Is the difference between USB1 and USB2 just software?

I was having a chat with my little Iranian friend today and he told me that he downloaded a new driver which changed his USB1 ports to USB2. Is this so? I thought it was a hardware issue not just software.

all i know is usb 1 and 2 is a speed connection, e.g. if you are downloading music a usb 1 is really slow and you need a usb2 port. dont know if thats what you meant though.

No but thanks. I know that USB1 is much slower than USB2 and yes USB1 can be a pain when it comes to moving large amounts of data.

No it isn't. The hardware (both controllers on the pc side and the device in question) must both support usb2. If either doesn't then things will still work, it will just be slower.

It might be possible for early usb2 controllers to have shipped with usb1 drivers which limited them, so in a few cases a software update could make a difference. I think these cases are probably very very rare though.

it cannot be software because if it was some techie would have sussed it and then the companies would not be able to have sold new USB 2 ports

What it may be a small program to make it appear it as speeded up

Thanks a lot guys especially Cyclone, like I said " I always thought it would be hardware. I shall inform my little Iranian friend of the matter.

USB 1: 12Mbits/second.

USB 2: 480Mbits/second.

is there any way to check if the usb2 pci card I put in recently is actually giving me usb2 speeds?

1 and usb 2 is a hardware issue if you have a modern computer youll probably have usb 2. You do not need drivers for usb 2. Also usb 2 is fully backwards compatable with usb 1.

The difference is usb 2 runs 40 times faster.

i was told there was a firmware update that could let usb1.0 run as fast as usb2.0 i didnt try it on my laptop as i'd bought a pcmcia usb2 card

You do not need drivers for usb 2.

Depends on the operating system you use, and the device youre connecting.

USB 2.0 was made to compete against Firewire i believe.