Home > Consumer Reviews > Adaptec USB 2.0/1394 Combo Card PCI 3-Port USB 2.0 & 2-Port Firewire MAC/PC (1923200)

This is a great card and a great idea from a reliable company - as long as you don't have a complex system running Windows 2000.

After I installed this card on my system, all chaos broke loose. This eventually caused Windows 2000 to become corrupt and crash and burn. I had to totally rebuild my system from scratch, wasting many hours. So it is buyer beware.

It turns out that this card needs four IRQs. Now I already had a soundcards, a couple of Adaptec brand SCSI cards, and a graphics adapter. Problem is that under Windows 2000, all of these PCI cards are assigned IRQ 9. (The only way to prevent this (on my system anyway) is to disable ACPI Power Management - a job bigger than Ben Hur). Result: hardware conflict, system freeze-ups, driver corruption, and BSODs (Blue Screen of Death).

In summary: The DuoConnect 3121 is a good card. But if you run Windows 2000, have a lot of PCI cards, and you don't know an IRQ from ACPI or BSOD, then better stay away from it. Go for something simpler, like an Adaptec 4300. I am told that the DuoConnect 3121 installs without problems on Windows XP, which is more flexible with IRQs.

Yet I do not entirely blame the Adaptec company for the problem - though they could have warned me, the unsuspecting consumer, about the insallation risks in the marketing brochures! So therefore only 3 stars.

I can't fault Adaptec on their very good support. Adapter cards from other companies are cheaper than Adaptec brand, but the Adaptec support is worth the extra money. Which is why I replaced this card with another card from the same company. Adaptec refunded my original purchase price (but not the many wasted hours). So therefore at least 3 stars.

When I bought this card, I thought it was a great to have a single card with both USB 2.0 and Firewire connections. Then reality set in when I found that this card does NOT work if you have a dual processor system. I found no mention of it on Adaptec's web site or on the box. It is only mentioned in a README file. You can only have USB 1.1 and Firewire working. If you try to install the driver for USB 2.0 support, you will get the dreaded blue screen :(

I sent an email to tech. support and they said the company doesn't have any plans on fixing it.

I bought this Adaptec AUA-3020 for use in my Dell Dimension 8200 (P4 2Ghz) with Windows XP Pro SP1. My computer originally doesnot have firewire and USB2.0 (it has 4 USB1 though). All 5 PCI slots were full with VGA, Ethernet, Sound, Promise Ultra ATA133 (for my additional HDs), and Firewire from Pinnaclesys. I was a little skeptical to use this product when I read other reviewers that has the same system (tony8gj from Redmond, WA). The only difference is he bought 3121 with internal USB and firewire while I bought 3020 without the internal ones. After I received the package, I read the instruction which is fairly easy and straightforward. I turn off the computer and all cables, took off my Pinnaclesys firewire and replace with this Adaptec 3020. Put all the cables back to where they were, (I didnot plug anything yet to the new Adaptec) and start the comp. Windows XP shows "Found new hardware" and rearrange them (I rearranged my USB1.1). Then I see that XP found this Adaptec but it says Texas Instrument for the firewire host controller (I guess the chip made by TI), and so on. It went smooth. Then I put the USB/firewire cables to this new Adaptec ports. All my devices were recognized fast and ready to use. I tested all my devices and they are all fine. Just make sure, before installing this and any other hardware, to check and update your flash BIOS from your computer manufacturer and also your Windows operating system from windowsupdate.com. Five big stars!!

I bought this b/c I just purchased an iPod. I have a Dell Dimension XPS T500 (yr 2000 w/XP) that only has USB 1 ports.
After about a day of trying to install, the Dell would not recognize this card. I called Dell and was told motherboard does not accept USB 2/Firewire cards. Totally false.
I purchased a seperate USB2 card and Firewire and they both run with no problems.
This card probably works with new computers, but be careful if you have an older model.

I was a bit nervous about buying this card after reading some of the reviews published here on Amazon, but I did anyway--I wanted to upgrade my computer's USB jacks, and I wanted firewire for the convenience of using that with my iPod.

At any rate, my fears went unrealized. Installation under Windows XP went without a hitch: the thing was ready to go five minutes after I opened the box. I can't say I've tried it under different operating systems, but under XP, it's a dream.