I have a Framework 13 Ultra 7 155H with two USB A and two USB C ports. I have a microscopy camera that uses a USB 2 connection, in USB A format. I have used the camera on a Thinkpad T420 laptop without any issues.
On the Framework laptop, I was surprised to find that at the maximum resolution and maximum frame rate of the microscopy camera, according to the software specifications, the capacity of the USB A port is exceeded (I’ve got a black image instead of a real image).
What settings should I check to ensure the maximum performance of the USB A port?
I know you have intel, but on AMD there’s this doc : knowledgebase.frame.work/expansion-card-functionality-on-framework-laptop-13-amd-ryzen-7040-series-SkrVx7gAh
I’m pretty sure this is a hardware limitation of all FW laptops, Intel and AMD, 13 and 16.
Only the two expansion slots closest to the top of the keyboard/display hinge (1 & 3 on the diagram in the FW13 link above, 1 & 4 on the FW16) support high-power USB-A ports. Using the two lower slots will only give you low-power output that is still suitsble for high speed data. Using the two slots on a single side will give you one high-power and one low-power. Some devices only need a single high-power connection, but others need both.
I suspect both your USB cables for the microscope need high-power, so you would need to put your A cards in the upper-most slots only and connect one USB to each side of the laptop.
Alternatively, if you are working stationary at a desk with the microscope, then get a powered USB hub that supplies multiple high-power ports. Then you’ll only need a single port connection to the FW and it won’t matter which slot the expansion card is in since the hub is externally powered. Might not be ideal, depending on your situation, but worth a mention.
Officially, Intel-based machines have all ports, similar. However, in the absence of any other ideas, I will check the operation mode using port 1 for USB A, no other ports used and power mode to maximum performance.
I replaced the cable with a USB-B to USB-C one, designed for the USB 2.0 protocol. I set the laptop to best performance and connected it to the power supply. Regardless of whether I connected the camera to port 1 with a USB-C extension card, or even directly to the USB-C on the motherboard, the situation remained the same. It seems that on the USB 2.0 protocol, the USB ports have some limitation in functionality. Are there any settings in the BIOS that can be modified?
USB 2.0-only cables will limit you to the speed of the USB 2.0 protocol from the early 2000s. There is no firmware setting you can change to get more data over a USB 2.0 cable on any computer or device pretty much anywhere.
If you are using a USB 2.0-only cable on any device, you will be limited to 480Mbps, low power operation and a simple device topology.
Then why on older laptop and desktops I had not such issues, with the same cable?
Let me resume:
ThinkPad T420, Intel i5 gen. 2, win10 - OK
desktop Intel Pentium G860, win10 - OK,
desktop Intel 'Core i7 gen 8, win11 - OK,
My Framework 13 Ultra i7 155H - limited.
Why?