I have a "USB 2.0 HIGH-SPEED Front Bay Hub" with two ports connected to one
of two spare USB 2.0 pin headers on the motherboard (also High Speed). The
motherboard has two ports which appear on the back of the PC and are (I
think) USB1.1 ports. Looking at Device Manager at Universal Serial Bus
controllers, 4 USB Root Hubs are listed. The first three show 2 ports each
(on the "Power" tab under properties) and the fourth one shows 6 ports.
Also under Universal Serial Bus controllers, there are 4 Host controllers.
The first three are designated "VIA Rev 5 or later USB Universal Host
Controller" which I'm assuming relate to the first three USB Root Hubs and
are USB 1.1. The fourth controller is designated "VIA USB Enhanced Host
Controller" which I assume relates to the fourth USB Root Hub and is USB 2.0
High Speed.

Sorry! Didn't mean to send the unfinished post.

I did do some more research and think I know what might be happening but
have no idea why.

I recently installed a USB 2.0 front bay hub and connected it to a USB 2.0
pin header on the mother board (MSI KT3 Ultra2). When I plug a High-Speed
USB 2.0 flash drive into one of the connectors on the front bay hub, a
notice on the screen suggests that I connect the device to a High Speed USB
2.0 Port and then offers a list of 6 available unused ports under the
Enhanced Host Controller (USB 2.0) heading. When I look at Device Manager,
it shows that the flash drive appears on a universal port. If I move the
flash drive to one of the original USB connectors on the back of the PC, the
flash drive appears on one of the 6 ports under the Enhanced Host
Controller, yet when a USB 1.1 device is plugged into the same connector on
the back, the device shows up on a universal port.

While doing some research, I came across a FAQ
http://www.everythingusb.com/usb2/faq.htm , which states; "The USB
controller routes signals to the correct controller chip depending on how a
device is recognized. Where a device is physically plugged in has no bearing
on how it is routed. All ports on a USB 2.0 motherboard can host any USB
devices at all as long as the system and devices are healthy." This
statement seems to agree with what happens when a USB 1.1 or USB 2.0 device
is plugged into the original rear connectors (they are "routed" to the
appropriate "port").

My problem, then, is that although the flash drive is correctly recognized
as a USB 2.0 device, why isn't it just routed to one of the available USB
2.0 ports (according to the notice on the screen) like it is when plugged
into one of the rear connectors.

Incidentally, the PC is running Windows XP SP2.

Any ideas?

John

Depending on the age of your machine, the FRONT ports may or may not be USB
1.0, and the rear ports are likely to be an add-on USB 2.0 card.

If your machine has ANY USB 1.0 ports, then it must have an add-on card that
plugs into a PCI slot to give you USB 2.0 capability. Since this is true,
any USB 2.0 ports that you have on an old machine will be located on the
back. Having said that, just because you have ports on the back does not
mean they will be USB 2.0.

If you have a printer with memory card reader ports, these will be USB, but
since the printer plugs into a USB 1.0 port on the machine, the ports on the
printer will also be 1.0. You must have a USB 2.0 card that is plugged into
a PCI slot, OR all USB ports will be 2.0 already.

There is no reason to build a machine with both 1.0 and 2.0 USB ports. They
built machines for a couple of years with 1.0 ports, then switched to the
faster 2.0 convention. You can add the 2.0 capability, or the computer
builder will have put it in, but he will not have put in both.



"John Richards" <jrichar3@twcny.rr.com> wrote in message
news:47a9bdcb$0$4928$4c368faf@roadrunner.com...

If a USB 2.0 device is plugged into a USB 1.0 port, there is typically a
message to alert you that the high speed device will not run at high speed.
I suppose a high speed device may elect to not work at all, and in this
instance it may work fine when you insert it into a different port.



"John Richards" <jrichar3@twcny.rr.com> wrote in message
news:47a9f7d5$0$30706$4c368faf@roadrunner.com...