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View Full Version : USB hub/networking ... help needed



FMluvswater
05-19-2004, 08:02 PM
Not for me. My friend Stacey. She has tried the help lines and websites to get her question answered and got nothing so I offered to ask here ... this is her question ...
I am buying a USB hub so I have more USB ports to use. Can I hook a Wireless-B Compact USB Adapter to it?
Any insight would be greatly appreciated. Thanks. :)

Cheap Thrills
05-19-2004, 09:00 PM
can you hook a 802.11-b wireless usb adapter to a usb hub ?
yes you can but I dont believe it would get the full 10Mbs .
I would try to use an open usb port for the 802.11-b wireless .
if she needs more usb ports she would be better off using a ISA card if she has an ISA slot open . anyhoo .
just my .02
C.T. :wink:

FMluvswater
05-19-2004, 09:14 PM
Thanks sweetie I passed that .02 cents on. :D

Boozer
05-19-2004, 09:15 PM
Originally posted by Cheap Thrills
can you hook a 802.11-b wireless usb adapter to a usb hub ?
yes you can but I dont believe it would get the full 10Mbs .
I would try to use an open usb port for the 802.11-b wireless .
if she needs more usb ports she would be better off using a ISA card if she has an ISA slot open . anyhoo .
just my .02
C.T. :wink:
The last bujillion computers I have built did not have ISA ports. ISA is no longer a supported slot.

Cheap Thrills
05-19-2004, 09:17 PM
oops my bad youre right boozer Ive been up wayy to long I ment PCI , thinking one thing typing another .. thanks for the correction .
C.T. :wink:

MomOfJesi
05-19-2004, 09:31 PM
Thanks guys. I am Stacey. On that computer we only have one working USB port and we want to be able to use three devices that need a USB port. speed is not an issue at the moment, can't be as slow as the dial up that was always crashing that we used to have. we just want to know if we can still get on line if the adapter goes through the hub

FMluvswater
05-19-2004, 09:33 PM
Yay! It finally let you re-register! :D Welcome back Stace. :D

Boozer
05-19-2004, 09:45 PM
Originally posted by MomOfJesi
Thanks guys. I am Stacey. On that computer we only have one working USB port and we want to be able to use three devices that need a USB port. speed is not an issue at the moment, can't be as slow as the dial up that was always crashing that we used to have. we just want to know if we can still get on line if the adapter goes through the hub
If your computer only has 1 USB port I am guessing you are running either windows 98 or Windows Millenium edition. With either of those operating systems I would advise that you NOT run addition hardware (i.e. PCI cards) to add additional USB ports. It has been my experience that both of these operating systems don't run well with more then 2 USB ports because even though the USB port can run multiple devices on one irq it still seems to cause conflicts.
I don't know about Canada but here in the Good Ole U.S of A we can build up to date boxes for about $500 American. It's a better spent $500 then trying to add upgrades to outdated technology.

MomOfJesi
05-19-2004, 10:01 PM
If your computer only has 1 USB port I am guessing you are running either windows 98 or Windows Millenium edition. With either of those operating systems I would advise that you NOT run addition hardware (i.e. PCI cards) to add additional USB ports. It has been my experience that both of these operating systems don't run well with more then 2 USB ports because even though the USB port can run multiple devices on one irq it still seems to cause conflicts.
The computer has two usb ports. It just seems that we can't get one of them to work. you are right about the operating system. Win98SE we are trying to connect the Adapter, a wb cam, and cheap printer that wont be used much,

Rexone
05-19-2004, 10:04 PM
I've added USB2 cards to all my PC's that came with only 1 or 2 USB1.1 ports and have experienced no problems. Win2K machines though with P3 processors. USB2 is much faster than 1.1 but the device has to support USB2 to work.

Boozer
05-19-2004, 10:09 PM
Originally posted by MomOfJesi
The computer has two usb ports. It just seems that we can't get one of them to work. you are right about the operating system. Win98SE we are trying to connect the Adapter, a wb cam, and cheap printer that wont be used much,
Buy a new machine. Seriously. If you don't you might get things to start working but it's going to be a shit load of headaches and you are just putting a band aid on the fact that you are technologically impaired.
If machines out there are insanely priced try this website. www.pricewatch.com
If you find something on there that you like post it here and we will tell you if it is worth buying or not.

Cheap Thrills
05-19-2004, 10:34 PM
I'm also running an old Cyrix 233 machine with 98 se for a surfboard it also has a pci usb card in it . 4 years running with no problems.
also some motherboards and PC cases require wireing of the usb ports some are harnessed into plugs and some arent just loose wires .maybe one is wired wrong
if the usb ports are built onto the MB nevermind the last statement.
I put together a new AMD system the other day for a customer for $360.00 that included the monitor and a DVD/CDRW .
If I cant beat their price I'll give it to ya :p
C.T. :wink:

572Daytona
05-20-2004, 04:41 AM
If you have Win98SE and not the original Win98 you should be fine with USB support. I'm running Win98SE on 3 of my computers at home with USB devices and one of them even has a hub with 4 devices attached all working fine. That being said USB can be flakey at times and I've seen problems with certain devices just not wanting to work with certain computer's USB chipsets, even on WinXP, and some devices won't work through a hub. A lot of the problems are power related and devices that draw a lot of power seen to have the most problems. I wouldn't think a wireless adapter would fall into that category. My advice would be to make sure that the Wireless adapter works when plugged into your existing USB port, if so, chances are that it will work on a hub as well.
Cheap Thrills, btw, I still have ISA slots on my computer. I had to shop around a bit to find a P4 motherboard that had them but I needed one for my Roland SCC-1 midi card.

MomOfJesi
05-20-2004, 12:16 PM
Thank you guys so much for your help. I decided since it is my brothers computer he can deal with it but when he gets around to needing help I will tell him what you guys said. Thank you again for all your help.