LL_USB Installation guide

Lawson Labs, Inc.
USB Data Acquisition system
Installation guides

Win98 and WinME

New Installation

Device Driver update
Method 1
Method 2

Things to be aware of
System and .inf files
.Ini files
Cross platform compatibility
Driver time slicing issues

Additional Installation notes

Win2k and WinXP

Win98 and WinME

Installation notes

1.) New Installation

*Required if you've never installed a model 301/302 on your system, or if we do a hardware modification.
You may also be required to do so each time you add a new device to a USB port that never had that device on it before.

Connect power, then USB cable from the computer to Model-301/302. If the device is recognized by your PC's chipset, Windows will present you with a series of dialog boxes used to install the device.

Early in the process, one of the dialog boxes may ( but not always ) give you the option to allow Windows to search for a suitable "type of" driver or allow you to select one - allow Windows to search. When that option is selected, Windows will try to identify the type of device as a "USB" device and will then present you with another set of options to either search for a suitable driver, or allow you to select a driver from a specific location but this time DO NOT allow Windows to find a driver - always choose the option to locate the driver yourself.

TIP: What this actually means is that Windows will look for a file with a .INF extension ( meaning information ) which contains information about what device driver goes along with the device, how it should be installed, and whether there are any other support files that need to be installed along with it.

Drivers are typically and most easily installed from a diskette so that is the method we'll discuss here. Follow a similar process if installing directly from your hard-disk if for example your PC does not have a diskette drive.

When/if prompted for a driver location, select the diskette you've inserted and when Windows looks at it, the LL_USB.INF should become visible. If it does not, then there could be a chipset compatibility error because the .INF file that is located on the diskette would have been analyzed by Windows for information that matches specific information incoded within our USB device. If it can't read the information from the device then it can't successfully install the device and the process should be terminated and you should contact Lawson Labs, Inc. for support.

If Windows correctly identifies the .INF file that is associated with the device, Windows will then copy the .INF file (it may rename it in the process) to a special folder on your disk drive as well as the .SYS file and the .INI file

See additional notes below for more information.

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2.) Device Driver update

*Required to install a newer version of the device driver.
There are two options available to update the device driver on a system that has a previous version of our device driver:

Method I.)

This is the method to use unless we specify using method "II" below. Copy new version of Device Driver to your WINNT\System32\Drivers directory ( the Windows directory can have any name depending on where you originally installed Windows ). If you are not prompted with the window's message "Overwrite previous file?" then you may have copied it to the wrong directory, and will need to confirm that the new driver has been copied to the correct directory.

Please remember to always use the newest version of the DLL and to place that DLL within your application directory as is currently recommended by Microsoft for DLLs that are not shipped with the operating system. Since the installation process isn't aware of the location of your application directory, the copying of the DLL is not done by the installation process.
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Method II.) - use only if instructed to do so

Connect power, then USB cable from the computer to ALL Model-301s and 302s. Open the "Control Panel" and select the "System" icon. Click on the "Hardware" tab of the box that appears, and then click the "Device Manager" button. From the display of device icons, left-click the "+" sign next to "Universal Serial Bus Controllers" icon to view the list of installed USB devices. In that list, you'll see one or more entries for "Lawson Labs ....". Each device will need to be updated individually. To do so, right click on the icon and from the drop-down menu, select "Properties". From the dialog box that will be displayed, select the "Driver" tab. From the next panel, click the "Update driver" button. Follow the prompts to install the newest version of our driver from the floppy diskette where you should have placed it. You will need to select:

"Display a list of the known drivers for this device so that I can choose a specific driver"

when prompted, in order to have the option to locate the driver from the floppy diskette. If you allow the system to "Search for a sutable driver...." it will most likely reinstall the previous version of the driver, or present you with a list of both old and new making for a confusing situation. From the next window, "Upgrade Device Driver Wizard", press the "Have Disk" button. When the drive letter of your diskette is displayed, press the "OK" button, which should return you to the previous window with the name of the new driver in the "Models" window. Press the "Next" button, and then at the next confirmation screen, press that "Next" button as well at which time windows will install the new driver. You complete the process, by pressing the "Finish" button on the final screen.

The floppy diskette should contain the newest .inf file, .sys file and any .ini files that were originally on the installation diskette if we made the diskette for you, or from the diskette you made from our installation archive that you downloaded from our website.

Please remember to always use the newest version of the DLL and to place that DLL within your application directory as is currently recommended by Microsoft for DLLs that are not shipped with the operating system. Since the installation process isn't aware of the location of your application directory, the copying of the DLL is not done by the installation process.
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Things to be aware of

1.) System and .inf files: Device driver filename is LL_USB.sys . During installation, that file will usually be placed in the Windows\system32\drivers directory.

