Baffled again - when I plug in a USB device my computer (IBM Laptop school purchase) always displays a message saying I should use higher-speed ports for it. Then it says "click here" to display the ports. When I do, it shows I have a high-speed USB hub. It just doesn't say where, or how to access it. So I continue. Looked through IBM Access  but no diagrams.

Help! And thanks.

Kathryn

A USB hub is usually an external device, although I guess it could also be an added internal PCI or PCIe card.
In any event, it would have to have USB plug ins on it, so it should be easy to spot
Perhaps someone that previously used the computer did have a hub connected while they used it. In that case it would still be in the registry until it is uninstalled. Check the device manager and see if it is shown there. It should be if you keep getting this message.

   I have received that error (about using higher speed ports) in the past but I do not remember exactly what for.  I do remember that I ignored the message because it was unnecessary.  I think the error was given because the device that I hooked up was USB1 and the port was USB 2.

What usually causes that message is connecting a USB to device to a USB1 port

Kathryn,
Open Control Panel, switch to Classic View if you have to, select System, then the Hardware Tab, then click on the Device Manager button. Scroll down to Universal Serial Bus controllers and click on the plus sign to expand the selection. You should now see a complete list of all USB hardware/software installed on your computer including removable peripheral device drivers.
Unless you find an entry that includes the words "USB Enhanced Host Controller", your laptop is only capable of utilizing the slower USB1 or 1.1 specification and if you plugged a USB2 device into any of the original USB ports, you would see the error message you have described. There are after market products available to upgrade your laptop that would require installing additional software drivers and perhaps someone has already installed said hardware, but now has removed it. Typically, it would be an adapter that plugs into a PCMCIA cardbus slot on the laptop.
Hope this helps...
Dean

Thank you all! I'm on the trail...
Kathryn