USB 2.0 / 1394 PCI for Proliant Server

[Zack Menendez]

Hi!

I purchased a generic USB 2.0 & IEEE 1394 PCI Card and tried to install it in a DL360 G3. The machine would not power on; after I removed the card, it powered on as normal. The same thing happened when I tried installing it in a DL320.

The PCI Card is keyed as a universal PCI card (i.e. two slots.) Is there any trick to installing these, or is it perhaps not truly a universal card? (It's a generic CompUSA brand and the documentation doesn't list the voltage.)

USB 2.0 and IEEE 1394 would be quite advantageous to us - does anyone know of cards that do work if I can't make this card work?

Thanks,
Zack

[Zack Menendez]

Does no one have an answer?

I'm looking for a card that will work in the PCI-X slot of a Proliant DL360 that contains USB 2.0 ports (and IEEE 1394 if available.)

[Martin Hudacko]

Zack

You issue may be caused by an incompatibility in the voltage requirements of the PCI card you are using and that of the PCI bus on your server.

Older PCI Bus/Cards used had 5V requirements.
New Buses/cards may have a lower voltage requirement.

If you are using a new card but it is backwards compatible to USB 2.0 to 1.0 that card is most likely a 5V card.

Good luck - let me know if this is the issue.
I am working on a similar solution!

[Zack Menendez]

For anyone looking for an answer on this, I finally got responses from vendors as to the voltages and compatibility of their cards. Many of them didn't understand what PCI-X is or what I was asking, but the clearest answer I got was from Adaptec. They stated that all of their USB 2.0 controller cards are PCI 2.2 Universal and will work in either 5V or 3.3V slots.

So, I purchased the Adaptec Duoconnect, which has 3 USB 2.0 ports and 2 IEEE 1394 (Firewire) ports and it works great in the Proliant DL360 G3!!!

FYI - The original card I purchased was a CompUSA brand 3 port USB 2.0 / 2 port IEEE 1394, which was keyed or "notched" as a universal 3.3V / 5V card, but it did not work in the PCI-X slots. (I did later find that it worked in a 5V slot on another machine.)

I hope this information is useful to someone!

[John Hulsey]

Does anyone know if it is possible to add USB support to an older 6400R or a 5500 Compaq that doesn't have the USB on board? All the new servers support it and with some of the software we are going to start using to take bare metal imaging it would be nice to use an external DVDR or HD to take backups. I know the PCI slots aren't the standard PC type slots PCI version 2.x. I think they are PCI 1.1. I've search the Internet but not found a USB PCI card that will fit. Any info would be greatly appreciated.

[Zack Menendez_1]

Not sure about the 6400R or 5500, but the Adaptec card being both 5V and 3.3V compatible should make it both forward and backwards compatible. It's a 32-bit card and I'm happily using it in a 64-bit slot.

[John Hulsey]

Well the initial problem is that the card slots are not the same. The card won't physically fit into an availabe PCI slot. I've had this problem when ordering other additional PCI cards. They have to be PCI 1.1 compliant I believe. The 2.x just won't fit.

[Zack Menendez_1]

When you say "won't physically fit" if you're talking about the fact that the notches on the card are in a different place than the "barriers" in the slot, that's because the PCI card you're trying to use has a different voltage that your PCI slot. The Adaptec card is universal, notched for both 3.3V and 5V, so it works in either configuration. Thus, it will work in both an older 5V PC desktop motherboard as well as a 3.3V server slot. Is this what you're talking about?

[John Hulsey]

Yes. It won't physically fit because of the notches being offset. I will have to look and see if it's also not an issue with the card fitting where there isn't any socket space. I've identified it as PCI Slot 64Bit / 33Mhz with 5V signal voltage with this visual http://www.swyx.de/images/ssdb/187.jpg

Regards,

[tchin131]

Can someone provide a website link to where I can purchase one?