself-
I still don't have MacBook with me. Even if I did, I want this to work with my PC. I didn't try the WD in MacBook, it was a Dell 6400.

ashnik -
It's not a lappy HDD. It comes as a complete package.

Let's see what happens. I'll get the pen drive and distro tomorrow and test it.

[The_Devil_Himself]

I've decided to d/l DSL and see what happens. I got confused with the number of things that were in list... can anyone please point out the URL I need to leech? Also I've never used Linux b4, so support and guide me as how to go about.

Download DSL from here:http://damnsmalllinux.org/download.html

and use this guide to make a bootable pendrive:

SB Damn Small Linux (DSL) This is a revisit of the Windows DSL USB installation tutorial: "Putting damn small linux on a USB pendrive". Damn Small Linux was created by John Andrews of damnsmalllinux.org and is basically a trimmed down version of Knoppix, making it perfect for smaller drives. Based on the 2.4 kernel, DSL is great to use for older and slower computers as well. It will fit and run on portable devices or drives as small as 64MB.


Basic essentials:

* A 64MB or larger USB flash drive
* HP-USB Format tool (optional)
* 7-Zip (or another extracting utility)
* Syslinux
* dsl-embedded.zip

Damn Small Linux USB install tutorial:

1. Download the HP-USB Format tool and format your flash drive using the Fat or Fat32 option
2. Download the dsl-embedded.zip and extract the contents using 7-Zip to your "USB flash drive"
3. Download syslinux-3.36.zip and unzip the files to a directory called syslinux on your computer
4. From Windows click start-> run-> cmd
5. From the command window, type cd \syslinux\win32
6. Type syslinux.exe -ma X: (replace X with your USB drive letter) to make the drive bootable
7. Reboot your computer and set your system BIOS to boot from USB-ZIP or USB-HDD. You might also need to set the hard disk boot priority to boot from the USB stick if your BIOS lists the device as a hard drive.

Notes: It is possible to "boot DSL using Qemu emulation" without the need to reboot the PC. See the included readme file that was written by the authors of DSL

If you still can't get DSL to work, you can try this full installation tutorial direct from the DSL wiki
SOURCE

Also I've never used Linux b4, so support and guide me as how to go about.

There are many linux gurus to help you.don't worry.

The_Devil_Himself-
I still don't have MacBook with me. Even if I did, I want this to work with my PC. I didn't try the WD in MacBook, it was a Dell 6400.

whatever dude it means the HD is perfectly alright.

BTW please do ask infra_red_dude about the distro which will suit your purpose the best.I recommended DSL because it is small and hence quick to download.


One more thing:you can find out how much power a usb port is delivering to any device connected to it.

go to the device manager in windows system properties then open the usb properties for the usb root hub in question then properties then power. It shows the power consumption of the device.

You can compare this to the power requirements of HDD.Hope this helps.

[s18000rpm]

my bro's laptop also showed similar msg whenevr i connected the Transcend Pen Drive.

i tried to update when net was conected, it failed, then today i tried when net was not connected, & i dunno how but it got updated to USB 2.0 (some file from C: Windows/System... got installed).


------
d/l CPU-Z & run it, goto to "Mainboard" tab to find out mobo model.

http://www.cpuid.com/download/cpu-z-141.zip

[drgrudge]

The_Devil_Himself -
Thanks a lot for the support. I don't have the resource to do the thing today. I'll get hold of a pen drive and leech some mini-distro (DSL or anything better) tomorrow. I'll post here on the updates.

Regarading the power to the USB posts, I have two ports - as shown in the image below:



And now when I see the properties of the 2nd item in the above screeny, I get the following thing:


and I was not able to see the power tab for the first item (the one with the Intel thing). I don't know which of the USB slot is named thus (ie, which is the Intel one and which is the Root Hub one). FYI, when I connect the WD to one of the USB slot, the light dims and brights alternatively - meaning that the power is not sufficient.


s18000rpm -
Hope something like that happnes to my PC as well. No use to find out which mobo I got, this is a old PC and as ppl point out it wont support 2.0 for sure. I just want his to work, thats it.

[NucleusKore]

Windows is sometimes known to mess up mounting of the external hard disks. Although both pen drives and external casing use USB Mass Storage Device Driver, somehow only hard disk mounting gets messed up. I hope you have set the external hard disk to master. If not do that and try.
Windows!!!
However, I usually work around the problem by using a Xubuntu cd (because its light). Just boot from it with the casing plugged into your system, you'll see your drive right there on the desktop or when you open HOME. Offcourse, I would not know what to do if you were to want to write to NTFS partitions

[infra_red_dude]

^^^ Yeah, don't take the trouble of installing DSL. Just use any Live CD. Most will automatically mount the external HDD. That way you can eliminate the windows drivers' problems.

[The_Devil_Himself]

^^ird you missed this:

The thing is the Optical drives are also not working and they aren't connected to the mobo. I really wanted to install Linux as running XP in this system makes it even slow.

he has no optical device connected to this PC.so livecd is outta question.

What he can do is download either DSL(its small) or any other 700mb complete regular distro(like ubuntu) and make a bootable pendrive.

[infra_red_dude]

^^^ Oh ok. Yeah, I missed that point!

[ax3]

bt my addon usb card detects my external hdd ....... got it 4 550rs .......

now i can connect all my usb devices ........ although my machine is 2 old, i dont have any problems ........

[drgrudge]

^^
What's this add on USB drive? If that's what it take to make my WD work, I can invest on that as well. If driving power is the problem, then will this work?


Optical drive is a problem, but I think my CD ROM drive should work even though it's not connected to the mobo. Got to check that one now. I'm waiting for unlimited net connection (gave the request letter today and the people there say by tomorrow I should have UL connection) ... presently on Home 250 which s*cks bigtime.

[infra_red_dude]

The same USB 2.0 addon PCI card I was mentioned about. You can invest in that. No harm in doing that. At least the data transfer via flash drives will be faster for sure!