ANSWERS: 1
  • Perhaps the easiest way to identify a USB port is to try and fit a USB plug into it. :) As USB ports are unique in their design, 'if it won't fit then it don't fit' as such. Failing that, sometimes you may see the USB logo above or near the socket itself, which will identify its purpose. There are different logos for USB & Firewire (aka IEEE1394), and all the other various types too... Perhaps the easiest way to compare is to show you the difference: Here's a picture of USB and Firewire ports (USB1 and USB2 sockets look the same so that's not too important). The USB ports are on the left, one on top of the other, and the Firewire port is on the right (note the pyramid-shaped side to the Firewire port, which, while making sure you put Firewire cables in the right way round, also helps you identify that it's not a USB socket too :) ... Firewire cables are too small length-ways to fit in USB cables anyhow. But I digress. Here's the picture: http://www.tomshardware.com/howto/20020521/images/antecports.jpg A picture of the same (Antec) case again, but this time the USB slots have a faceplate on top of them, as yours may do. http://www.pcekspert.com/jpg/articles/antecplusview1000_slika_07.jpg Of course, you might have external slots on your case, but there's always the possibility that they haven't been plugged into the motherboard... If the slots don't work, and Windows doesn't detect a device, when you plug something into them, then that's something to consider also. But if you bought your PC from a dealer then they're 99.9% of the time wired up properly.

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