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usb 2.0 card bus card

I have a hp pavillion ze 4800 laptop. It has a 1.1 usb. I need a usb 2.0 to connect my wireless netgear adaptor so that it will give me better speed than 15mbs.

I bought a best connectivity pcmcia 2.0 card bus card. My computer recognized it and I loaded the included drivers from a disc
that was included with the bus card.

I stuck the card in with computer running. I tried putting a mouse connection in one of the usb ports and it worked fine. When I plugged my adaptor in, the computer locks up. When you remove the card, the computer goes back to working. If you plug the card in while the computer is off, the computer refuses to load until you remove the card.

My question is did I do something wrong, does the card not have enough resource to run the adaptor? The adaptor has a cable about 3 foot long that works fine, minus the speed I desire in my 1.1 usb. My cable is 100 mbs .I dont expect anything close to that speed, but something more than 15 would b nice.

I know its a cheap card, but it should work.

thanks
trimoxy
 
sounds like a conflict somewhere, the fact that it wont boot with it plugged in seems to suggest to me that the card it trying to grasp already allocated resources and your system isnt having any of it...

however lm assuming you still have USB ports correct? if you still have a free port USB 2 hardware will work on version 1 ports, albeit at a slower speed which to be honest you wont notice at all, USB 1 runs at 12Mbps and USB 2 runs at around 480Mbps so if its just basic browsing you are doing and you are not on a 10meg + connection you wont really notice anything at all.
 
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That lappy runs WinXP Home and timeless is probably correct, sounds like a hardware conflict and possibly an IRQ allocation issue. It depends on whether the hardware is being managed by your BIOS or the OS, there's usually an ACPI choice between the two (Note: I would not recommend changing this setting from whatever it's at now, the only time you can really risk changing it is prior to a fresh install. There are big pro's and con's to BIOS or OS managed hardware.).

"If you plug the card in while the computer is off, the computer refuses to load until you remove the card."
If by - refuses to load - you mean that after switching it on the BIOS either doesn't come up or it never even gets to the stage of loading Windows, then it sounds like a BIOS issue or perhaps your laptop has some sort of odd PCMCIA security lock-out. I've had problems like this with WinXP before and my solution is normally to take the card back and replace it with something different from another manufacturer.

Sometimes you can solve the problem yourself but it's not the sort of issue that would be easy to explain on a forum. I'd also try other PCMCIA cards in the same way, if you have any, just to double check and see whether it's not a general fault with the PCMCIA slot/port. In not knowing your system setup or BIOS it's hard to advise.
 
If you look in the BIOS and find the onboard USB settings, it may be possible to disable them, then see if Windows will load. I've seen conflicts between internal and external ports on laptops in the past, and some of the older HP lappies are well known for being stubborn.
 
thats a good point Mender, lve seen like you have where both the on board and external ports have fought for the same resources and then decided to fall over, tho that was on a couple of PCs, in all honesty it would be much easier if this were a PC lol..

still l dont suggest the poster of this thread touch the BIOS unless he knows what he is doing or is absolutly sure he wants to risk a fully working system for just USB2 support, especially considering he only wants to get online with wireless (and he isnt using one of those 10+meg connections) after all like l stated earlier, USB2 devices work on USB1 ports the only difference being the transfer speeds.
 
Can I just point out he initially put the card in with the PC switched on!!

He may have damaged either the card or the PCI slot!!

Cards should only be fitted into a bus slot with the PC switched off.

Suggestions,

Try a different PCI slot, if that fails try a new card, but install with the PC switched OFF!!
 
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Can I just point out he initially put the card in with the PC switched on!!

He may have damaged either the card or the PCI slot!!

Cards should only be fitted into a bus slot with the PC switched off.

Suggestions,

Try a different PCI slot, if that fails try a new card, but install with the PC switched OFF!!

No, it's not a PCI slot. It is a PCMCIA/cardbus slot on a laptop, and it is quite acceptable to plug/unplug stuff in a cardbus slot while the laptop is switched on. It is designed that way.
 
First, thank all of you for your input.

