How do you find speed of USB ports?

northerngeezer

Hi,

I am trying to connect my daughters desktop to broadband via a USB dongle which will pick up the link from my wireless router.

How do I find out if the USB ports on her computer are 1.0, 1.1 or 2.0.

If they are 1.0 can I upgrade them to 2.0 because most dongles only use 2.0

Any advice appreciated

Thanks

espresso

Look in System, Hardware, Device Manager to see if you have a USB2 Enhanced host controller.

shammyjack

A lot of older motherboards while not including USB 2.0 sockets have a 2.0 controller and output pins on the board for connecting a 2.0 socket or panel .

The controller may need to be enabled in the Bios .

If no USB 2.0 controller PCI cards which will supply USB2.0 are cheap and readily available .

shammy

BillScarab

Your unlikely to have USB 1.0 as USB 1.1 was the first widely available version.

Have you tried plugging the adapter in and seeing what happens? Most USB 2.0 devices are backwards compatible with USB 1.0/1.1 they just work at the lower speed. Even USB 1.1 is up to 12 Mbit/s which is probably enough for internet access.

Stephen_Leak

espresso wrote: »

Look in System, Hardware, Device Manager to see if you have a USB2 Enhanced host controller.

Unfortunately, as USB 2.0 has been standard for so long (in computing terms!), you cannot rely on Device Manager reporting them as USB2 and or enhanced any more.

You cannot now even rely on the printed documentation. It used to be the case that, if it only says "USB", it is 1.1. Now, they use just "USB" when it is 2.0.

espresso

Stephen_Leak wrote: »

Unfortunately, as USB 2.0 has been standard for so long (in computing terms!), you cannot rely on Device Manager reporting them as USB2 and or enhanced any more.

You cannot now even rely on the printed documentation. It used to be the case that, if it only says "USB", it is 1.1. Now, they use just "USB" when it is 2.0.

Well an Intel USB2 host controller is shown on my system and PCWizard displays it as being USB version 2.00.

northerngeezer

I have checked the device manager and listed under USB Controllers are

USB root Hub
USB root Hub
VIA Tech 3038 PCI to USB Universal Host Controller
VIA Tech 3038 PCI to USB Universal Host Controller

BillScarab

To find out if you have USB 2.0 or 1.1 just plug a USB 2.0 device in, if it comes up saying you have a USB 2.0 device plugged into a USB 1.1 port you know you have USB 1.1. It should still work but slower, if it doesn't say anything you have USB 2.0.