is it posible to 'update' from USB 1 to USB2 on old Latitude laptop

Question

I have an old Latitude C800 laptop which is a racehorse, great machine. Just found out the ports are USB 1 when I bought an all-in-one printer-scanner. HP did a great job looking at things, found my USB was ver 1, not good enough for the scanner funstion though the printer part works fine. They said to contact Dell to see if an 'update' either software or hardware exists. Maybe chipset update that is not painful. Dell has been no help AT ALL since out of warranty, even though I offer to pay. Can anyone give my advice? Must I just live without the scanner? Can I buy a USB 2.0 cardbus and stick it in the side (cheap at $20) and expect the port to now be 2.0, or are the innards of the machine still ver 1 and that is not a fix.  I would like to know if any solution, or if I am just wasting my time. Thanks!

Hydralisk00222 · Answer

USB 2.0 PCMCIA card might do the trick.

dg1261 · Answer

Can I buy a USB 2.0 cardbus and stick it in the side (cheap at $20) and expect the port to now be 2.0 Yes. There's no easy or cheap way to upgrade the built-in USB port, but the PCMCIA solution works perfectly fine. (I use a D-Link DUB-C2 to connect external USB hard drives, a DVD burner, and assorted other USB devices to a couple C600's.)

rileykaty · Answer

Thanks. I went out to the local MicroCenter, bought what I thought was a comparabel thing http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml?product_id=0247187   But does not do anything. I contacted HP, they said that you cannot really 'upgrade' with a card, the thing that drives it is internal, not in the card itself. And that the 'chipset' is what must be changed. That it takes a lot of power etc to drive the scanner part, that is why I have a problem. That the crad I bought just gave me some extra ports, no real USB 2 ability for the scanner. Bummer.   But I now note that the product you recommend has some slightly different features. Does it really mean that a fully enabled USB 2 port is now available for the scanner, or does it just give you more USB ports available?   Your advice appreciated before I spend more money on this project

click2tman · Answer

Based on my experience with Pcs I don't think there is any update to make your USB ver 1 become Ver2. That actually has to do with the hardware. The laptop was built with a ver 1 meaning the bus speed is always going to be version one speed. the only way to change that is to upgrade the motherboard which simply means a new laptop. using a 2.0 USB hub will not archieve 2.0 speed either. the main bus in the laptop is running at ver 1 and therefore all USB will be version 1. On a desktop with PCI slots, you can put a 2.0 USB adapter to avoid the message that pops up when you plug a high speed USB device but internally, your computer will still be running at version 1 speed if it was originally made as version one. Let me know if you find any solution.

dg1261 · Answer

Sounds like you guys are being fed a line. What do they expect you to believe: that the data from the PCMCIA slot, which is directly connected to the motherboard bus, is for some reason being rerouted back through the onboard USB1 hardware, just so it can be re-fed back into the motherboard bus where it came from?

I don't know about the HP card, but I can guarantee you the D-Link PCMCIA card is not limited to USB1.1 speeds on my old C600.

I have measured throughput of 110 Mpbs transferring a large file between the laptop's hard drive and an external USB hard drive. I don't know if the PCMCIA card can reach USB2's theoretical limit of 480 Mpbs, but I have no doubt my test was at least affected by either the external drive I'm using or by the hard disk subsystem (ATA100, 4200 rpm) of my old C600. I'm also using XP's built-in driver instead of D-Link's, which may or may not make a difference. (Maybe I ought to try the D-Link driver sometime, though the XP driver seems to work adequately for me.)

At any rate, it's clearly not limited to USB1.1, which maxes out at 12 Mbps. I have absolutely no trouble using the D-Link with external drives, my external USB2 DVD writer, or my external USB2 Epson scanner.

Message Edited by dg1261 on 09-10-2007 08:13 PM

tsharar · Answer

dg1261 is correct. I've been using a generic CompUSA PCMCIA USB 2.0 card for over two years (on a C640) and like he says it may not top out at 480mbps but it sure as heck blows the doors off USB 1.1. I've never really benchmarked mine, but just by using my 4GB USB 2.0 thumb drive I can tell you the built-in USB port on the back is sooo painfully slow it just can't be used. But slap that baby on the two-port PCMCIA card & I'm rockin!! Also used an HP PSC2410. Good luck!

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