Mountaineer
New member
That's right . . . Universal Series Bus. I discovered the power of USB after purchasing a USB ready RolandED SC-8850. I had a computer with the standard 2 USB ports and was already using them both ( one for a printer the other for a USB flash card reader ). I was running my Scanner on the parallel port and occasionally would unplug one device to use my USB speaker system, but it wasn't until I got the Roland that I decided to expand my USB system.
If you're running a system like mine . . . multiple soundcards, modem, printer, scanner, etc . . . and you have USB on your computer, here's a tip. USE IT !
I use my computer for much more than just recording and with just 16 IRQ's available, PCI slot sharing and the like, there were constant nagging conflicts with devices during boots. I recently did a clean install of Windows98se and upgraded some peripherals to USB. What a difference!
For those who haven't jumped on the USB bandwagon yet, let me explain what it can do for you.
Your computer has just 16 IRQ's and of those 16, eleven ( almost 70%) are reserved for the use of standard computer devices and processes. Here's a typical Scenario:
IRQ's Device Priority
0 System Timer No sharing
1 Computer Keyboard No sharing
2 Program Interrupt controller No sharing
3 Open Can share
4 Communications Port ( serial port ) No sharing
5 Open Can share
6 Floppy disk controller No sharing
7 Video Graphics Card No sharing
8 System CMOS/real time clock No sharing
9 USB Host Controller Can share
10 Open Can share
11 Open Can share
12 PS/2 mouse No sharing
13 Numeric Data Processor No sharing
14 Primary IDE controller & PCI bus No sharing
15 Secondary IDE controller & PCI bus No sharing
So, If you've got three soundcards, a modem, a printer, a scanner, etc . . , they are all fighting for priority on those five remaining IRQ's. Oh sure, the computer allows devices to share IRQ's, but the devices aren't always so cooperative. For instance, my Gadget Labs card drivers wouldn't load unless PCI steering found it a solitary IRQ. It likes to operate alone. Unfortunately, Windows doesn't let you assign solitary IRQ's unless it is an ISA slot device, so every boot was a crap shoot. What this meant for me is that 50% of the time when booting, my Gadget Labs card was involuntarily disabled. It wasn't a big deal because most boots were non-recording related. Still, I wanted to fix these issues once and for all. For those of you having good luck with Windows ME and Windows 2000, congratulations and, Sorry, there is NO USB support with Windows NT. For my system and devices, none of these other O/S supported several of my main components or software and wasn't even an option. In talking to my brother's-in-law ( both computer programmers by trade), Windows98se is the most stable and versatile ( driver support, bug free) O/S available. Yeah, I know, some of you rave about WIN2000 being stable, but tell that to my brother-in-law and he'll laugh in your face. It might work for you and that's great, but for someone with a lot of peripherals and different softwares, WIN2000 is a drag. WindowsME, in my opinion is a bad JOKE. Everyone using it ( and there are millions of you ) are doing nothing more than Beta testing for Bill Gates . . . But, I digress.
So, how did I fix my problems. That's right ... USB!! I invested $60 into a seven port USB hub, and $40 into a wireless USB mouse and $35 into a serial-USB converter. What did this do? It basically allowed me to free up three IRQ's for use by other devices, by disabling my PS/2 mouse, my serial port and my LPT port. That's a 60% increase in available IRQ's !! Now each device has it's own IRQ and I still have one that isn't even being used. It also gave me additonal USB ports to run my scanner, USB speakers, and most importantly the SC-8850 !
I'm now running six devices on USB without a hitch, and what's more I can add multiple hubs for more devices as needed.
Installing a Hub is easy, for the most part. Windows98se has the drivers, but doesn't always find them on install. The INF files for the install are hidden within the WINDOWS / INF / INFBACK folder. Once recognized and drivers loaded, Windows knows exactly how may ports are available and what is connected to each port. Here is a little advice if you are inclined to increase your USB usage.
1) Buy a USB hub that has it's own power supply ( 500 mA per port ). This way, you can be assured that your scanner, printer, etc has the same power as the two main USB ports on your computer. Self powered hubs are available and have their place, but they are limited to low powered devices. You are restricted in the devices you can plug into them.
2) Make sure the hub has per-port over-current protection. If one device has a problem, your entire hub won't become disabled.
3) If you have trouble with Windows recognizing or loading drivers, don't follow cheesy directions you see on the web telling you to remove devices within device manager so Windows will again look for and load drivers. IT WON'T WORK ! This is especially important where the main USB Host Controller is concerned! Never remove it . . . NEVER! If Windows sees the hub as "other device" with an exclamation point, it means the drivers weren't found. You need to go to device manager and update the driver by steering Windows to the "C:\Windows\Inf\Infback " folder.
4 ) Lastly, install the hub alone ( nothing attached ). Once recognized by Windows, then, one at a time, plug in your USB devices. This way, if Windows doesn't recognize the device, you know what it is and where to tell windows to go for drivers and firmware. Once everything is loaded, it doesn't matter what port or what hub for that matter the device is plugged into.