Special note: After 7-9-03 Win98 and Win2k will use the separate .inf files. WinXP/2k/NT will use LL_USB2k.inf and Win9x/ME will use LL_USB.inf
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2.) .Ini files: LL_USB.INI should be placed in the Windows directory automatically by the windows installation process. LL_USB.INI contains information used by the DLL for optional debug output as well as various DLL-to-app messaging options. It ships with default values which are the same values used by the DLL if it fails to find LL_USB.INI at runtime.

Special note: Windows application will not recognize .ini files that are placed within the application directory. The .ini files must reside in the WINNT directory.
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3.) Cross platform compatibility: The Device Driver (.sys) and the Dynamic Link Library (.dll) is not interchangeable between Win2k and Win98. Even though the Win2k driver and DLL may appear to work in Win98 or vice-versa, the results are unpredictable as the contents of the binaries and use of runtime libraries, though similar, are not exactly the same.
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4.) Driver time slicing issues: While in "scan mode" some software that interrogates low-level drivers can cause critical time slicing to our driver to be interrupted. Such an interruption disrupts the driver's reading of the hardware's data buffer which can cause it to overlfow. A good example of this is the "FindFast" utility that ships with some Microsoft software. Such programs should disabled. The same issue could occur with a screen save, or power saving features that shut down the hard-disks.
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Additional Installation notes
and USB related issues

1.)   PCI to USB Universal Host Controller." or "VIA Tech 3038 PCI to USB Universal Host Controller."

2.)   Device has been tested using the following add-in PCI USB interface cards: ADS "USB Turbo Quad 4" part # USBX-404 ADS "USB Port - for desktops" part # USBH-600 ADS "USB Hub" part # USBX-500

3.)   Device FAILED when tested with the following add-in PCI USB interface cards: SIIG "High-Speed USB 5-Port Adapter for PC and Mac" part # US2216

4.)   Microsoft has stated, "USB Devices May Not Work in Windows 98 Second Edition" they name the following processors: An AMD processor (running at 350 MHz or faster) A VIA Technologies USB controller and also say, "This behavior may occur with an SiS 7001 Usbohci chip set as well." Please visit the following URL for more information: http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/Q240/0/75.ASP

5.)   http://www.usbman.com/Guides/known_issues.htm Intel 82371SB (Hardware version 000 and 001)

The "SB" chipset has a lot of known defects that are referred to as "errata". Errata is defined as defects in a product that can result in the specified product not performing to the manufactures specifications. Intel fixed many of the defects, but then decided not to fix all of them. Instead they moved on to the “AB” chipset. You will generally find “SB” chipsets on machines that are older than 12 months; this includes many Compaq’s. Compaq was one of the three companies that started the implementation of USB, Intel and Microsoft completes the trio.

6.)   http://support.microsoft.com/support/windows/readme/win98se/w98sehardwaretxt.asp?LNG=ENG&SA=ALLKB#NECUSB

NEC USB OHCI Host Controllers[jrh1]

Some older systems ship with a USB OHCI host controller from NEC that has known problems with bulk devices. You may experience problems with this host controller when using bulk USB devices such as scanners, printers, and modems.

7.)   http://www.ping.be/bios/

From Peter - The first round of system chipsets that was advertized as having USB was made to an early pre-1.0 USB specification, and shipped in the hope that this attempt would be close enough to the 1.0 spec that the chips would be useful.

After that it turned out that the specification had to be changed bigtime to get it working, and that the chipsets would have to be changed as well. That's why there are mainboards around that seem to have everything you need for USB, yet don't show any sign of actually doing it. BIOS developers then were asked to hide these pre-1.0 USB controllers, both from BIOS setup and, where possible on chipset programming level (as with Intel's PIIX3 south bridge chip), from the PCI bus as well.

The big four chipset makers Intel, ALi, VIA and SiS all had pre-1.0 chips out. I don't have any detail for ALi and SiS. Intel's pre-spec PIIX3 is recognized by being rev. 0 (as read through PCI revision ID register) and marked "SU052" production S-spec. The rev. 1 "SU093" is the one with working USB. VIA has working USB in the 82C586B south bridge, and it seems the implementation in the original 82C586 and 82C586A was pre-spec, although I don't have confirmation on that (only the fact that Ocean Rhino 12 and PC-Chips M537 boards were advertized as "with working USB" once they sported the 586B).

On an interesting side note, recently one Intel spokesman claimed that only around 100 SU052 PIIX3 had been made. From the number of those I alone encountered here in Germany, I don't quite buy that.

