Hi,
I bought a cheapo case that claims it has front USB 2.0 ports, but the old motherboard I put in it came out of a case with USB 1.1 ports, so the header on the motherboard is 1.1 also. What I'm wondering is, will the case ports function properly if I connect them to the old motherboard? Wikipedia claims the spec is backwards compatible, however does that only imply USB 2.0 devices work in USB 1.1 ports?

I connected the header to the ports via a joined cable, so there is no chance of my screwing up the pins, but still my external USB 2.0 drive did not work, the old computer detected it, but I could not access it.

Thanks for your input.

Although I've never done it--- in theory it should work. Maybe the External Drive does not work with 1.1?

Try some different devices (like a printer) which you know works with 1.1 and see what happens. Let us know if you can get anything to work.

To my knowledge it will work, but i thought that a port was a port you couldnt have 1.1 or 2.0 ports, only hardware that controls them determines the speed as the port is only a 4 pin connector

that was my understanding as well.

the external drive DOES indeed work fine with 1.1, as I have used it with the USB ports I have from the ripped apart case from which the motherboard came from.

i have also tried a USB stick with the new ports, and it is not seen at all.

unless ive connected something wrong (i will check again tomorrow), the conclusion is, the ports are busted and im gonna have to use the little frame i ripped off the old case.

Thats what I thought. the actual port is physically the same with both 1.1 and 2.0, its the header that it's connected to that determines the version of USB.