Customer Reviews

IOGear Hi-Speed USB 2.0 CardBus GPU202

5 star:		(17)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(9)

 

 

I didn't see any reviews here that addressed Mac compatibility, so I thought I'd toss my hat in the ring....

Prior to OS X 10.2.8, the GPU202 worked, but only at USB 1.1 speeds. Not very helpful, since I already have built-in USB 1.1 ports on my TiBook 400. I then installed the drivers for this device, and got mixed results. The bus was definitely running at USB 2.0 speeds, but I couldn't find a consistent way to remove the GPU202 from the slot without causing system instability. :( I decided that the card-removal hassle wasn't worth it, so the GPU202 sat in a drawer unused. :(

Then along came the 10.2.8 update, and it was good. Now it works flawlessly, without the need for any extra drivers! (I uninstalled the IOGear driver before upgrading to 10.2.8.)

This is all moot if you buy a new Apple system, as they all have USB 2.0 ports built in now. But for pre-USB2 PowerBook users, this card should work great. Also, I imagine that it will work fine in Panther, although I haven't had a chance to try that out....

Here's the order of operations that I follow:

1) insert GPU202 into slot.
2) plug USB cable into GPU202.
3) do whatever you need to do.
4) unplug USB cable from GPU202.
5) use menu item to "Power Off Card."
6) remove card.

I have a fujitsu E series laptop with Windows XP. The cardbus will only work with USB 1.1 peripherals.

I bought an IOGEAR 2.5in USB 2.0 external hard drive enclosure and this hangs when connected via the card, sometimes spontaniously rebooting my pc.

Writing to my new TDK USB 2.0 40x CDRW (via Roxio OR Easy CD Creator) also fails. Yes I've tried powering the cardbus (and the enclosure) to no avail. Iogear support was non responsive.

Even after a clean install of XP (for other reasons) the problem with the ION persisted.

Then tried the card with the same CDRW and Drive enclosure on my friends Dell Inspiron with XP - no problems!

So you may be delighted or you may not.

I bought this card for my 18-month old Dell Inspiron 4000. I am running Windows 2000 Pro.
Installing the card was very easy. Just plug it in and Windows will guide you to load the driver. You need at least Win 98 Second Edition to use this product.
Works OK with all my older USB 1.1 devices. I don't have any USB 2.0 devices yet so I can't atest on the speed. I am looking forward to use it with an external CDRW soon. Their prices are quite reasonable now.
The product is Hot-Swapable under Windows 2K. But you NEED to stop/remove before putting the system in standby/hibernate. Otherwise your system may behave erratically.
Alex.

This is a truly great product - I just put it in my Dell Inspiron 8100 and connected my USB 2.0 Maxtor 2000LE external harddrive and it works like a champ. The review by 'the great entity' regarding not working with PC chipsets is completely incorrect - it almost caused me not to buy this product. Pay no attention - this card works as advertised. I also have an IO Gear KVM switch that I'd also highly recommend - you can't beat the price, specs, or the fact that it includes all the cables for 4 devices. Way to go IOGear!

I didn't have any problem installing it in my Windows XP laptop, it was truly plug and play and didn't need any software. I can hot-swap the card or USB devices while the laptop is on without any problem. It's a great way to add USB 2.0 ports, and it costs less than other available adapters. All the negative reviews almost made me not to buy the product, but I bought it and very happy with its performance (480 mbps).

This card works fine. I would venture to say that almost all of the one-star ratings out there have working cards. When using this, or any other USB 2.0 cardbus you have to pay attention to the current draw of the devices you are plugging into it. High power devices require the use of the auxilliary power cable (the little circle plug in between the USB ports) to work properly. If you connect a high power device to this card and don't have the aux power cable attached, you will see erradic behavior ranging from 'Windows can't detect the device' to 'Windows lists the device in My Computer but gives error messages when attempting to transfer files or complete normal operations.' Results can even be intermittent if the current draw is close to the cardbus's current output threshhold. In any case you are not getting the expected performance, like the subject line says, read the f'ing manual.

FYI tried to use this product as a USB 2.0 port for a Mac Powerbook G4 running Leopard (10.5). The card worked fine for keyboards, mice, and ipod syncing, but it did not work for iPhone syncing. It would frequently cause kernel panics and require manual powercycling to reboot the mac.

I tried a few different ways to get it to work (including using the drivers built-in to Leopard and then using the latest 2003 drivers from the iogear website), but ultimately was forced to give up.

Note that I also tried a Belkin product and was similarly unsuccessful.

I purchased this card in order to connect an external 2.5" hard drive enclosure, that draws bus power from the USB 2.0 connection. Unfortunately, the Iogear card did not provide enough power to mount my 2.5" hard drive. I called Iogear, and they recommended buying an AC adapter which should boost the bus power. The AC adapter is available from CDW, model #0AD8-0705-261G, and costs around $17.

Wow, I was suprised to read all the bad reviews. I bought this needing a 2.0 USB port since my laptop is 2 1/2 years old...my music tranfer rate to my IRIVER H10 is speedy. As Far as support...I haven't need it, so I 'll give this a FULL STAR Rating.

Does not work on my Inspiron 4100 with XP. I get the indication that drivers are not installed despite repeated attempts using the installation cd. Product does function with my mouse, but not any other devices. I have to unplug it when using any device attached to my laptop usb port or else everything locks up.