8.)   http://www.usbman.com/Guides/Cleanup%20Device%20Manager%20Safe%20Mode.htm

Removing USB Completely:

If USB is sharing an IRQ with another device and you are attempting to free the IRQ, or you wish to refresh the USB drivers, you should remove USB completely and allow Windows to reinstall the drivers.

To remove USB completely, delete the Root Hub FIRST and then delete the host controller in that order. The Universal Serial Bus Controller heading should disappear from the Device Manager. Before rebooting to Standard Mode, insert the Windows CD into the CDROM drive and direct Windows to look in, ( CDROM drive: / Win98), when prompted.

Note: USB Does NOT like to share it's IRQ with another device especially when using sophisticated USB peripherals. Even though Windows may report NO conflict, if USB is sharing it's IRQ with another peripheral, (i.e. video, sound, SCSI etc.), that is often the source of the problem. (IRQ Holder for PCI Steering is NOT considered another device)

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Win2k and WinXP

Installation notes

1.) New Installation

Drivers are typically and most easily installed from a diskette so that is the method we'll discuss here. Follow a similar process if installing directly from your hard-disk if for example your PC does not have a diskette drive.

When/if prompted for a driver location, select the diskette you've inserted and when Windows looks at it, the LL_USB2k.INF (LL_USB.INF for win98/ME) should become visible. If it does not, then there could be a chipset compatibility error because the .INF file that is located on the diskette would have been analyzed by Windows for information that matches specific information incoded within our USB device. If it can't read the information from the device then it can't successfully install the device and the process should be terminated and you should contact Lawson Labs, Inc. for support.

If Windows correctly identifies the .INF file that is associated with the device, you will most likely be prompted to with a box (Win2k/XP/NT) saying that the driver is not "signed" and asking you if you'd like to continue - answer "yes". Windows will then copy the .INF file (it may rename it in the process) to a special folder on your disk drive as well as the .SYS file and the .INI file.

See additional notes below for more information.

Top of page

2.) Device Driver update

*Required to install a newer version of the device driver.
There are two options available to update the device driver on a system that has a previous version of our device driver:

Method I.)

This is the method to use unless we specify using method "II" below. Copy new version of Device Driver to your Windows\System32\Drivers directory ( the Windows directory can have any name depending on where you originally installed Windows ). If you are not prompted with the window's message "Overwrite previous file?" then you may have copied it to the wrong directory, and will need to confirm that the new driver has been copied to the correct directory.

Please remember to always use the newest version of the DLL and to place that DLL within your application directory as is currently recommended by Microsoft for DLLs that are not shipped with the operating system. Since the installation process isn't aware of the location of your application directory, the copying of the DLL is not done by the installation process.
Top of page

Method II.) - use only if instructed to do so

Things to be aware of

1.) System and .inf files: Device driver filename is LL_USB2k.sys . During installation, that file will usually be placed in the WINNT\system32\drivers directory.

Special note: After 7-9-03 Win98 and Win2k will use the separate .inf files. WinXP/2k/NT will use LL_USB2k.inf and Win9x/ME will use LL_USB.inf
Top of page
2.) .Ini files: LL_USB.INI should be placed in the Windows directory automatically by the windows installation process. LL_USB.INI contains information used by the DLL for optional debug output as well as various DLL-to-app messaging options. It ships with default values which are the same values used by the DLL if it fails to find LL_USB.INI at runtime.

Special note: Windows application will not recognize .ini files that are placed within the application directory. The .ini files must reside in the WINNT directory.
Top of page
3.) Cross platform compatibility: The Device Driver (.sys) and the Dynamic Link Library (.dll) is not interchangeable between Win2k and Win98. Even though the Win2k driver and dll may appear to work in Win98 or vice-versa, the results are unpredictable as the contents of the binaries and use of runtime libraries, though similar, are not exactly the same.
Top of page
4.) Driver time slicing issues: While in "scan mode" some software that interrogates low-level drivers can cause critical time slicing to our driver to be interrupted. Such an interruption disrupts the driver's reading of the hardware's data buffer which can cause it to overlfow. A good example of this is the "FindFast" utility that ships with some Microsoft software. Such programs should disabled. The same issue could occur with a screen save, or power saving features that shut down the hard-disks.
Top of page
5.) Known hardware installations problems Win2k: If a plug-n-play (such as our USB) device is installed, and then one of the system "Driver Remove" or "Driver Uninstall" processes is used to remove the driver, the driver is not completely removed from the system. Windows maintains a record of the driver and .inf file names as well as the manufacturer name of the device - possibly an attempt to make a reinstallation of the device easier. If an attempt is made to reinstall the device with a new driver or .inf file name supplied by the same manufacturer, Windows will insist on installing only files that have the same name as the previously installed files. It will be necessary to do the following:

Rename the new files to the same as the name that Window's installer is insisting on, which is the name that was used when they were previously installed. Allow Windows to install the files using the old names. Once installed, then rename the files on the diskette to the new (correct) names and use the Device manager to update the driver with the new one.
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Additional Installation notes
and USB related issues

1.)   Device has been tested using the Intel chipset and "Intel 82371AB/EB PCI to USB Universal Host Controller." or "VIA Tech 3038 PCI to USB Universal Host Controller."

