problem with usb 2 pci card installation

I've got two usb 2.O cards Startech 4 port usb - one for installing on Windows 2k pc and the other on XPhome pc. The W2k one wouldn't install properly (Startech Tech Support have offered some suggestions, including return the card for a refund) so I started to try to install the second one on an XPhome machine. Installed card in available slot, installed driver as per instructions. Checked device driver - no changes to USB entries. Put usb device on card - nothing recognised. Put usb device on one of the pre-existing usb slots and recognised ok. So, the new card isn't showing up.

Startech said that XPhome with all updates - mine is fully up to date - should have drivers that work with their card, even without installing further ones. That didn't happen in my case.

I've no idea what's going on. Any suggestions how to sort things. Besides generally wanting access to USB 2.0, I've got a digital tv tuner that connects and, so I've been told, needs USB 2.0.

While I'm doing this upgrade, I've always assumed that I don't have USB 2 (either because the hardware is 1.1 or because there aren't USB 2 drivers). An ipod took forever to load through USB, while firewire was much quicker, so I guessed I had USB 1.0. How can I check - without refering to hardware manuals, whether my existing hardware supported USB 1 or 2, and if it already supports 2.0 what's the way to uprade drivers for that?