USB 2.0 bandwidth issues

Question

Hi there. I have an M4300. I purchased an external USB 2.0 audio device (E-MU 0404 USB). I keep getting sound distortion from it.

From browsing for solutions online, from a device point of view, the problem sounds like (no pun intended) USB bandwidth.

I've installed all Windows (XP SP2) updates, my BIOS is at revision 05, I can see no other pertinent updates from the Dell support web site, and this is the only USB device on the laptop. I've tried the device in all of the USB ports on the laptop, but the sound distortion problem is easy to reproduce, and the symptoms are the same as bandwidth starvation.

So, I was wondering if anyone knows about any USB 2.0 issues with the M4300.

weschrist · Answer

Not sure if this is the same issue, but all the USB ports on my Inspiron 1720 were functioning as USB1.0 with XP. Apparently I missed the order that the drivers are supposed to be installed... which are cryptically hidden somewhere that is NOT on the driver download page... if it was easy it would be called snowboarding. The Chipset drivers should be installed before anything, followed by the video, something else, then the rest... or something like that.

Anyway, instead of reinstalling XP and all my software for the 5th time, I uninstalled the Intel (chipset) drivers for the USB ports AND (this was the key) Intel drivers under "System Devices." I didn't really know what they were, and I didn't care... either it worked or I was doing a full reinstall...

I just transfered 1.4 GB in 100 seconds, so if my calculations are right, that is 14MBps, which is certainly 2.0 and not 1.0... right?

So, there's my experience... hopefully one of my last with DELL.

bLanark · Answer

Hi there.

How do you know they were only working at USB 1?

In device manager, nearly all of my usb devices are listed as "USB" not USB2. I see
"Intel(R) ICH Family USB Universal Host Controller - 2830" a few times, then two "Intel(R) ICH Family USB2 Universal Host Controller - 2830"

Does this mean I have some USB and some USB2 ports?

Just out of interest, what file sizes and timestamps do you have for the drivers, in c:\windows\system32\drivers? This is what I have:

Directory of C:\WINDOWS\system32\drivers

10/06/2006 05:17 830 emusba10.dat
20/09/2007 13:02 163,096 emusba10.sys
17/08/2001 14:02 9,600 hidusb.sys
04/08/2004 10:00 12,672 usb8023.sys
04/08/2004 10:00 23,808 usbcamd.sys
04/08/2004 10:00 23,936 usbcamd2.sys
03/08/2004 23:08 31,616 usbccgp.sys
04/08/2004 10:00 4,736 usbd.sys
25/10/2005 23:39 27,264 usbehci.sys
21/02/2006 03:39 58,240 usbhub.sys
04/08/2004 10:00 16,000 usbintel.sys
25/10/2005 23:39 143,104 usbport.sys
03/08/2004 23:08 26,496 USBSTOR.SYS
03/08/2004 23:08 20,480 usbuhci.sys
28/01/2005 13:44 18,944 wpdusb.sys
04/09/2007 10:37 16,768 ymidusb.sys
16 File(s) 597,590 bytes
0 Dir(s) 28,984,934,400 bytes free

bLanark · Answer

You were right on the money, there. I went to http://www.usb.org/developers/tools/ where they have a stack of developers tools for testing USB devices for compatibility. The first tool, a USB command verifier, uses its own USB stack, and, as soon as it switched, I got the familiar 'USB 2.0 device plugged into a USB 1 port' message that I'd seen on older PCs Still not fixed it, but at least I have something to aim to eliminate, and an easy way to test it. Off to download/install the drivers in the correct order and retry :-) Thanks!

Locked Topics – Laptops General

USB 2.0 bandwidth issues

Was this post helpful?