swaaye wrote:

What cards have you guys used that work reliably on old boards? I have a card with a VIA controller and it isn't even detected by 440BX or AMD 750. It does work on newer chipsets like KT266 though.

I am surprised even on my 486 board both opti 82c261 and VIA vt83c572 are both picked up. I cannot verify functionality because Win95 has terrible USB support
but once I upgrade the RAM I can test it. A P2/P3 era chipset should have no problems with USB cards

Back when I tested usb2.0 cards on my ss7 machine I had better luck with ALi cards... Opti were OK too.
VIA ones were a hit-and-miss and NEC cards (that are supposed to be quality ones) never worked on my ss7 machine

The onboard USB ports always worked well with Windows 98 SE.

What is the benefit of using USB card? Do they work in Windows 95?

Mau1wurf1977 wrote:

The onboard USB ports always worked well with Windows 98 SE.

What is the benefit of using USB card? Do they work in Windows 95?

- Upgrade USB 1.x computers to USB 2.0.
- Having more USB ports available
- Some firewire cards are firewire/USB combo cards, so people using firewire may want to have the USB part working.

I had some VIA based USB and USB/firewire cards. They were reliable, but keep in mind that you must install the VIA drivers always (even on XP).

swaaye wrote:

What cards have you guys used that work reliably on old boards? I have a card with a VIA controller and it isn't even detected by 440BX or AMD 750. It does work on newer chipsets like KT266 though.

You need a card with NEC chip, not VIA. Some old computers refused to boot with the card installed and some others didn't recognise the card at all. 😊
I bought 3 different VIA based pci cards from ebay before finding out...

I think I have one with ALi, but I couldn't get it to work on a Alladdin V motherboard.

I would also have preferred a NEC branded PCI USB 2.0 card, but back then I got a VIA model.
It always worked fine on a Soyo i440BX motherboard though, with windows 98 SE installed. Chipset is VIA VT6212L. PCB date is Week 32 2007.
Updating the MP3 player got a lot faster.

I just want to use it for storage. USB 1.1 is so slow. Can you guys post photos of your cards that do work on 1997-1999 boards?

The card that I have is some ultra cheapie with a VIA VT6212L but it simply doesn't work on chipsets before 2000-2001. My guess is the controller isn't the problem, the card's construction is.

Just buy an ultra cheapie card from ebay that is guaranteed to have a nec chip. 😀

I thought the problem might be PCI 2.2 requirement but AMD 751 supports PCI 2.2. 440BX is definitely PCI 2.1 however.

The NEC cards seem to specify PCI 2.1 support so I will grab one of those and try it.

This is the one I was talking about, Which served me well when attached to a SY-6BA+III i440BX Motherboard.
A totally unremarkable piece of hardware...

gerwin wrote:

This is the one I was talking about, Which served me well when attached to a SY-6BA+III i440BX Motherboard.
A totally unremarkable piece of hardware...

It's an old design, probably it was still compatible with PCI 2.1 back then.

I have at least 4 cards with different controllers but no drivers - would have to search for them online.

If you want, I can test them tomorrow just tell me which platform you want me to try them on 😀

http://www.ebay.ca/itm/NEC-4-1-port-PCI-High- … e332274e&_uhb=1

I have had the best luck with NEC-based USB 2.0 cards on 440BX. Mine look like the one in this ebay link.

Half-Saint wrote:

I have at least 4 cards with different controllers but no drivers - would have to search for them online.

If you want, I can test them tomorrow just tell me which platform you want me to try them on 😀

Any boards from 1999 or earlier. I am using an Abit 440BX board and a ASUS AMD 750 board.

feipoa wrote:

http://www.ebay.ca/itm/NEC-4-1-port-PCI-High- … e332274e&_uhb=1

I have had the best luck with NEC-based USB 2.0 cards on 440BX. Mine look like the one in this ebay link.

I've ordered a Belkin card with a NEC chip. It claims PCI 2.1 support so hopefully it will work.

Definitely NEC. I use NEC D720100.

swaaye wrote:

I just want to use it for storage. USB 1.1 is so slow. Can you guys post photos of your cards that do work on 1997-1999 boards?

The card that I have is some ultra cheapie with a VIA VT6212L but it simply doesn't work on chipsets before 2000-2001. My guess is the controller isn't the problem, the card's construction is.

I have exactly the same card. Working without problems on Intel SE440BX-2 (third slot - counting from AGP). System is Windows 98SE
Driver from here: http://download.viatech.com/DownloadDriverSvl?driver_id=2105

zyga64 wrote:

I have exactly the same card. Working without problems on Intel SE440BX-2 (third slot - counting from AGP). System is Windows 98SE
Driver from here: http://download.viatech.com/DownloadDriverSvl?driver_id=2105

Interesting. I couldn't get either board I tested it on to even detect that the card was installed. I did try every PCI slot too. Maybe the card is broken.

The thing is - in the past I had another one of these and I remember having this problem then too. But it worked ok in a KT266A board that I had at the time.