USB2 Networking Cable - driver for it?

  • Thread starter Thread starter RF
  • Start date Start date
R

RF

Hi Experts,

I have 2 Win2K boxes and want to connect them via my USB2 cable. I have
searched many places and downloaded two different drivers but they don't
work. All seems to go well when I install the drivers but afterwards Device
Mgr always shows a big yellow Q mark at USB Device for it. If I uninstall
the software, the question mark goes away but there is no trace of an
installation I did leave the cable unplugged until the software was loaded
but it didn't help.

The cable I have has no brand but the plugs are standard and do hook the two
boxes together. The enlarged part on the middle of the cable reads "USB
Network Cable."

Anyone know where I can find a driver for the cable and Win2K?


TIA
 
RF said:
Hi Experts,

I have 2 Win2K boxes and want to connect them via my USB2 cable. I have
searched many places and downloaded two different drivers but they don't
work. All seems to go well when I install the drivers but afterwards Device
Mgr always shows a big yellow Q mark at USB Device for it. If I uninstall
the software, the question mark goes away but there is no trace of an
installation I did leave the cable unplugged until the software was loaded
but it didn't help.

The cable I have has no brand but the plugs are standard and do hook the two
boxes together. The enlarged part on the middle of the cable reads "USB
Network Cable."

Anyone know where I can find a driver for the cable and Win2K?


TIA
Click to expand...

They call it PCLinq here. More than one company made a chip for it.
I think one company had to stop making it, due to a patent.

http://www.prolific.com.tw/eng/downloads.asp?ID=29

http://www.usbgear.com/PCLinq2/

http://www.linkusb.com/

I'd probably start with a copy of UVCView and get the
vendor and product numbers. And then maybe you can figure out
who makes the chip inside it. As far as I know, there
is no standard USB device class for those things. So
you'd likely want to get the software from the company
that made the cable. The label printed on the cable
may be of more value, than the electronic identification.

http://web.archive.org/*/http://dow...f-a31d-436b-9281-92cdfeae4b45/UVCView.x86.exe

idVendor: 0x067b
idProduct: 0x2501

http://www.linux-usb.org/usb.ids

067b Prolific Technology, Inc.
2501 PL2501 USB-USB Bridge (USB 2.0)

Once you've got some identifying information, it
may be easier to track down a driver. If the
only version of software, is on the included CD,
then you may have a tougher time finding it.

Paul
 
Paul said:
They call it PCLinq here. More than one company made a chip for it.
I think one company had to stop making it, due to a patent.

http://www.prolific.com.tw/eng/downloads.asp?ID=29

http://www.usbgear.com/PCLinq2/

http://www.linkusb.com/

I'd probably start with a copy of UVCView and get the
vendor and product numbers. And then maybe you can figure out
who makes the chip inside it. As far as I know, there
is no standard USB device class for those things. So
you'd likely want to get the software from the company
that made the cable. The label printed on the cable
may be of more value, than the electronic identification.

http://web.archive.org/*/http://download.microsoft.com/download/e/b/a/eba105
0f-a31d-436b-9281-92cdfeae4b45/UVCView.x86.exe

idVendor: 0x067b
idProduct: 0x2501

http://www.linux-usb.org/usb.ids

067b Prolific Technology, Inc.
2501 PL2501 USB-USB Bridge (USB 2.0)

Once you've got some identifying information, it
may be easier to track down a driver. If the
only version of software, is on the included CD,
then you may have a tougher time finding it.

Paul
Click to expand...

Many thanks Paul. I did find the items you mentioned but failed to make the
connection. I suspect the problem is the older box. The vendor and product
IDs were the same as the ones you quoted.

I found that the bios in the older box had Legend only and the newer one had
both Legend and USB2. Both bioss are turned on for the USB and the older box
always shows a yellow exclamation mark. The older box does have 2 USB
connections - is it necessary to have a plugin card to get the USB to work
on these data transfer cables?

The PCLinq software sets up very easily - now all I need is the connection.

TIA
 
RF said:
Many thanks Paul. I did find the items you mentioned but failed to make the
connection. I suspect the problem is the older box. The vendor and product
IDs were the same as the ones you quoted.

I found that the bios in the older box had Legend only and the newer one had
both Legend and USB2. Both bioss are turned on for the USB and the older box
always shows a yellow exclamation mark. The older box does have 2 USB
connections - is it necessary to have a plugin card to get the USB to work
on these data transfer cables?

The PCLinq software sets up very easily - now all I need is the connection.

TIA
Click to expand...

Do other USB devices work on that machine ?

I would expect it to work, even if one end is at USB 1.1 rate
and the other end is USB 2.0 rate. With the limited number of
buffers, it should just stop when the buffers are full, until
the other side drains the buffers. (I didn't know these had a
processor inside - I thought ping-pong chips were dumb and mechanical.
I don't see the need for a processor in there. Maybe it is a
performance optimization.)

http://www.prolific.com.tw/eng/Products.asp?ID=18

I would try to connect both PCs to the same power strip, so
there aren't any grounding problems. If you can use UVCView
on each PC, and see the idVendor and idProduct, that tells
me the lowest level (PHY) communications must be working.

After that, it would be a driver issue.

On the affected machine, is the PL-2501 causing a networking
item to appear in Device Manager ? Maybe it is there, but has
become bound to the wrong standard (NDIS).

There are ways to delete USB items in Device Manager, such that
they get redetected, but in this case, I don't see how that is
going to help. There is an example here, which relies on
Microsoft DEVCON, to interact with the Device Manager. Doing
stuff like this can be risky.

See "RenewUSB.bat"
http://www.robvanderwoude.com/devcon.php

*******

For help with BIOS settings, try the old Rojakpot pages. They're
now hosted here.

http://www.techarp.com/freebog.aspx

USB Legacy Support
http://www.techarp.com/showFreeBOG.aspx?lang=0&bogno=342

Sometimes, the BIOS companies product documents to help with
BIOS settings. There isn't really that much extra detail here
for "Legacy USB Support".

http://www.ami.com/support/doc/MAN-EZP-80.pdf

Paul
 
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