• USB ports on a Win98SE system

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    • This topic has 14 replies, 10 voices, and was last updated 13 years ago.
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    WSwhftherb
    AskWoody Lounger
    May 11, 2010 at 12:14 am #468809

    Have an old generic Win98SE (I’ve verified it’s SE) system that I’m trying to use the USB ports on the back. There are two. I plugged in an 8gig thumb drive and it’s light came on for about 2 seconds then extinguished. This tells me that there’s USB power at the port. However – No system reaction, no drive in explorer. Found a supposed generic USB driver (nusb33.exe (sp?) and loaded it up. Put in the stick and still nothing. I rebooted and nothing. Rebooted again with the stick in the USB slot, still nothing. I also tried connecting a printer to both ports, no reaction.

    I should be seeing something akin to what I’m used to seeing with XP – Found New Hardware, Windows is searching.loading software to use with your new hardware, Your hardware is ready to use… etc. But zero. Checked device mgr and there are no yellow triangles and under USB ports I see the root hub and the controller listed and reported as working fine.

    I’d like some help figuring out how to use the USB ports on this computer. Can anyone shoot me some hints? Could it be that the 8gig thumb drive is just too big for SE to recognize?

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    • WSCLiNT
      AskWoody Lounger
      May 11, 2010 at 3:02 am #1223081

      Is this a new problem, or has there been difficulty with USB thumb drives previously?
      Is the system hardware pre-USB 2.0 standard?
      Is the USB thumb drive in question based upon the USB 2.0 standard?

      Test the USB ports in question by pluging a mouse or keyboard of similar hardware age and type that is W98 certified.
      Ensure that USB has been setup/enabled in bios.
      Check in your system’s “Device Manager” to note if it has exclamation points indicating problem drivers.
      Test the USB ports with a smallar USB thumb drive of less than 1 GB that is pre USB 2.0 standard.

      General USB Troubleshooting in Windows 98, Windows 98 Second Edition, and Windows Me
      USB Support on Windows 98
      Windows 98: Computer Problems with USB Legacy Support
      How to Enable Universal Serial Bus Support
      USBMan – USB 1, 2, & 3 Help and Information

      In order to get USB 2.0 standard you may need to install a USB PCI card. Windows 98, I believe only supports USB 1.1 standard.

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      • WSspeedball
        AskWoody Lounger
        February 22, 2012 at 11:57 am #1321233

        Is this a new problem, or has there been difficulty with USB thumb drives previously?
        Is the system hardware pre-USB 2.0 standard?
        Is the USB thumb drive in question based upon the USB 2.0 standard?

        the problems started with u3 and maybe udma type drives
        possibly with other later changes

        older mei drives all worked fine (4Gor less)
        but new ones all fail
        and the drivers (if they have them at all) do not work on 98se

        win98se only supports 4 G as i recall

        win98se also seems to have problems losing drivers
        and often installing them

        have had to do it manually a couple of times
        once semiautomatic but i had to go in and change some entries under devices to make it work

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    • BATcher
      AskWoody_MVP
      May 11, 2010 at 11:22 am #1223111

      You will need to supply a compatible Windows 98 SE USB driver. Of course your new USB Flash drive won’t have one.

      Try Googling for something like “Windows 98SE USB drivers”. Here’s one link.

      I last needed some four years ago and no longer have any URLs, but filenames such as nusb23e.exe spring to mind – a variant on what you’ve found. I simply tried drivers until one worked for the particular USB Flash Drive I had at the time.

      Check that your drive is formatted as FAT-32, since NTFS wasn’t around at the time (unless my memory is wrong!)…

      BATcher

      Plethora means a lot to me.

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    • WSwhftherb
      AskWoody Lounger
      May 12, 2010 at 5:29 pm #1223316

      OK, here’s what I’ve done. I have to come clean here – I’m actually trying to awaken the USB ports, so I can connect a USB printer – an HP7350 DJet.

