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alicia1234Flag for United States of America

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Should I change "USB" hub/ports to "USB 2.0" for new printer?

I'm running Windows 2000 and I have a new Epson Stylus Photo RX500 printer that has "Hi-speed USB 2.0". I have a 2-port USB card in my PC and a 4-port USB Hub, both of which were purchased in November 2001. I think they are plain old USB, not "USB 2.0". In Device Manager, under "Universal Serial Bus Controllers", the properties for "USB Printing Support" say "USB2.0 MFP" (in "Location" field). "Generic USB Hub" just says "USB Device". Is there any way for sure to tell if my USB Ports and Hub really are just "plain old USB"?  And if they are, is there any advantage to replacing them with the new "USB 2.0" stuff? I ask because, with my new printer, it just seems to be a long time from when I click "OK" to print to when the printing actually starts ... longer than my previous printer which was an Epson Color Stylus 2500 (about 3-1/2 yrs old).
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Luc Franken
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To LucF: I downloaded the utility from AIDA32 and it's a nifty utility, but I couldn't find anywhere in it where it indicated the speed of the USB ports. It listed "USB Device" under Computer/Summary/Peripherals ... but no other useful information.
Within devices => windows devices => USB-controllers
If you don't see anything listed with USB 2.0, you have just USB 1.1
What I see is:
"USB Composite Device"
"USB Mass Storage Device"
"USB Printing Support"
"USB Root Hub"
"USB Root Hub"
So ...since it just says "USB" and not "USB 2.0" ... are you saying that it is, therefore, "USB 1.1"?
Yep, the "USB Root Hub" would be recognized as a "USB 2.0 Root Hub" in that case.

You'll get a lot of extra speed switching to USB 2.0 as it can transfer up to 480Mbit/sec instead of the max of 12Mbit/sec for USB 1.1

LucF
Thanks.
Glad to help ;-)
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planetgillian

Is it possible to get this printer working with usb1.1?? I too am having huge problems getting this working - same error messages - Epson have provided the 'uninstall/reinstall' non-solution then declared that it was my problem!!! This does not help me out at all!!!

I am running Windows2k pro - service pack 4 on a dell optiplex gx200... can anybody help me??? please!!!! :)
cheers,

gillian
I ended up uninstalling and removing my USB2.0 card and hub because they were so problematic. I reinstalled my USB1.1 card and hub. My Epson RX500 is running fine on the USB1.1 (albeit, there is some delay from my "print" command to when the printer actually starts printing .. .maybe 15 or 20 seconds). I'm running Windows 2000 on a Dell Dimension.
Hi and thanks for the reply :)

I can't even get the printer installed on usb1.1... "The required information could not be located in the INF" is a common error upon installation - I am at a loss with this one - have ordered a usb2 card but have slim hopes of it working - Epson are about as helpfull as a 3rd armpit!!
This might help ... looking back thru my notes, I found that I also had had the INF file error; here's my log of what I did. Note that I also FIRST had to update my Adaptec (USB) drivers to v3.1 (which I downloaded from Adaptec site); vsn 3.0 or higher was required for "composite device support" and I only have vsn 2-something ... .the RX500 is considered to be a composite device. So you might want to check to be sure your USB drivers are up to date. You should also try to uninstall all of your Epson stuff before re-installing again. I agree with you that USB2.0 probably is not going to solve your problem.

1.      Once I had the latest Adaptec drivers, I reinstalled the Epson RX500 from the Epson CD and according to instructions in the “Start Here” document.
2.      I ran in to some difficulty when setup tried to install USB Printer Support and I selected the “recommended” driver which was in the “Win9x” directory on the CD (I have Win2000). The installation of “USB2.0 Printer Support” didn’t finish because something was missing from the inf file.
3.      For everything after that, I selected the Micosoft driver instead of the Epson recommendation and the remaining stuff went ok.
4.      When I rebooted, it found new hardware … USB Printer Support .. and this time I picked the Microsoft driver. Now had “USB Printer Support” in Device Manager.
5.      BUT .. printer didn’t work. I uninstalled Epson Printer Software (that removed printer and composite support from Device Manager) and restarted, then installed just the drivers from the Epson CD. Noticed that files were being copied from WIN2K_XP dir. Installation completed successfully but I was never asked to pick drivers.
6.      Device manager now has Adaptec USB Composite Device Support, USB Mass Storage Device, and USB Printing Support.
7.      Restarted. Printed from MS Word; got ink levels and it printed ok.
More specifics: when I said I picked the Microsoft drivers for USB Printer Support, what I meant is that I got them from here: c:\winnt\inf\usbprint.inf  (winnt is my Windows directory).
Also, when I got the INF file error, the Epson setup program was pulling drivers from \drivers\printer\win9x on the installation CD; it should have been pulling them from the WIN2K_XP directory since my OS is Windows 2000.
I've tried changing the drivers etc and thru trial and error I can get rid of all of the errors except this one "USB2.0 MFP"

"An error occurred during the instalation of this device"
"The installation failed because a function driver was not specified for this device instance"

In device manager I can see that the EPSON is there (under Imaging Devices) and it is *stated* to be working properly!!

...However, under Universal Serial Bus controllers I have the following:

Intel 82801AA USB Universal Host Controller
USB Composite Device
USB Printer Support
USB Root Hub

...All of these claim to be installed correctly and working...
...then the last item is:

USB2.0 MFP
This displays an error... "The drivers for this device are not installed (Code 28)"    "To reinstall the drivers for this device, click Reinstall Driver"

...which then displays the all too familiar 'function driver not specified'... error and then (in my mind!!!) the printer goes out the window!!!

PS: Thanks so much for taking time out to reply - I really appreciate your help here :)

cheers,
gillian

Yes, I had the "function driver was not specified" error at one point, also. I got this when I had removed all my USB2.0 stuff and was going back to USB1.1. I had to abort the Epson installation (ctl-alt-del) and reboot the pc. Then I removed all of the Epson stuff (again) (Control Panel/Add Remove Programs ... anything with "Epson" on it). Rebooted. Removed relevant Epson keys in the registry. Rebooted. Then I decided to just install the drivers and none of the optional software (from the CD). Here's my log of that activity:

Plugged cable into 3rd port of USB Hub when prompted;
Error about unknown USB device … continue? … yes …
This time I waited; after a minute or so got msg that installation was successful and screen to print test page. I did NOT try to print the test page. I decided to do a restart.
Restarted computer.
Found new hardware … USB2.0 MFP … installing
Generic volume
New hw … Photo RX500… installing … copied files
New hw .. USB Storage Device
Disk drive
Then all the windows went away and activity seemed to be done.
So I restarted again.
Checked USB in device manager; has added:
      USB Composite Device
      USB Mass Storage Device
      USB Printing Support
Start/Printers has RX500 as default printer
My Computer has “EPSON USB (F:)”
Double-clicked Epson RX500 icon in status monitor; comes up ok w/ ink levels
Printed from Word … OK!
Installed the rest of the Epson sw (Ref Guide and Smart Panel)
Restarted … printed ok
I see that all this happenned back in May '04 - But it solved my problem now -  Thanks experts and especially lucf wherever he/she may be) - regards, Pat
PFSullivan,
I'm still around :)
Good to hear your problem is solved also.

LucF