The first thing I did was try to put the card in the slot with the comp off. It never would load the bios. The card instructions told me it was safe to put it in after start up. Like I said before, it recognized the card. I then loaded the driver for the bus card. I checked the system for errors and it showed the card to be OK. I plugged the mouse cable in and it worked fine. As soon as I tried the wireless adapter,it froze up. The light on the adapter never came on.

My cable is only a meg, but my connection speed is only 12 to 15 mbps. My Computer in another room, a desktop with vista, runs around 55 mbps. It has the adapter that you plug into the back, similar to a ram board. I am normally in a different room from the router, less than 30 feet away. The router and adapter are both netgear rangemax, whch is the best range for that product at the time i bought it and is rated for up to 108 mbps.

Anyway, I suppose I am OK and I don't want to risk messing up what I have
now.

I was told by a co worker that even if it worked I might not see much difference, as some of you have also said.

The dealer told me it was probably the wrong card and that maybe xp pro just will not work with it.

So thanks again for your info and taking time to help a stranger. You are good folks!!!
 
I forgot to mention that I do have a couple 1.1 usb slots . I use one slot for the adapter and the other has a usb hub with a mouse and a card reader plugged in. It works fine, minus the less than desired speed.

WHen I tried the card previously, the 1.1 worked fine with the card in. It was only when I tried to put the adapter in the card that it did not work.

Anyway, the card is in the box it came in, maybe I can trade it for something else one of these days.

Thanks again, Tim
 
so the issue only happens when the wireless adapter is plugged in? and the booting issue also only happens when the adapter is plugged in? if so it could still link into the possibility l stated but at the same time it maybe much more of an issue to work out, tho l dont believe you answered one question.

when you had booting issues with the card in, did it get past the bios screen (the init screen before the windows loading one) or did it just freeze as windows was trying to load.
 
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Apologies, I was skimming rather than reading and missed the fact it was a laptop.

It could be that the card draws more power than the bus can supply, or it could be that the install messed up.
Try removing all the drivers that were installed and then installing manually, checking that the correct ones are used; often the install dick comes with several different models worth of drivers on each disk, it could be they were labeled in the .ini file incorrectly and that is why there is a problem (had this a few years ago).

Am I right in thinking there are several different types of cardbus?? Have you bought the right one for the laptop.

Finally, it could still be a faulty card, can you try it in another laptop??
 
Last edited:
PCMCIA is a 16 bit bus @ 8mhz, while Cardbus is 32 bit @ 33mhz. Any cardbus device will (in theory) work on any cardbus slot, but not on a PCMCIA slot. Any PCMCIA device will work on any PCMCIA slot, and should work on any cardbus slot.

Laptops with PCMCIA slots normally have two slots to support two PCMCIA devices, but if the laptop has cardbus, there is normally only a single slot.

A more comprehensive explanation can be found here.
 
Apologies, I was skimming rather than reading and missed the fact it was a laptop.

It could be that the card draws more power than the bus can supply, or it could be that the install messed up.
Try removing all the drivers that were installed and then installing manually, checking that the correct ones are used; often the install dick comes with several different models worth of drivers on each disk, it could be they were labeled in the .ini file incorrectly and that is why there is a problem (had this a few years ago).

Am I right in thinking there are several different types of cardbus?? Have you bought the right one for the laptop.

Finally, it could still be a faulty card, can you try it in another laptop??

unlikely, power drain would not stop a laptop booting.. lm still interested in where exactly the bootup stalls when the card is inserted, if it crashes while on the bios init its likely to be hardware related and may indicate that either bios settings need to change, or if it starts stalling while windows is loading/booting up then its entirely possible the problem is driver related.. its possible that the driver maybe corrupted in some way or even a OS level problem...
 
so the issue only happens when the wireless adapter is plugged in? and the booting issue also only happens when the adapter is plugged in? if so it could still link into the possibility l stated but at the same time it maybe much more of an issue to work out, tho l dont believe you answered one question.

when you had booting issues with the card in, did it get past the bios screen (the init screen before the windows loading one) or did it just freeze as windows was trying to load.

