Any USB 2.0 PCI card supported by C/Dock II?

It seems like alot of people have had problems with USB pci cards in their C/Dock II Expansion Stations, so I'll share my experiences with everyone to hopefully help out someone.

I have a Dell Latitude C600 with a A23 bios running Windows XP with SP2 and latest Dell OS updates with a C/Dock II expansion station.

At first a bought a generic USB pci card that had a VIA 6212L chipset and I had similar problems to what other users have had: Windows would recognise the usb card and load the drivers fine, but when I went to use the ports, XP would say "Device not recognised, blah, blah, blah".

I drove myself nuts for a few hours trying to figure out the problem, and at one stage I got an MP3 player working through the ports for a short amount of time, so I then thought that it might be the chipset not working with the station properly.

So after a little while of testing out different USB pci cards with my docking station and laptop in various pc stores, I found one that worked beautifully.

It was this card: http://www.swann.com.au/show_item.php?item=17

Its a 4+1 card with an NEC D720100AGM chipset.

So I've come to the conclusion that the C/Dock is a little picky about the chipset's in pci cards, and that the VIA 6212L Chipset definitely doesn't work from my experiences.

So what I'd suggest is:

1. Try to find a USB pci card with an NEC D720100AGM chipset.

2. Even better, take your laptop and docking station (with a USB 2.0 device and maybe a screwdriver) around to pc stores and test it in the stores. If the store won't do it, they're not worthy of your business, so just find one that will test it out.
(P.S. You'll find with a little bit of flattery and kindness, most salespeople will jump over themselves to help you).

If you happen to find another USB pci card with a different chipset that works beautifully, please post back what the chipset is, so other people can too enjoy the pleasures of DVD burning in 8mins!

(P.S. I'm still getting the message at startup that says "Strike the F1 key to continue, F2 to run the setup utility" after the card was installed, but I'm pretty sure that it has something to do with the profiles, so I'll fix it up when I get time and post the results).

(P.P.S. Moderators, I'm going to post this same post in similar threads to help out the greatest amount of people, I hope this isn't against the rules, and if it is, I hope you'll allow it in the interest of community).

Well,  I don't have access to a C6x0 system to test with,  but my C800 and C840 systems both boot and work great with a C-Dock II and a Belkin 5 Port (4 + 1) PCI USB2 card.  According to the silk-screen it is "F5U220 PCI REV:3".  This card has the NEC D720101GJ chip on it,  and it does not give me the "F1" at startup problem you describe.  I also have a Belkin 3 port Firewire card in the second slot of my C-Dock II and it also works like a champ for me.

drat. i've got the same thing here too... c600 with c/dock II. my generic card won't work. i dont like the troubles this device gives me =)

firewire didn't trouble me at all, just plugged in and had a good time.

i get a pcmcia usb 2.0 right away...

Hi, I'm suffering the same problem. Latitude C600 A23 Win XP Pro SP2/CDockII.

I have tried two different USB2 cards in the Dock. I always get the "Strike the F1 key to continue, F2 to run the setup utility" message.

The first card, an EIO DM-8007 with the VIA VT6202 chip appears to load OK but as soon as I plug a device into one of the ports the whole system freezes and I have to carry out a power off re-boot. If I have a device connected to one of the USB2 ports during boot, the system hangs at sometime, but not always at the same point, during the boot.

Message Edited by philglyde on 04-25-2005 01:03 PM

Yea, philglyde, that response from Dell was pretty useless. To be honest with you, I believe most of the people at the indian call centre/s are basically phone monkeys and have no technical knowledge of their own.

I think this whole problem could probably be resolved by a BIOS firmware upgrade, the last one over 2 years ago, so its about time.

I'm going to try playing through the bios settings to see if I can get this problem to go away, but I think only a bios upgrade will do it.

In the meantime, I'll try to contact someone at Dell that actually has some idea, or can pass it on, about a new BIOS firmware revision being needed for the C600.

P.S. I wonder if the C6000 motherboard can be cross flashed with a different Bios from another model?(that has the same motherboard, of course) That could solve the problem too.

I'll look into it and post back any info I have.

Message Edited by TRHR on 04-27-2005 03:57 AM

Hi, Thanks for the reply.

The next Dell suggestion, that would "definitely fix the problem" was to update the BIOS. It ignored the fact that in my first support request I said that I had already taken the BIOS to A23, which I believe is the latest for the C600. I asked Dell to look at a BIOS update to resolve the problem.

We shall wait and see!!!

Message Edited by philglyde on 04-26-2005 01:54 PM