Home > Consumer Reviews > 4+1PORT USB 2.0 Pci Desktop Card -via Chip Set

I was attracted to this card because of its price (a real bargain). But, after reading a negative review on Amazon (the only one available at the time of this writing) I was also very skeptical of this cards ability to perform (or even actually WORK). I had very little to lose and a lot to gain... so I placed my order!

It arrived in a small box with a mini-CD containing drivers for versions of windows prior to "XP". I have no idea how (or if) this device will function with "Vista", but I'm assuming that it should work since it's just a basic USB controller. Since I'm running "XP" no drivers from the CD were required. I turned my system off, installed the board into an open PCI slot, and then turned the power back on. Windows XP quickly identified the board and automatically installed all of the correct drivers.

I proceeded to test my new high-speed USB "2.0" ports with an external CD recorder, a few USB 2.0 card readers, a digital camera, a printer, and a scanner. Everything worked "flawlessly"!

I honestly don't know why the previous reviewer had problems with this USB card, but It certainly was an incredible bargain for me! I quickly ordered another card for my 2nd system (and may order another one for a friends system).

Because some computers are very picky, I can't promise that it'll work the same way for you. I can only say that it worked flawlessly for me! I was able to pick this item up (NEW) for less than ten dollars (including shipping) here on Amazon. Truly an amazing bargain!

-JM

I installed this card on a 6 year old Gateway computer running Windows XP Pro. The OS detected the card and already had the necessary driver for it.
Setup was a breeze. The card works the way it is supposed to.

I purchased two of these cards, having one as a spare, since they were so inexpensive, but cheap would be a better term.

My order was received promptly. It was well secured in an easy to open blister pack and included a mini CD containing the drivers. Installation on my ancient Gateway Pentium II running Windows 98SE was simple and straightforward.

I purchased it for my only USB component, a LaCie Rugged external hard drive. I was able to partition and format the drive and test copy a few files. After that, every time I plugged in the drive I lost all functionality, except the ability to move the mouse cursor around. Unplugging the drive returned everything to normal. This occured with both cards.

I went to Best Buy and bought a Dynex 2-port USB 2.0 PCI card. Coincididentially, it uses the same chipset. I swapped out the cards, and using the drivers all ready loaded, the Dynex card worked fine; I gave up on the 4 + 1.

I note some reviewers are having great success with this card. Good for them. Others, like myself, are now using it as a paperweight.

Caveat emptor!

There is a little catch here. DO NOT BUY THIS IF YOU ARE CONNECTING BULK TRANSFER DEVICE SUCH AS USB 2.0 HARD DRIVE. I don't see the detailed spec here but saw this is USB 2.0 card so I ordered. In reality it claims only USB 2.0 spec (so USB 2.0 driver can talk to this card), however it only supports USB 1.1 speeds (12Mbps and 1.5Mbps). This is very slow as compared to maximum rated speed of USB 2.0, which is 480Mbps.

Problem: Either USB 2.0 driver fall back to the very low speed or reset USB bus constantly when data transfer happen and finally give up. This card may be good for USB keyboard/mouse devices but not for USB 2.0 speed hard drives.

Linux: This worked under linux (centos 5.2), but only with USB 1.1 drivers(12Mbps max, ohci_hcd). When tried with USB 2.0 driver(ehci_hcd) it failed miserably. It worked for few minutes and then loose a drive. For now I am using low speed driver and that works. Now I am going to order another card that can support 480Mbps, because 12Mbps is way too slow for my need.

After wasting a lot of time trying to get 4 of these to work in my PC's. The seller has promised a refund or replacement. Good seller; poor product.