2.)   Device has been tested using the following add-in PCI USB interface cards: ADS "USB Turbo Quad 4" part # USBX-404 ADS "USB Port - for desktops" part # USBH-600 ADS "USB Hub" part # USBX-500

3.)   Device FAILED when tested with the following add-in PCI USB interface cards: SIIG "High-Speed USB 5-Port Adapter for PC and Mac" part # US2216

4.)   Microsoft has stated, "USB Devices May Not Work in Windows 98 Second Edition" they name the following processors: An AMD processor (running at 350 MHz or faster) A VIA Technologies USB controller and also say, "This behavior may occur with an SiS 7001 Usbohci chip set as well." Please visit the following URL for more information: http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/Q240/0/75.ASP

5.)   http://www.usbman.com/Guides/known_issues.htm Intel 82371SB (Hardware version 000 and 001)

The "SB" chipset has a lot of known defects that are referred to as "errata". Errata is defined as defects in a product that can result in the specified product not performing to the manufactures specifications. Intel fixed many of the defects, but then decided not to fix all of them. Instead they moved on to the “AB” chipset. You will generally find “SB” chipsets on machines that are older than 12 months; this includes many Compaq’s. Compaq was one of the three companies that started the implementation of USB, Intel and Microsoft completes the trio.

6.)   http://support.microsoft.com/support/windows/readme/win98se/w98sehardwaretxt.asp?LNG=ENG&SA=ALLKB#NECUSB

NEC USB OHCI Host Controllers[jrh1]

Some older systems ship with a USB OHCI host controller from NEC that has known problems with bulk devices. You may experience problems with this host controller when using bulk USB devices such as scanners, printers, and modems.

7.)   http://www.ping.be/bios/

From Peter - The first round of system chipsets that was advertized as having USB was made to an early pre-1.0 USB specification, and shipped in the hope that this attempt would be close enough to the 1.0 spec that the chips would be useful.

After that it turned out that the specification had to be changed bigtime to get it working, and that the chipsets would have to be changed as well. That's why there are mainboards around that seem to have everything you need for USB, yet don't show any sign of actually doing it. BIOS developers then were asked to hide these pre-1.0 USB controllers, both from BIOS setup and, where possible on chipset programming level (as with Intel's PIIX3 south bridge chip), from the PCI bus as well.

The big four chipset makers Intel, ALi, VIA and SiS all had pre-1.0 chips out. I don't have any detail for ALi and SiS. Intel's pre-spec PIIX3 is recognized by being rev. 0 (as read through PCI revision ID register) and marked "SU052" production S-spec. The rev. 1 "SU093" is the one with working USB. VIA has working USB in the 82C586B south bridge, and it seems the implementation in the original 82C586 and 82C586A was pre-spec, although I don't have confirmation on that (only the fact that Ocean Rhino 12 and PC-Chips M537 boards were advertized as "with working USB" once they sported the 586B).

On an interesting side note, recently one Intel spokesman claimed that only around 100 SU052 PIIX3 had been made. From the number of those I alone encountered here in Germany, I don't quite buy that.

8.)   http://www.usbman.com/Guides/Cleanup%20Device%20Manager%20Safe%20Mode.htm

Removing USB Completely:

If USB is sharing an IRQ with another device and you are attempting to free the IRQ, or you wish to refresh the USB drivers, you should remove USB completely and allow Windows to reinstall the drivers.

To remove USB completely, delete the Root Hub FIRST and then delete the host controller in that order. The Universal Serial Bus Controller heading should disappear from the Device Manager. Before rebooting to Standard Mode, insert the Windows CD into the CDROM drive and direct Windows to look in, ( CDROM drive: / Win98), when prompted.

Note: USB Does NOT like to share it's IRQ with another device especially when using sophisticated USB peripherals. Even though Windows may report NO conflict, if USB is sharing it's IRQ with another peripheral, (i.e. video, sound, SCSI etc.), that is often the source of the problem. (IRQ Holder for PCI Steering is NOT considered another device)
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lawsnlab@lawsonlabs.com
last reviewed/modified: 7-9-03 (Tim Van Dusen)