Properly enabling USB 2.0 via a Thinkpad docking station?

October 2, 2006 8:36 PM

Help! Stuck with USB 1.1 on a Thinkpad T40 when connected to an IBM Mini Dock.

Hey guys, I'm using a Thinkpad T40 notebook with 2 USB 2.0 ports. I also have an IBM Thinkpad Mini-Dock (2878) which works well and purports to have 4 USB 2.0 ports.

However, with my Thinkpad in the Mini-Dock, when I plug any USB device (external hard drive, mouse), a Windows pop-up appears saying something to the effect of "This Device would work faster if you were using a USB 2.0 enabled port".

So is my mini-dock holding me back? The message doesn't seem to come up when I connect to the notebook's USB port directly.

posted by MaverickX to computers & internet (8 comments total)

Spoke too soon - looks like I get the same problem when my external hard drive is connected directly to my Thinkpad as well.

I tried to go to device manage and update the drivers for the Universal Host Controllers (including the USB 2.0 Enhanced Host)- which *seemed* to go okay. But I'm still getting the same error message.
posted by MaverickX at 8:49 PM on October 2, 2006

I was going to suggest just buying some USB 2.0 ports on a PCMCIA card, but I'm a little confused... you're getting that error message with MICE? Mice are normally only 11Mbps, and shouldn't ever give you that message. Are you sure?
posted by Malor at 10:36 PM on October 2, 2006

Have you re-installed Windows lately? My nVidia nForce motherboards need a driver before their USB ports kick into USB 2.0. See if you can find a USB driver for your Thinkpad on IBM's website.
posted by krisjohn at 11:54 PM on October 2, 2006

Oops, didn't spot the followup.
posted by krisjohn at 11:54 PM on October 2, 2006

What did you update the USB drivers *with*?

Try going to the IBM support site and get the mobo drivers and reinstall that.
posted by mphuie at 12:50 AM on October 3, 2006

Have you gone to the IBM support site to make sure you have installed the latest USB drivers.

Also, try some other high speed device like a thumb drive. (Mice are not high speed so should never give the warning message.) There is a tricky hardware handshake that occurs when a device is plugged in so that the port and device can agree on a mutually compatible speed. Some devices just don't handle this negotiation very reliably and so the port may fall back to a lower speed. Then when the driver initializes the device it determines that the device would prefer high speed and so Windows throws up the warning message.
posted by JackFlash at 1:15 AM on October 3, 2006

Uh, I know this gets me extra points on the "white and nerdy" quiz, but I think my Razer Diamondback mouse is USB2.0.
posted by krisjohn at 3:20 AM on October 3, 2006

I've got the Thinkpad T40 as well, and I have gotten the same message when I have tried to use flashdrives. Ultimately, the only solution was to buy a USB 2.0 PCMIA card, which instantly solved the problem.
posted by quintno at 5:25 AM on October 3, 2006