I hope this lengthy discussion helps some of you. I know I learned a lot about USB during the last week. My system is operating flawlessly now and this Logitech wireless mouse is great!! Put USB to work for you . . . Free up some IRQ's for the important stuff ! You won't regret it.
Regards,
PAPicker
If you're running a system like mine . . . multiple soundcards, modem, printer, scanner, etc . . . and you have USB on your computer, here's a tip. USE IT !
I use my computer for much more than just recording and with just 16 IRQ's available, PCI slot sharing and the like, there were constant nagging conflicts with devices during boots. I recently did a clean install of Windows98se and upgraded some peripherals to USB. What a difference!
For those who haven't jumped on the USB bandwagon yet, let me explain what it can do for you.
Your computer has just 16 IRQ's and of those 16, eleven ( almost 70%) are reserved for the use of standard computer devices and processes. Here's a typical Scenario:
IRQ's Device Priority
0 System Timer No sharing
1 Computer Keyboard No sharing
2 Program Interrupt controller No sharing
3 Open Can share
4 Communications Port ( serial port ) No sharing
5 Open Can share
6 Floppy disk controller No sharing
7 Video Graphics Card No sharing
8 System CMOS/real time clock No sharing
9 USB Host Controller Can share
10 Open Can share
11 Open Can share
12 PS/2 mouse No sharing
13 Numeric Data Processor No sharing
14 Primary IDE controller & PCI bus No sharing
15 Secondary IDE controller & PCI bus No sharing
So, If you've got three soundcards, a modem, a printer, a scanner, etc . . , they are all fighting for priority on those five remaining IRQ's. Oh sure, the computer allows devices to share IRQ's, but the devices aren't always so cooperative. For instance, my Gadget Labs card drivers wouldn't load unless PCI steering found it a solitary IRQ. It likes to operate alone. Unfortunately, Windows doesn't let you assign solitary IRQ's unless it is an ISA slot device, so every boot was a crap shoot. What this meant for me is that 50% of the time when booting, my Gadget Labs card was involuntarily disabled. It wasn't a big deal because most boots were non-recording related. Still, I wanted to fix these issues once and for all. For those of you having good luck with Windows ME and Windows 2000, congratulations and, Sorry, there is NO USB support with Windows NT. For my system and devices, none of these other O/S supported several of my main components or software and wasn't even an option. In talking to my brother's-in-law ( both computer programmers by trade), Windows98se is the most stable and versatile ( driver support, bug free) O/S available. Yeah, I know, some of you rave about WIN2000 being stable, but tell that to my brother-in-law and he'll laugh in your face. It might work for you and that's great, but for someone with a lot of peripherals and different softwares, WIN2000 is a drag. WindowsME, in my opinion is a bad JOKE. Everyone using it ( and there are millions of you ) are doing nothing more than Beta testing for Bill Gates . . . But, I digress.
So, how did I fix my problems. That's right ... USB!! I invested $60 into a seven port USB hub, and $40 into a wireless USB mouse and $35 into a serial-USB converter. What did this do? It basically allowed me to free up three IRQ's for use by other devices, by disabling my PS/2 mouse, my serial port and my LPT port. That's a 60% increase in available IRQ's !! Now each device has it's own IRQ and I still have one that isn't even being used. It also gave me additonal USB ports to run my scanner, USB speakers, and most importantly the SC-8850 !
I'm now running six devices on USB without a hitch, and what's more I can add multiple hubs for more devices as needed.
Installing a Hub is easy, for the most part. Windows98se has the drivers, but doesn't always find them on install. The INF files for the install are hidden within the WINDOWS / INF / INFBACK folder. Once recognized and drivers loaded, Windows knows exactly how may ports are available and what is connected to each port. Here is a little advice if you are inclined to increase your USB usage.
1) Buy a USB hub that has it's own power supply ( 500 mA per port ). This way, you can be assured that your scanner, printer, etc has the same power as the two main USB ports on your computer. Self powered hubs are available and have their place, but they are limited to low powered devices. You are restricted in the devices you can plug into them.
2) Make sure the hub has per-port over-current protection. If one device has a problem, your entire hub won't become disabled.
3) If you have trouble with Windows recognizing or loading drivers, don't follow cheesy directions you see on the web telling you to remove devices within device manager so Windows will again look for and load drivers. IT WON'T WORK ! This is especially important where the main USB Host Controller is concerned! Never remove it . . . NEVER! If Windows sees the hub as "other device" with an exclamation point, it means the drivers weren't found. You need to go to device manager and update the driver by steering Windows to the "C:\Windows\Inf\Infback " folder.
4 ) Lastly, install the hub alone ( nothing attached ). Once recognized by Windows, then, one at a time, plug in your USB devices. This way, if Windows doesn't recognize the device, you know what it is and where to tell windows to go for drivers and firmware. Once everything is loaded, it doesn't matter what port or what hub for that matter the device is plugged into.
I hope this lengthy discussion helps some of you. I know I learned a lot about USB during the last week. My system is operating flawlessly now and this Logitech wireless mouse is great!! Put USB to work for you . . . Free up some IRQ's for the important stuff ! You won't regret it.
Regards,
PAPicker
