Another Question From the Hardware-Helpless PhirePhreak. Re: USB

Me again. w00t.

Same old computer... And now I'm wondering if there is a way to install USB ports, hopefully relatively inexpensively?

Perhaps a card or something to pop in?

*sigh*
Thanks :)

Don't know what the specs of your PC are, but providing it has a free PCI slot, which is likely unless it is really ancient, then yes you can.
Over here it is about US $25 for a PCI card which will give you 4 USB (v2) connections.

Yeah the best way to do it is to buy a USB card that installs in the PCI slots. There is also another way where you don't have to install it into a PCI slot, but you do have to have an open slot on your back panel. All you have to have is a place on your motherboard that can connect another USB. But Of course if you dont' have that on your motherboard then you must go with a USB that Uses PCI slots.

actualy both chyenne and darkess are correct but i have also seen the kind of usb posrts that cheyeene is referring to via a dongle ( dont look at me i didnt name it) to the mother board that fit in a 5 1/4" drive bay if you have an open one. I dont know your system specs but one of theese 3 ways will get you usb if your system is capable of utilizing usb. if its a store bought computer i would check with the manufaturer to find out if you have the dongle connector on your mobo. i dont remeber the exact spec's but i want to say if i remeber corectly that using the dongle in better than pci.

I know what you mean by a ‘dongle’. The new mobo that I installed recently (SIS648) had the usual 4 USB connectors directly soldered to the mobo, which are accessible at the back of the PC.

However it also had a bracket (‘dongle’) provided which connects to the mobo to provide an extra 2 USB ports, together with a 4 LED display via an empty 5 1/4" slot at the front. Never seen this 4 LED display before, but it’s pretty useful as it tells you what specific hardware problem is preventing your PC from booting before the BIOS can put any messages on the screen. e.g. CPU error, chipset error, RAM fault, VGA error etc. - saved me having to guess that there was something wrong with the RAM in my case.

A direct connection to the mobo is faster (and cheaper!), as you are talking directly to the chipset without going via the PCI bus.
I’m sure that if you post what your mobo is, then we can give you the options.

Thanks for the help guys!

I just got back from my little vacation today, so I'll see about buying some of these fun little things on Monday.

Thanks again!