Timeless,

If I plug it into the card bus, I then turn on the computer. The bios never starts.Its like the screen comes on, a cursor-flasher appears, then nothing. If I remove the card, the bios resumes and then windows loads.

After windows fully loads, I plug in the card. There is an audible and visual alarm stating the device is acknowledged and working well.

I can then do whatever I want, there is no change that I can tell. I checked the msconfig and it showed 0 problems. I then tried a mouse into one of the two usb ports on the card. Everything went well,the mouse curser
-pointer worked fine.

I plug the adapter into the other port, it locks up. When I tried to remove it, the computer has to restart and run through its file check. At this time, everything runs OK with the adapter on the 1.1 usb. I was just hoping for a little bit more out of the card, greedy that I am.

To me it seems as though it cant handle the additional data input necessary for the adapter. Maybe I am way off base here.
 
Apologies, I was skimming rather than reading and missed the fact it was a laptop.

It could be that the card draws more power than the bus can supply, or it could be that the install messed up.
Try removing all the drivers that were installed and then installing manually, checking that the correct ones are used; often the install dick comes with several different models worth of drivers on each disk, it could be they were labeled in the .ini file incorrectly and that is why there is a problem (had this a few years ago).

Am I right in thinking there are several different types of cardbus?? Have you bought the right one for the laptop.

Finally, it could still be a faulty card, can you try it in another laptop??

Captain,

I tried loading the drivers before installation, later removing them, installing and then loading the drivers. I looked at the drivers disc, and each file just had a lot of strange sounding names to me. ( I looked after I had loaded) I am compter file clueless and couldn't tell one from the other.

No matter what I did,when I stuck the cd in, it loaded quickly, maybe 15 seconds automatically

I just looked at belarc to see what I might find to help.

ALi M5229 PCI Bus Master IDE Controller
Primary IDE Channel [Controller]
Secondary IDE Channel [Controller] RADEON IGP 320M [Display adapter]
Digital Flat Panel (1024x768) [Monitor] (19.7"vis)
Bus Adapters Multimedia
Texas Instruments PCI-1410 CardBus Controller
ALi PCI to USB Open Host Controller


Does this mean that I have too many drivers? I wish I knew more about PCI's.

Is there a way I can find the input, power level or (whatever its called) for the pci slot? Perhaps it cant handle the adapter? The problem is, the 1.1 usb certainly works, though from what I understand 1.1 has a max of 12 milbps, which directly corresponds to what I am getting. Lets say my adapter will go 50 milbps, maybe the increase would be too much, but then should it not revert to at least the 1.1? The adapter light never comes on before it locks up to give you an indication how fast it happens.

Like I said, I have a desktop, but this old laptop was given to me for Christmas from my mom not long before she died, so it has a little personal nostalgia for me. I guess I just hate to admit its a little outdated. Of course all computer s and peripherals seem outdated by the time you get them home, or close to it.

Again, I thank all of you for your suggestions.
 
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If you have someone with a laptop you can test the card in, that would confirm or deny a fault with either the card or the drivers for the card; if it works in another laptop then it is probably a conflict with another device on your laptop.
Have you looked on the manufacturers website to see if there is a suitable BIOS update for your laptop?? That can solve some problems, as can updated drivers for the card.

Refusing to even go through the BIOS screen when plugged in does not sound like a problem that is easily fixed!!

I do not know what else to suggest, laptops are not my specialty
 
if its refusing to boot with the card in then its definitely hardware related, sounds very strange, my suggestion would be to get it replaced, maybe even take it to the local PC shop so they can find the right card for you on the spot and if needed change settings that will allow you to use it without all these weird crashes and booting problems..

tis the only thing l can suggest tbh, since you are not comfortable doing major settings yourself the best suggestion is to take it to someone who does know more who cant tell you exactly what the problem is (since its pretty hard to troubleshoot online without seeing it in action)
 
I suspect it might just be drawing too much power. Some USB cards (partiucarly early ones) dont like high power devices. It can even cause boot failures (one PC I use will fail to boot if I stick my iRiver in the front usb ports.)

A powered usb hub may help if thats the cause, but considering its a laptop its probably not worth while.
 
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