Fried USB Controller Prevented Boot - Questions Arising

[Dick K]

I have no pressing questions because dumb luck paid off
for once. However I'm curious about several aspects of
a problem I just had and reluctant to experiment further,
so any useful explanation or comment would be very
welcome.

I run XP Home SP2. Recently, while rearranging the cabling,
I forgot to power-off my printer and scanner before
reconnecting them. This resulted in visible sparking when
I plugged in one of their USB cables (I don't know which),
a fried USB controller (I assume) and subsequent failure to
boot. The system instantly hung on a black screen with the
hard disk light on all the time but no sound of head
movement.

I then tried booting Bart's PE from CD-ROM but the system
hung, as before. Luckily however, after I unplugged the
printer and scanner, the system booted normally and both
peripherals functioned correcly when connected to a
companion USB controller.

My questions are:

How would a knowledgeable individual have tackled the
problem of an apparently catatonic PC?

Device Manager shows all my USB devices as "working
properly". How come? Would the damaged controller show
up as faulty if I tried to use it?

How can I identify the Device Manager entries associated
with the damaged device and would it be safe/a good idea
to disable them? Could I recover with System Restore if
I disabled the wrong items? I'm running all my USB
peripherals from a VIA controller and this is what device
manager shows:

Intel (r) 82010BA/BAM Universal Host Controller - 2442
Intel (r) 82010BA/BAM Universal Host Controller - 2444
USB Composite Device
USB Root Hub
USB Root Hub
USB Root Hub
USB Root Hub
USB Root Hub
VIA Rev 5 or later USB Universal Host Companion Controller
VIA Rev 5 or later USB Universal Host Companion Controller
VIA USB Enhanced Host Controller

Thanks in advance for any enlightenment offered.

Dick K

 

[ChrisC]

Hi, USB is designed to be 'hot plugged', that is plugged in whilst the PC is
on....
ChrisC