VIA VT6202, VT6212 controller based USB 2.0 PCI cards

Trouble-shooting Advice Guide

This guide is designed to provide advice to end users having trouble with USB 2.0 PCI cards that feature VIA's VT6202 or VT6212 USB 2.0 controller, or USB/1394 combo cards. This advice is mainly applicable to Microsoft Windows users. Useful definitions to note:

• USB hub - the USB 2.0 PCI card
• USB port - an actual "plug" on the USB 2.0 PCI card
• USB 2.0 - different from the older USB standard often referred to as USB 1.1 or simply USB. Read more here.

Drivers for the USB 2.0 PCI card

USB 2.0 technology and drivers are subject to licensing by Microsoft (and other companies). This licensing means that they can only be distributed with new USB 2.0 devices and controllers, with Microsoft software, by Microsoft via the internet or by manufacturers of the USB 2.0 PCI card or device. VIA has of course worked with Microsoft and other manufacturers to develop driver support for VIA's USB 2.0 controllers but due to licensing issues, the support for the drivers is the responsibility of device manufacturers, PCI card manufacturers & Microsoft.

General advice and troubleshooting concerning drivers for your PCI card include:

1) Check the manufacturer's web site for an update

2) You MUST have Windows Service Pack 1 installed under WinXP for USB 2.0 to function
 
       Without SP1 you would most likely receive error messages such as:

The Generic USB Hub is a HI-SPEED USB device and will function at reduced speed when plugged into a non-HI-SPEED port.

HI-SPEED USB Device Plugged into non-HI-SPEED USB Hub. A HI-SPEED USB device is plugged into a non-HI-SPEED USB hub.

3) install VIS's USB 2.0 driver package that can provide additional compatibility support. VIA USB 2.0 driver package supports the VIA VT6212, VT6202 and VT8235 USB 2.0 controllers.

Note for Mac OS users - MAC OS 10.2.8 or later version has native support for USB 2.0 including VIA's VT6202.

Firmware - BIOS & drivers for USB devices

Make sure you have the most up to date BIOS. Make sure you have the most up to date drivers for your USB devices. That means, do not assume that the BIOS or drivers that were supplied with your mainboard, PC or USB device is the latest version. Check the manufacturer's web site.

PCI slot

Especially on older mainboards, some PCI slots are supplied with less power than others. Although the difference may be minor, it may be enough to effect the operation of the USB 2.0 PCI card. Try different PCI slots.

Malfunctioning device

Unplug all of your USB devices from the USB hub. Test each device separately. If no device works at all then you can safely assume that it's the hub or the way the hub is set up that is the issue. However, you may find that one device is malfunctioning and is causing all the USB devices to malfunction when they are plugged into the hub at the same time. Another way to test if this is the cause of the malfunction, is to test the device on another PC. Be sure to test using a USB 2.0 port, however.

WinME and 1394/USB combo card known issue

Systems will lockup if a 1394/USB combo cardbus card is plugged into the PCMCIA slot on a system under Windows ME. This issue will occur when the OS is Windows ME and the device is a 1394/USB combo cardbus card. This is a known issue and Microsoft has a hotfix to solve it. For more information, please reference the Microsoft Knowledge Base Article - 268452 at http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;268452 and/or contact your local Microsoft Support Center to get the free hotfix to solve this issue.

USB hub known issue

If you connect a new USB device to a USB 2.0 hub on a computer, the computer does not detect the USB device. This symptom occurs if the computer is running one of the following operating systems:

• Microsoft Windows XP Service Pack 2 (SP2)
• Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Service Pack (SP1)
• Microsoft Windows Server 2003 x64 versions

Additionally, other USB devices that are already connected to the computer stop functioning, and you have to restart the computer to detect the USB devices. Resolutions to these known Microsoft issues can be found on Microsoft's web site here.

Power drawn and supplied to the hub

Do you have too many devices plugged into the hub? USB devices can draw a maximum of 500 milliamps for each connection. Any more than that and the USB port will be disabled. To find out how much power your devices are using - go into System Properties from Control Panel. Go into Device Manager under Hardware and under the tab for Universal Serial Bus Controllers. Go into USB Root hub and look under power. It will list the mA for devices plugged in. There will be a USB root hub for every two ports you have available. If you do have too many devices plugged in that is trying to draw too much power, simply unplug a device and plug it in only when you want to use it. On the flip side, if a device draws less than 50 milliamps (like a mouse or a pen drive perhaps) the port never becomes active.

Most USB PCI cards are powered hubs. A few are not. Many USB 2.0 devices require power supplied from the hub. If you try to use a USB 2.0 device that requires power from the hub, on a PCI USB 2.0 card that is not powered, all devices plugged into the hub will not work. If the hub is a powered hub, verify that the power supply for that hub is configured properly.

Cables

There are two types of USB cables, high speed and low speed. Low-speed cables differ from high-speed cables primarily in their shielding. If you plug a high-speed device into a low-speed cable, you can cause signal distortion over long distances.

IRQ

USB controllers require that an IRQ be assigned. The IRQ line is assigned in the computer's BIOS, and usually IRQ 9 is assigned. With new or relatively new mainboards, this should not be an issue but older mainboards (KT133, MVP3 and Apollo Pro/Plus/133/133A chipsets for example) can typically have older BIOS that do not have the IRQ assigned in this way.

PCI specifications and older mainboards

Normally if a card appears dead or will not function, it is because the card has been designed for a PCI voltage requirement not supported by the motherboard in the system. Current motherboards support 3.3V PCI implementation and older motherboards support 5V PCI implementation. Many USB 2.0 PCI cards support both voltage requirements and work correctly. Others only support one. This is the responsibility of the card manufacturer. If you have an older motherboard and the USB 2.0 card you bought appears to be completely dead and will not function at all, double check what PCI specifications it supports.

Mixing the old & new

Whilst a system with an older chipset, older operating system and new PCI card might work correctly (provided the new PCI card supports the older PCI specification - see above), an older chipset, latest operating system and new PCI card might run into problems. This is simply because the overall system requirements needed by such a system are exceeded by the combination of WinXP's memory needs and the power required by the USB hub. The layout of the circuitry on an older mainboard sometimes just cannot handle software and devices designed years after it was designed.

Product quality & technical support

There are many, many manufacturers of USB 2.0 PCI cards. We recommend people purchase branded product with company contact details on the box so that they can get the necessary after-sales support.