A cautionary tale

[DD_Brando]

So I decided to do something about the limited number of USB ports on my budget Abit AX78 mobo by buying and installing a Belkin 5 port USB card, a PCI-Express x1 model. I'd always thought that it would be good to use one of those tiny slots on the mobo for something, and what could be easier than fitting a card, eh?

Well, first off I had to re-route one of the tubes from my water-cooling system to make the required slot available. No biggie and the move actually made the return-flow run more smooth and that only took about twenty minutes. So far so good.

With the flow restored and clear of bubbles, I followed Belkin's instructions to the letter. Which is where it all started to fall apart.....

"You must install the software before installing the hardware....." Okay, if that's how you want to do it I said, and slid the disc in. Select OS....check. Select product...check. Press Install.....check. Installation finished - remove all discs from the computer and reboot to complete the installation.....check. And then the PC restarted. With an error message.

"The disc is not in the PC - you must insert the disc to complete the installation - please re-insert the disc" Duh? Anyway, I stuck the disc back in & the install, er, completed - annd I shut down and disconnected the power to actually insert the device. Check.

And then it just got sillier. Windows couldn't detect the device and I couldn't access BIOS because the keyboard wouldn't come alight. I shut down again and fitted an old PSU keyboard, then booted successfully into BIOS. I set the USB keyboard and mouse function to work from BIOS instead of the OS and checked to see if the card was recognised at all. Then I rebooted to a partial success, in that the device was listed as functioning in Windows Device Manager. I plugged in my CH flight gear and my trackIR, and everything worked except my pedals. I had to re-calibrate them in the CHCM and then they worked. Hmmm.

So I thought I'd go on-line and see if anyone else had similar problems with this 'simple' installation. I was almost unsurprised when I discovered that my network adapter was no longer present After several bouts of cable-wiggling and rebooting with and without the RJ45 cable connected it finally just reappeared with no explanation. By that time I couldn't bear the idea of going to read about any other poor B's who had been afflicted, so I decided to go on-line and have a session with some buddies. And then.....

It was Teamspeak that finally wigged me out. In I went and there we were,and my mike had stopped transmitting!! It took me 3/4s of an hour to bring the bloody thing back on line - and it was only by lowering the volume a notch and then up again. A totally ridiculous and illogical solution.

So I'm gob-smacked. Firstly that a respectable firm like Belkin can issue software that is so poorly written, and secondly that if it makes me 'hot under the collar' dealing with it - how the heck is it gonna be for those of us who are less computer-savvy?

Do Belkin have some secret deal with PC technicians? Is this a clandestine job-creation scheme?

After the dust has settled, yes, it's a really good piece of kit that has enhanced my mobo's limited qualities. But why the hell should I have to go through ice & fire to get it working?

B

[B16Enk]

[Trout]

? ? ?

"You had me at hello".....

[DD_Brando]

is my friend - or so I am continually assured; as well as my pipe-smoking, sign-toting, investigative sleuth . If that is true, why didn't he warn me to hire a mind-guard?