Have you read this thread?
A (Very Short) Guide to Having USB 2.0 in Windows 98 SE with a NEC-Chipset USB 2.0 PCI Card

Repo Man11 wrote on 2021-05-30, 17:59:

Have you read this thread?
A (Very Short) Guide to Having USB 2.0 in Windows 98 SE with a NEC-Chipset USB 2.0 PCI Card

I did read through it and have tried installing NUSB and then installing the card, and then the VIA drivers. I have tried it in every order. Now, I can't use any usb ports from the integrated ports to the PCI ports. When I put my flash drive into any port, the USB drive light flashes for a split second, and then nothing. I have also downloaded the very latest 440BX driver kit. I'm not sure what else I can try. My system is also acting strange, now. Before, I had a Voodoo5, Voodoo2, Voodoo1, SB Live!, AWE32 PnP, and an ISA NIC in the machine. Since trying to get the USB 2.0 card working, along with the various reinstalls of Win98SE, I have to remove the AWE32 card or it hangs almost as soon as Windows loads, and SB 16 emulation conflicts with the USB IRQ, and there is no way to free up resources for all of these cards, when it wasn't an issue before. This development threatens the entire project, as I plan on using SD cards with different Windows installs, each utilizing a different combination of components.

I had to reserve IRQ 5 for the AWE32 slot. Now I'm seeing if that helps with this USB situation.

Reserving IRQ 5 for the AWE32 ISA slot now allows me to boot into Windows, and I successfully tested both the SB Live! and the AWE32 with dxdiag. I didn't have a problem until trying to use this USB card, though now I am confident that I can resume setting up my individual OS cards with each one using/disabling certain component combinations. I can move forward, though I am moving forward without USB 2.0 ports, at least for now.

I reinstalled the VIA USB card, and booted back into Windows. My USB 1 ports are working again, but not the VIA ports. I have tried the flash drive and a Logitech gamepad that is known to Windows 98. I will have to wait until I have easier access to my Athlon XP system in order to test this card to make sure whether or not it actually works, and the other option is to install Windows XP on one of my SD cards and see if XP can see and use the ports on this P2B.

I have no idea what to try in order to make this card work on my P2B Win98 system. I have no resource conflicts, and device manager sees the VIA devices. I'm worried about trying to buy more cards and have them not work. If anyone is successfully using a USB 2.0 card on an Asus P2B 1.04 with Win98SE, I would be very interested in knowing what model and what drivers you are using.

From that other thread and from other things I am reading along the Information Superhighway, it seems that NEC based cards work better than other brands. I found a Belkin, NEC-based PCI USB card with 4 ports on the back and one internally (not a header,) whereas this junky VIA card has only two ports on the back and a USB header internally. The Belkin comes in multiple versions, including one with all of the extra ports in a low profile design which is perfect for maintaining air flow around the Voodoo 5 5500 card. Once I get my Windows 98SE install set up to my liking (before installing any games,) I will clone that SD card before installing any USB drivers. This will be so that I have a clean installed that isn't mucked up by drivers that may not work.

I have the parallel port version of the SuperDisk and I will obtain a USB version for my other machines (and hopefully a working internal for when I recreate my 1999 Gateway PC,) and a vintage parallel port CF reader, along with a USB CF/SD reader, AND I have a DVD drive and TONS of DVD-R discs, so transferring files between machines won't be an issue, and I will have networking options once I get the vintage switch for the retro LAN I am building.

However, I do hope to get USB 2.0 on this machine, someday. The extra ports will be nice, and anything is better than USB 1...