Macally USB 2.0 PCI adapter Opti 82c861 and FIC VA503+

This combo doesn't seem to be working although 98SE reports the device as fully
operational using 4-23-99 Microsoft drivers. When I plug my USB Logitech mouse
into either of the USB ports nothing happens at boot. The mouse doesn't light
up when I power-up and 98SE doesn't detect a mouse as installed. So are Opti
82c861 chipset based USB 2.0 PCI cards non-functional in VA503+'s? It sure
looks that way. I had thought someone here said to stay away from VIA based USB
2.0 PCI cards so I figured w/the Opti I was good to go.
-Bill (remove "botizer" to reply via email)

 

Microsoft did not release USB 2.0 drivers for Windows 98.

Those are probably USB 1.x drivers you are seeing.
You need to load the drivers provided with the card.

Brad

 

As a follow-up.

I went to the vendor's web site, and they say that the Opti 82c861 USB
2.0 PCI cards are supposed to work with the drivers already in Win98. I
find that statement very hard to believe.

Maybe they have found a way to hotwire the existing USB drivers, but I
find that difficult to believe.

 

www.usbman.com or www.everythingusb.com have lots of USB info.

I've never been able to get a USB 2.0 card to work in USB 2.0 mode with
just the drivers built into Windows 98/98SE, and whenever the Device
Manager didn't show separate listings for USB 2.0, then the card was
working only in USB 1.1 mode. Usually, removing the driver software and
the card and repeating the installation process eventually got things
working, and sometimes I've also had to delete the registry entries for
the driver or boot to Safe Mode and delete all entries for USB devices.
But despite doing all that, an ALi-based USB card still wouldn't work
in USB 2.0 mode with my VA-503+.

The leading choice for PCI USB cards among experts seems to be the NEC
USB 2.0 chipset. Belkin and Adaptec use it, but it's also available on
some $12 cards listed at www.pricewatch.com, although dealers are known
to ship a different chipset. If you can't get a card with an NEC chip
on it, the VIA VT6212 chip is probably the next best choice. OTOH my
VA-503+ wouldn't boot at all (black screen) with a Soyo VIA VT6202
card, although it worked with the predecessor mobo, the PA-2007.

 

I wasn;t able to find a Belkin card here in my area, so had to search
for other alternatives.

The Vantec go2.0 USB 2.0 PCI Card uses the NEC chipset.

I bought a 5-port version today for $21.00 Canadian.

St Lab also makes a 5-port USB 2.0 PCI card that uses the NEC chipset.

Brad

 

I may have discovered the problem. I have an AGP vid-card installed (GeForce
2/GTS)
and I mistakenly put the USB 2.0 PCI card in the PCI slot directly adjacent to
the AGP vid-card. The FIC manual cautions against this because of an IRQ
conflict between that PCI slot and AGP.
-Bill (remove "botizer" to reply via email)

 

The AGP slot and PCI slot 1 share an IRQ.

Seems to be a dumb design in my opinion, but it probably was a good one
at the time these boards came out.

Brad

 

The only PCI slot that conflicts w/the AGP on a VA503+ is the one directly next
to it right? None of the other PCI slots should have any conflicts w/AGP right?

Now I have no idea what's going on. the USB adapter appears to be dead. On
power up my logitech mouse doesn't even light up so I'm thinking the USB card
is dead, but windows keeps saying it's fine (w/the Microsoft drivers that is).

I guess I'll have to try this USB 2.0 PCI card in another system to see if it's
any good.

-Bill (remove "botizer" to reply via email)

 

Brad, the 98SE drivers being loaded are for the correct chipset on the USB 2.0
card (an Opti 82c861 chip). Even funnier is that 98SE won't LET ME load the
drivers that I downloaded from the manufacturer's website. 98SE says "source
specified doesn't contain information about your device."

It seems like the USB 2.0 card is dead because on boot up my optical mice do
not light up and I think they are supposed to (at least they did on all my
other USB systems).

-Bill (remove "botizer" to reply via email)