Required if you've never installed a model 301/302 on your system, or if we do a hardware modification.
You may alsobe required to do so each time you add a new manufacturer's device to a USB port that never
had one of that manufacturer's devices on it before. Connect power, then USB cable from the computer to
Model-301/302 . If this is the very first installation of any of our 301/302 devices, then you should
allow Windows to "Search for a suitable Driver...", (since USB devices at the time of this writing, are
not yet listed in it's list of devices for you to choose from) when prompted. When/if prompted to do
so, insert diskette as the source for the driver. If you've received the code and installation files by
means other than an installation disk, such as by e-mail or our website, then there is information in the
"READ_1ST.TXT" file concerning the making of the installation diskette. If as part of the installation
process, Windows asks for a location of a .inf or .sys file other than the installation diskette (for
example your Windows installation CD), use the "browse" button to point windows to the files on the
installation diskettes. If Windows indicates that it is installing a compatible driver already on the
system, and you haven't previously installed any of our Model-301/302 devices then this is an indication
that your computer's USB chipset may not be compatible with our device. Contact us for more information if
you encounter this condition. Once one of the Model-301/302 devices is installed you should not have to
repeat this procedure unless we do a hardware update. If the windows install process does not occur, it
could mean that you may already have one of our Model-301/302 devices installed, and no registry update
is required. However, you must still physically copy the new LL_USB.sys device driver into your
WINNT\system32\drivers directory (as described below), overwriting the previous copy of the driver. We do
not currently have an installation program to do that sort of thing for you.
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
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Required to install a newer version of the device driver.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. 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.) .
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.
Top of page
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
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 be disabled. The same issue could occur with a
screen save, or power saving features that shut down the hard-disks.
Top of page
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.
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.
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)
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 manufacturer's device to a USB port that never had one
of that manufacturer's devices on it before.
Connect power, then USB cable from the computer to Model-301/302 . If this is the very first installation of
any of our 301/302 devices, then you should allow Windows to "Search for a suitable Driver...", (since USB
devices at the time of this writing, are not yet listed in it's list of devices for you to choose from) when
prompted. When/if prompted to do so, insert diskette as the source for the driver. If you've received the code
and installation files by means other than an installation disk, such as by e-mail or our website, then there
is information in the "READ_1ST.TXT" file concerning the making of the installation diskette. If as part of
the installation process, Windows asks for a location of a .inf or .sys file other than the installation
diskette (for example your Windows installation CD), use the "browse" button to point windows to the files on
the installation diskettes. If Windows indicates that it is installing a compatible driver already on the
system, and you haven't previously installed any of our Model-301/302 devices then this is an indication that
your computer's USB chipset may not be compatible with our device. Contact us for more information if you
encounter this condition. Once one of the Model-301/302 devices is installed you should not have to repeat this
procedure unless we do a hardware update. If the windows install process does not occur, it could mean that you
may already have one of our Model-301/302 devices installed, and no registry update is required. However, you
must still physically copy the new LL_USB2k.sys device driver into your WINNT\system32\drivers directory (as
described below), overwriting the previous copy of the driver. We do not currently have an installation program
to do that sort of thing for you.
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
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. 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.) .
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.
Top of page
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 be 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.
Top of page
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.
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.
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)
Top of page