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Mike Pither · Dec 19, 2004, 04:54 PM

I have bought a DVD burner for my girlfriend for Xmas which she wanted but now I have a doubt. She has a windows pc (it's about 18months old) and the burner I bought is USB2 only. How can I tell if her pc has usb2 ports or not without asking her, they look the same as usb1s don't they????

Ps I bought her some perfume and other things as well!

Peter · Dec 19, 2004, 04:56 PM

it will work over USB1 too.
Jeez a dvd burner for a xmas present, you're totally getting laid on xmas day.

Spliffdaddy · Dec 19, 2004, 05:05 PM

Any idea what kind of peecee she has? 18 months ago not a lot of them had USB2, but some did.

Worst case, you'll need to get a PCI expansion card to add USB2. These cards are very inexpensive.

tooki · Dec 19, 2004, 05:17 PM

You are correct that there's no difference in the port shape. You could figure it out by looking at the Windows hardware manager (or whatever it's called). If, under USB, you only see "OHCI", then it's only USB 1.1. If you also see some called "EHCI", then she has USB 2. Also, if she's running Windows XP, it will tell you if you plug a USB 2 device into a USB 1.1 port with a little popup window.

Regardless, 18 months ago almost all PCs had USB 2 ports. (It was Macs that lacked them at the time. 18 months ago is when the G5 came out, as the first Mac with USB 2.)

The worst that can happen is that you find out she has only USB 1.1 ports and you have to spend another $30 getting her a USB 2 card. But I doubt you'll need to.

tooki

Mike Pither · Dec 19, 2004, 05:18 PM

It's a compaq but is there no way to checking in the control panel or somewhere to identify what sort of usb ports they are? I guess if I can't be 100% sure I could try and take it back to the shop. I seem to remember that they also had some which were dual usb2 and Firewire.

tooki · Dec 19, 2004, 05:20 PM

In my post above I tell you how to identify the ports.

tooki

Spliffdaddy · Dec 19, 2004, 05:25 PM

My Computer/Control Panel/System/Hardware tab/Device Manager button/

then scroll down to 'Universal Serial Bus Controllers' and click to expand the tree. While it may not say "USB2", there should be enough clues to determine what it is.

If you know the model number of the Compaq peecee - or the processor type - it's probably real easy to find the specs online.

Spliffdaddy · Dec 19, 2004, 05:35 PM

PS, if the peecee is running Win2000 it needs to have Service Pack 4 installed in order to have proper USB2 support. WindowsXP requires Service Pack 1 for proper USB2 function.

My point is, even if you have the 'USB2' hardware - it's operating as USB1 until the proper software support is available (Service Packs & drivers).

Cadaver · Dec 19, 2004, 08:37 PM

Originally posted by Mike Pither:
I seem to remember that they also had some which were dual usb2 and Firewire.

She's far more likely to have USB2 in her PC than firewire.

Eug Wanker · Dec 19, 2004, 11:34 PM

Originally posted by Peter:
it will work over USB1 too.

I doubt it, unless it's at 0.5X or something.

Jeez a dvd burner for a xmas present, you're totally getting laid on xmas day.

Maybe, if she's a pencil-necked computer geek.

Agasthya · Dec 20, 2004, 02:00 AM

Originally posted by Peter:
it will work over USB1 too.
Jeez a dvd burner for a xmas present, you're totally getting laid on xmas day.

Well now she can film the festivities with the DV cam and burn DVDs and send it out to family and friends

Lancer409 · Dec 20, 2004, 05:01 AM

Originally posted by Peter:
it will work over USB1 too.
Jeez a dvd burner for a xmas present, you're totally getting laid on xmas day.

if he does, he can record it and she will be able to burn him a copy on dvd =)

residentEvil · Dec 20, 2004, 03:40 PM

Originally posted by Eug Wanker:
I doubt it, unless it's at 0.5X or something.

Maybe, if she's a pencil-necked computer geek.

Yup, plugging a 2.0 device (hard drive in my case at work) into a machine with a 1.1 bus simply makes the device run at the slower speed. Obviously, you aren't getting the full benefit, but it works just fine. No need to run out and buy a PCI USB 2.0 card unless you have to have it run at the higher bus speed.

Eug Wanker · Dec 20, 2004, 03:46 PM

Originally posted by residentEvil:
Yup, plugging a 2.0 device (hard drive in my case at work) into a machine with a 1.1 bus simply makes the device run at the slower speed. Obviously, you aren't getting the full benefit, but it works just fine. No need to run out and buy a PCI USB 2.0 card unless you have to have it run at the higher bus speed.

Yeah, but I don't think I've seen DVD burner software or a burner with a 0.5X burn setting. Maybe 1X, but that's already pushing it with USB 1.1. Furthermore, it'd take 4 friggin' hours to burn and verify a DVD at 0.5X.

ie. Spend the $20 on a USB 2 card if she doesn't already have a USB 2 port.

Mike Pither · Dec 20, 2004, 04:40 PM

Originally posted by tooki:
In my post above I tell you how to identify the ports.

tooki

Thanks I think I started typing mine before yours was posted and so I didn't see it.

Cadaver I know it's strange but the PC really does have a firewire port! Unfortunately the shop which had the firewire/usb2 dual drive has now sold out of them and so I will have to hope that the usb2 is ok or else I will be installing a usb2 card on boxing day!

Spliffdaddy · Dec 20, 2004, 04:46 PM

If it has firewire, then it has USB2 - almost by default - since most 'manufactured' peecee use integrated chipsets that would certainly have incorporated USB2 if it already had Firewire.

residentEvil · Dec 20, 2004, 05:17 PM

Originally posted by Spliffdaddy:
If it has firewire, then it has USB2 - almost by default - since most 'manufactured' peecee use integrated chipsets that would certainly have incorporated USB2 if it already had Firewire.

Not to beat a dead horse, but we have dozens of compaq workstations that have usb 1.1 and firewire, built in. SP700s mostly. I only mention it as it is a compaq and that is the pc in question.

Spliffdaddy · Dec 20, 2004, 05:26 PM

ack.

disregard my opinion, then.

Intel has a *lot* of integrated chipsets, anyhow.

Mike Pither · Dec 26, 2004, 04:02 PM

it has 2 firewire ports and 6 usb 1 ports

It's strange because in the manual which came with it it says 4 of the 6 usb ports should be usb2 but they are all usb1. Oh well down to the shops to buy a pci card!

ps it's got XP service pack 1 installed and no pop up window appeared warning me it was a usb 2 device that I was connecting to a usb1 port but the device manager shows all ports as ohcd ports. Incredibly it's not 18 months old as I thought but 14 months old. Must have been in stock somewhere a long time.