StarDestroyer.Net BBS

So I went and got a USB 2.0 card a few months ago now. I got a decent deal on it, the one I bought comes with 4 ports + 1, the other models were either 2, 3, or 4, but they were almost double the price.

Now, the funny thing about it is, 4+1 apparently means you can hook up 4 USB cables to the back, but the +1 is inside. I'm wondering if there's any way to connect it to the USB 1.1 port on the front of my computer? I noted the wires from the front ports are wired to the motherboard, would I need to just disconnect and reconnect to the new port on the card? Will I need new heads on the front?

Wait, whoa, your computer doesn't have USB 2.0 ports? How old is it?

If your back panel ports have a standard USB plug, you'd have to rewire it to the standard USB board socket format. If you just want more ports on the back, you can get backpanel plates that terminate in a USB plug rather than a board socket.

I'm not sure I follow.

To clarify, this is what I have: I have four USB 1.1 ports on the back of my computer, stock. 2 on the front.

I bought an expansion card so that I can enjoy a taste of the future. This card gives me 4 USB 2.0 ports on the back now, in addition to the original 4 USB 1.1 ports.

The catch here is this: it's a 4+1 card, with a 5th port trapped inside the case. That port does not face out, and even if there was space on the back edge of the card, I couldn't make it face that way. What I want to know is, how can I connect this 5th, internal port, to the front ports? I want to hook up my iPod to the front rather than the back, and it would make it easier to use high-speed ports with a memory stick if they're in the front.

Yeah, my PC is a bit old, it's a P4 from 2004(3?). I've upgraded RAM and hard drive, though, just need to swap out the DVD ROM for a DVD+/-R/RW unit, and I'm set.

Yes, and the front panel ports will almost certainly use a pin-block, not a USB plug itself. You'll either have to rewire the front panel connector to a USB port, or buy a card that has pin-blocks on them. I haven't seen a card with an internal USB plug for ages: older cases sometimes used USB plugs for their front panel, but I haven't seen that in several years. Maybe you can get converters?

A P4 with no USB2.0 boggles the mind. Are you sure at least one pair of ports at the back isn't USB2.0?

What if I wanted to get an extension of some sort? Something short, just enough to cross the inside of the case, and then rip out the old port and slot in the extension as a replacement? What exactly would I be looking for, in that case?

And yeah, no 2.0 ports at all with the computer. It's a Compaq, what do you expect?

Um, are you saying you want to remove the port shroud on the card and rewire it with a soldering iron to the pin-block from the front panel line? That sounds... strange and terrifying. You'd be better off just hanging a USB cable around the front from the back, unless you wanted to buy a USB card that explicitly has front-panel pin-blocks.

I understand your problem (have exactly the same problem) the front usb plug will be connected to the motherboard by pins not a plug.. your last idea has merit, I've actually done it.

Either find the worlds shortest usb extension cable or get an extendable/roll-up one and run that from the card through your case and hang it out the front somewhere. If you can leave the old usb front plug in place and hang the cable out through some other hole... is there a hole for a firewire plug next to the front usb that is missing an actual plug?

To do this you're looking for a cable that has a male plug one end (to plug into the card) and a female plug the other end (to replicate the card where you need it).

Or get a usb hub or cable and have it plugged in at the back of the case hanging round the front where you can get it. You will be reduced to three usb 2.0 slots at the back though.

I'm thinking I should crack the case and take pictures so we know what page we're on. Because I'm lost.

Okay, so the front panel USB port has wires coming off of it. This is the pin-block you're talking about?

What I'm talking about is using this 5th port that does not connect to anything outside the case.



So what I would be doing is maybe removing one of the ports on the front side, and hooking up an extension cable from the 5th port to the front, but the extension would need to have a female port on one end so I could stick it in as a replacement.

The_Saint wrote:I understand your problem (have exactly the same problem) the front usb plug will be connected to the motherboard by pins not a plug.. your last idea has merit, I've actually done it.

Either find the worlds shortest usb extension cable or get an extendable/roll-up one and run that from the card through your case and hang it out the front somewhere. If you can leave the old usb front plug in place and hang the cable out through some other hole... is there a hole for a firewire plug next to the front usb that is missing an actual plug?

To do this you're looking for a cable that has a male plug one end (to plug into the card) and a female plug the other end (to replicate the card where you need it).

Or get a usb hub or cable and have it plugged in at the back of the case hanging round the front where you can get it. You will be reduced to three usb 2.0 slots at the back though.

OH ho ho! Someone knows what I'm talking about! Thank goodness!

I guess that's pretty much what I'm looking for, except I don't really know what it is.

The last idea is no good, I figure, if I have this 5th port hanging around inside doing nothing, I should use it as a replacement for the front ports. Leave the back for the printers and web cams and stuff.

If the front-panel doesn't use a USB plug, but a pin-block, you wont' be able to plug it in to a USB cable, will you? If it uses a USB plug, there's no problem, is there? I'm not sure where you're confused here. Either it fits, or it doesn't: either you're basically boned, or you're not. In my first post I mentioned that some older cases use USB plugs (basically a Y-splitter cable) for their front USBs: if your case is like that, attaching it internally should be absolutely trivial.

EDIT - wait, your problem is really that the cable is just too short? When I said 'some use USB plugs internally', why didn't you say 'yes, mine does'?

I believe something like this is what you're looking for. Unfortunately, since there's only one internal port on your card, only one of the ports on the front of your case can be connected, with the other being unusable. Unless, of course, you do something like jerry-rig an unpowered 2-port USB hub inside your case, connecting that to your USB card and then connecting both plugs from the above-linked adapter to the hub, in which case the previous point is moot.

Jesus, that's complex. How about if I just run an extension from the internal port, and knock out one of the old ports on the front, and tape in the female end of the extension as the replacement?

That might work, but most front USB ports like that are actually in a single block soldered on a small PCB in the front of the case. To remove one you'd have to cut the block in half, which might render the other one useless as well.

I found something else that would work even better. You'd just install it in an open drive bay (3.5 or 5.25, it comes with an adapter), then plug a floppy power cable into it (most power supplies have at least two, so you shouldn't have to disconnect your floppy drive) and connect it to the internal port on your card using the included USB cable. This would also give you 4 ports rather than just 1, for even more enjoyment of THE FUTURE.

BRILLIANT! Thank you Executor!

THE FUTURE cannot be stopped!

Phantasee wrote:BRILLIANT! Thank you Executor!

THE FUTURE cannot be stopped!

Well, considering that USB 3.0 with a bandwidth of 4.8 Gbit/second is around the corner, I'd say that it was a very brief "future".

By then I'm going to be thinking of getting a new PC entirely. And THE FUTURE is always in motion, hey?

Time taken to load all my music and back up files onto iPod from old computer without USB 2.0:
>10 hours

Time taken to download all that stuff off of iPod and onto new computer with USB 2.0:
<1 hour

I love USB 2.0