What I mean is Is the installation of a USB 2.0 driver for Win2K radically different to that for WinXP or WinME?

Here's the problem. I use a Win2K PC based around a QDI motherboard and when I built and then set the machine up I installed QDI's USB 2.0 driver for Win2K. Thereafter, I've been using my USB scanner quite successfully on the machine.

However, I recently bought a USB flash drive but it won't function properly on my machine. It'll read and write but the flash icon in the Systray and other entries don't disappear when the flash is unplugged. Also, Windows hangs when I subsequently try to shut Windows down.

I've another Win2K machine which has a USB 1.1 interface on it instead and the flash drive works perfectly in that.

So, why doesn't the flash drive work properly on my main machine? Any ideas? Is there a special problem with USB 2.0 and Win2K, in the context of USB mass storage devices?

The article at:

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;819332

would seem to suggest that there IS something special in the way that USB 2.0 drivers should be installed on Win2K machines. There, it seems to be saying that both the USB 2.0 update in SP4 and a third-party USB 2.0 driver need to be installed on any given machine, for that interface to work properly. This seems unnecessarily complex and precarious. In fact, the impression given is that the USB 2.0 driver is two-part and is perhaps chipset dependent.

Anyone an expert in this domain?

Service Pack 4 adds the Microsoft USB 2.0 stack, you do NOT need 3rd party drivers.

However, they are not installed by default, you need to manually change the driver used for the USB Root Host in Device Manager.

This was discussed in the beta newsgroups before SP4 went 'gold'.

You've lost me, Adam.

What's meant by "the 2.0 stack"?

You say "They are not installed by default". What are "they"?

Why does the USB Root Host require a change of driver?

Are you trying to say, through all of this, that if I'm installing SP4 on a virgin Win2K, I don't need to add any further USB 2.0 driver whatsoever? Or are you saying that I should let SP4 install its USB 2.0 driver and then I must add my third-party driver specifically to the USB Root Host?

I think it's going to be very important to get this right, as otherwise I'll be stuck with my current problem of USB flash causing Windows failure.

Perhaps it'll help if I explain what I've already got in Device Manager. Under Universal Serial Bus controllers, I have:

SiS 7001 PCI - USB OPen Host Controller, driver 5.0.2183.1
SiS 7001 PCI - USB Open Host Controller, driver 5.0.2183.1
SiS 7001 PCI - USB Open Host Controller, driver 5.0.2183.1

SiS PCI - USB Enhanced Host Controller A0, driver 5.1.2600.0

USB2.0 Root Hub, driver 5.1.2600.0

USB Root Hub, driver 5.0.2183.1
USB Root Hub, driver 5.0.2183.1
USB Root Hub, driver 5.0.2183.1

I have 6 physical USB ports in total, 2 provided as standard and 4 extra ones. All are embedded bus types, ie none of my USB runs off the PCI bus.

Now, presumably that 819332 article is referring to the A0 driver above. Correct? Is it that driver specifically, then, that needs updating?

The only USB 2.0 driver I've installed since building and commissioning this machine is one that was provided by my m/board manufacturer (QDI) on the m/board utilities CD. QDI say that the driver on the CD is a Microsoft-approved USB 2.0 Driver for Win2K (but is it really?).

Soon, I intend to re-format and reinstall Win2K (in order to change from FAT32 to NT). That'd be a golden opportunity to install SP4 and then to correct my USB 2.0 problem. So, what exactly must I do - install SP4, then install the QDI USB driver, then run the USB update described in that article? Or what, exactly? It's all about as clear as mud at the moment. (Do I need to install the QDI driver at all?).

Some help required, please.