plug and play with usb

[Chicken George]

My pc has recently stopped recognising devices when plugged into the usb
ports. If I plug my camera in I can access it through explorer but there is
no indication that the pc has seen it and if I highlight the "safely remove
hardware" icon, the camera is not listed for removal. I recently purchased an
"all-in-one driver" device for the external connection of HDD's, CD/DVD
drives etc. via USB. The pc does not see it at all and I cannot access it via
explorer, but if I plug it into my laptop running XP home edition it reports
"new hardware" and installs it. Does this sound like an OS software or
hardware problem?

 

[RJK]

If you can "see" your camera in Windows Explorer, (indicating that a drive
letter has been assigned to it !), ...then I'm not sure what you mean by "My
pc has recently stopped recognising devices when plugged into the usb
ports."

Regarding "...safely remove hardware" icon, the camera is not listed for
removal." ...I'm guessing it's the drive letter assigned to the "mass
storage device" i.e. camera memory card, that you could be seeking to
"safley remove" ?

I've come across so many people that assume they MUST shove in that cd/dvd
ROM disk that came with a particular piece of hardware, when in many cases,
it would have been best to NOT to have even put it in the drive. Very
often - all that "bells and whistles" software, and that "auto detect that
you've plugged in that particular piece of hardware - device driver," often
cause more trouble than they're worth. ...not to mention that YET ANOTHER
"lite" version of a graphics app. that globally changes file type
associations in your XP platform !!

I suspect that, "...purchased an "all-in-one driver" device for the
external connection of HDD's, CD/DVD
drives etc. via USB...," is interfering with XP USB port enumeration,
....in other words I haven't a clue as to what this thing is, ....could you
be talking about a USB hub ?

Occasionally one comes across an older system box with a motherboard that
shares a "rear" ATX USB port, with a USB pin header on the motherboard that
connects to USB port/s on the front of the case. THAT can cause problems.
i.e. make sure that a shared "rear" USB port is not used at the same time as
its' case front "twin."

This is a pretty good site :-
http://www.usbman.com/Reviews/ratoc_usb_20_5.htm

I've found answers to USB problems in the past, on it.

regards, Richard