      I’ve visited Dev Mgr and ensured that both the Root Hub and USB Controller are present and working.
      I brought in a USB mouse, and the port is alive, recognizing the mouse as a new HID device. Ran a quick setup and mouse worked.
      I brought in a USB keyboard. System detected it and set up the keyboard. It works.
      I brought in a USB thumbdrive less than 1gB. Inserted it, and Win98SE immediately processed it and created a drive which worked fine.
      So at this point, I think the hardware and the port are fine. (Note: Sytem uses a PS2 arrangement for mouse/keyboard normally)
      I looked at the IRQ steering and it agrees perfectly with a website I found on the subject.
      I looked at the BIOS and found that all USB settings are “enabled”.
      I looked a the USB setup using a program called USBDeview. It showed nothing remarkable.
      I looked at the entire system with a program called SIW which just gave me more confirmation (and with greater detail) that Dev Mgr is telling the truth.
      I hooked up the printer again. Plugged in, Powered up. Nothing happens.
      I grabbed a brand new and shorter USB cable. Plugged in. Powered up. Nothing happens. I tried various other combinations of rebooting with printer and without printer attached/powered on&off. Nothing happens. I will say that at certain times, the printer on/off switch was disabled and I had to unplug the DC to get it to turn off.

      It’s a perfectly good printer. It’s a computer that HAS TO run Win98 because of the particular A-D sensor technology employed. I’m stumped!

      Any other suggestions?

      H

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    • WSstuck
      AskWoody Lounger
      May 18, 2010 at 6:35 am #1224268

      Unlike a modern OS you shouldn’t just plug a USB device into a Win98 system and expect it to recognise the device and work. You almost invariably have to have a Win98 specific driver for your device.

      Thus, since you are trying to set up a HP 7350 you need a Win 98 driver for a HP 7350. Unfortunately HP do not provide a Win98 driver for
      this model.

      Regarding your original but in fact incidental question about native USB support for Win 98 see here:
      http://www.msfn.org/board/topic/43605-maximus-decim-native-usb-drivers/

      stuck

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    • WSCLiNT
      AskWoody Lounger
      May 18, 2010 at 6:56 am #1224270
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    • WStmwalsh
      AskWoody Lounger
      June 6, 2010 at 8:21 am #1227332

      FWIW, the nusb33.exe and compatriots only handle storage devices. Printers and HID type devices would be handled by appropriate manufacturers software & drivers. If you go to MSFN web, there are several comments about devices not being recognized, and the author states they are not supported.
      tom

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    • Anonymous
      Inactive
      June 22, 2010 at 8:35 am #1230356

      Have you looked for a parallel to USB printer adapter? this one may work for you.
      http://www.epapersign.com/LPT-to-USB/parallel-to-usb-connector/

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    • WSKeithuk
      AskWoody Lounger
      July 20, 2010 at 6:24 am #1234851

      I plugged in an 8gig thumb drive and it’s light came on for about 2 seconds then extinguished.

      I think you’ll find the maximum size for flash drives is 2GB on Win98. Now all mine come with there own drivers which you can download of the manufacturers site. I’ve tried these uninversal ones as shown in this topic but I can’t get those to work.

      Always check the spec of these flash drives before you buy them.

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      • WSstuck
        AskWoody Lounger
        July 20, 2010 at 8:29 am #1234862

        I think you’ll find the maximum size for flash drives is 2GB on Win98.

        I think you’ll find the 2Gb limit is more to do with the formatting of the drive than anything to do with Win 98. If the USB drive (or any[/] other disk for that matter) is formated with ye olde FAT then 2Gb is the limit. On the other hand if it’s formatted as FAT32 or NTFS the upper limits are much, much greater.

        stuck

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        • WSKeithuk
          AskWoody Lounger
          July 20, 2010 at 4:45 pm #1234936

          I think you’ll find the 2Gb limit is more to do with the formatting of the drive than anything to do with Win 98.

          Well you can’t format a 2GB other that FAT32.

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    • WSspeedball
      AskWoody Lounger
      September 1, 2011 at 3:56 pm #1296014

      i think there is a 4 gig max on usb memory sticks.

      even if not, you do need a driver; and none of the larger ones have any win98se drivers. not all current 4 gigs do either.

      used to be able to get 4g from mei and they worked. now you have to dl a driver (if they have one) to get 4G to work. even 2G dont work from mei now without a new driver.

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    • WSmusikman1
      AskWoody Lounger
      September 27, 2011 at 1:36 am #1299782

      I picked up an SIIG USB card from MicroCenter (Cincy) that came with a driver disc (floppy!). It set right up for me and will run up to four USB inputs for USB 1, 1.1, or 2.0.

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    • WSpotter9
      AskWoody Lounger
      November 4, 2011 at 1:43 am #1305319

      there is a generic driver for 98, mine has 2 ports in the rear of an old desktop i use just to do letters, in old ms office 2000, and it is connected to an old printer by usb, which sees xp also, but not vista or 7, i will look for it and re post. jp ps, It some times boots up faster than my xp 6yr old dell laptop running xp pro

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