Original version of Windows XP came with
support for USB 1.1 but not for USB 2.0. If you - like me - bought a USB
2.0 card before Service Pack 1 came out, then you had to install custom
OEM (non-Microsoft) drivers to have the card work on Windows XP. The USB
2.0 standard was finalized just months ago and some of early drivers
appear to have some troubles with modern USB 2.0 equipment like, for
example, Epson Stylus Photo 2200. Interestingly, some older USB 2.0
equipment, like Epson Perfection 2450
Photo scanner connected to USB 2.0 works fine with OEM drivers (at least
on my computer ;-).
How to Update
Windows XP Service Pack 1
comes with Microsoft drivers for USB 2.0. When you install the Service
Pack, you will get the drivers copied to your computer. However, if you
had other, non-Microsoft USB 2.0 drivers already installed, the Microsoft
drivers will not override the OEM ones. That means that you have to do
it manually yourself. Fortunately, this is not a very complex task. Here
is the link to Microsoft Support Knowledge Base article that describes how
to force update of your OEM USB 2.0 drivers to new Microsoft USB drivers:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;329632.
One note to add is that what Microsoft calls "USB 2.0 EHCI Host controller" in the Knowledge Base article, might be named
slightly differently on your computer depending on what name your USB 2.0
card vendor assigned to the driver. For example, on in my case the driver
was called ""NEC PCI to USB Enhanced Host Controller," and after updating
to Microsoft Drivers it is now called ""NEC PCI to USB Enhanced Host
Controller (B1)." Get Windows XP Service Pack 1 Installed First
That's right. Can't do much without it...
The Details Step by Step
To start updating the drivers, click
on "Start" button, then right-mouse-click on "My Computer" and select
"Manage" from the menu that opens. The Computer Management window will
open, and then click on "Device Manager" in the left pane and expand the
"Universal Serial Bus controllers" in the right pane The following
screen snapshot shows the list of USB drivers before updating them - the
selected USB driver is the one I had to start update for to get all of
them updated:
Double click on the driver to open driver properties, which will look
something like the picture below:
Note that this is really an OEM driver, not a Microsoft one. Driver
details for your case might look different depending on what card and
drivers you got. Now click on
the "Update Driver..." button and you will get the Hardware Update Wizard:
 Make
sure "Install the software automatically" is selected, and click Next. The
wizard will find the new Microsoft USB 2.0 driver and will install it as the default
driver on your computer. And that's all - you don't need to select any
other USB driver in the Device Manager, all of them should be already
updated. |
