HP proprietary slots or something new?

These days everything seems to be USB driven. Gee remember the days when printers used LPT ports, joysticks used it's game port, keyboard and mice used PS/2 ports, etc.

So I buy my wife a new Hewlett Packard PC and by the time I plug the following devices into the USB ports in the back:

Keyboard
Mouse
Wireless
Speaker power supply
printer

I'm out of USB ports! And I still need to install a USB Bluetooth reciever!

So I used a 4 port splitter. It seems to be a bit dodgy because she said her mouse stopped working. So I re-arranged everything and used a 5 volt reducer for the speakers.

So I pulled the cover off and was going to install a PCI card that supports 1 internal USB and 4 external slots. To my surprise there are no PCI slots in this computer! Instead there are three slots about 1 to 2" long and a long slot which is not a PCI slot. The device in the middle is the modem.

See photos:

http://s222.photobucket.com/albums/dd148/turbofiat/HP motherboard slots/

I went back to the computer store and the manager couldn't even figure out what these slots were.

Is this the new standard for cards that plug into the motherboard or something unique to HP computers?

I'd like know what the name of this slot is so if I can find the proper USB card.

My only solution was to buy a better brand 4 port USB splitter and attach it with two sided tape to the side of the computer and hopes it works better than the one that was giving her problems.

I decided to plug the keyboard, mouse and speaker power into this splitter. Then the wireless device and the printer goes into it's own ports on the motherboard. Athough it's powered by a separate power supply I'm thinking the printer and wireless devices are more picky when it comes to things like this.

 

My guess
The Long slot is pci express
the short slots are pciepress x1

Get a self powered splitter

 

Never heard of those until now. Thanks.

 

They have been around for a number of years now

 

Speaker power supply? Please explain.

 

That's what I need!

I haven't opened up a *new* computer since I bought mine four years ago which still uses the older PCI slots. I just never was aware of this PCI Express slots now.

I think the 1-4 USB spliter I was using was dodgy. I bought a more reputable name brand and have the keyboard, mouse and speaker power connected to it and so far it hasn't given her any problems.

A card would have been more appropriate but didn't know how to identify what I needed. Thanks.

 

Rather than having a separate power supply plugged into the receptable for the amplifier, some newer speakers are powered by a USB port instead.

I actually like this method better because most power supplies are so large it blocks one of the plugs on the power strip/surge protector. The downside is it takes up a USB port.

A long long time ago, the amplifier used to built onto most sound cards. So all you had to do was plug a set of speakers that plugged into the sound card and they worked fine. But you had to control the volume from the quick launch icon.

Then they started doing away with the amplifier on the sound card and if you plugged a set of speakers into it without an amp, it was like trying to listen to an AM crystal radio.

 

Hmmm, okay - I am aware of speakers that run off of USB but I have never seen them used on PCs, only notebooks. And the reason is pretty simple - it takes a lot of energy to convert an electrical signal into a mechanical movement to move enough air to be audible. Stereo takes twice as much. Yes, today's speakers are much more efficient and that has contributed to the capability, but, USB ports are notorious for causing problems if the power drain on the USB pair (not just a single port) is too high, or erratic. The greater downside is not that it takes up a port, it is that it places a HUGE (comparably) demand for power on a slot never meant for that. This is one main reason why external, self powered hubs became popular, which is what I suggest you use, especially if you use your speakers for anything more than "system sounds ", i.e., extended music listening, or playing movie sound tracks.

Note that my personal experience as a HW tech and computers goes way back to the beginning of the PC, and beyond. You are partially correct about sound cards - but it was not just a long time ago, they all still do have amplifiers, but at most, only produce about 4 watts of power. This is because the motherboard bus and slots are not designed to support more. If there were no amplifiers, headphones would not work. However, most sound cards today are not sound cards at all, but low power devices integrated on the motherboards. Again, this low power part is the problem - requiring even more amplification, which again, is not what USB was designed for.

 

Well that does make sense about the load created on the USB port. The wires are quite tiny.

I had a set of speakers that had a built in transformer. So all it used was a typical electrical code. I'm not much on those bulky external power supplies.

 

I understand. They are big and bulky when internal too, and pretty heavy as well - that's the downside to greater demands.