USB device problems

[Guest]

I have a question about my USB devices. All of the USB devices when plugged
have a message pop up telling me that my computer does not recognize my
devices. I have read up a little on this forum and the suggestion to
uninstall and reinstall the software for my camera, mp3 player and phone. I
had reinstalled everythign and found the same problem, my computer doesn't
recognize any device, however my printer which is also plugged into the USB
port works fine and is recognized in any of the 6 ports i plug it into.
Is there anything I can try to do before I take it to a professional??
Thanks
Monique

 

[Rich Barry]

You could try removing all your USB devices and then rt click
MyComputer>select Properties>Hardware>Device Manager>USB Controllers. Rt
click on each one and choose uninstall. When they are all uninstalled
restart and let WinXP
reinstall them. Reconnect the devices one by one and see if they will
work.

 

[Guest]

Thanks for your help Rich, I did as you said and uninstalled the USB
controllers and re-booted. When my pc started up the printer installed itself
(which was the only one working before) however my camera, mp3 players and
cell phones are still coming up as unrecognizable. If you 've got another
suggestion that would be great!
Thanks again,
Monique

 

[Alan]

Thanks for your help Rich, I did as you said and uninstalled the USB
controllers and re-booted. When my pc started up the printer installed itself
(which was the only one working before) however my camera, mp3 players and
cell phones are still coming up as unrecognizable. If you 've got another
suggestion that would be great!
Thanks again,
Monique

What happens if you do the same again but don't have the printer connected
to the PC when you reboot? Then plug in the MP3 player - does Windows see
it?
Alan

 

[Guest]

I did as the last post said and uninstalled all of the USB Controllers. I
started the computer up with out my printer plugged into the computer and had
only the MP3 player plugged in, my computer did recognize the player briefly
(it doesn't recognize it once I re-started the second time). Anything else I
plugged in after was not recognized. I tried the same thing with my phone
(It's new and I really wanted to see the pictures on my computer) an
installation wizard comes up and tells me that I need a disc to install the
hardware. My cell phone company where I bought the phone says "no, just plug
it in and your computer will recognize it, we have no software for the phone"
I know that I am adding issues and problems, but you have all been so
helpful before, and I was hoping you might have some more ideas for me.
Thanks,
Monique

 

[GTS]

When you plug in the phone try telling the New Hardware wizard not to search
for the driver. Manually point to \windows\system32\inf. If that resolves
it, see
http://www.uwe-sieber.de/usbtrouble_e.html#xp_asks_for_drivers for a more
permanent solution.
--

 

[Guest]

Alright, so I plug in the phone, the installation wizard comes up asking for
a disc for my phone, and has two options automatically install the software
or search from a list, I choose the search from a list, and look up one side
and down the other I'm not sure where to find the \windows\system32\inf. I've
even checked in other places other than the wizard search, I can't find it
anywhere
(I've tried the auto install software lots of times and it searchs finding
nothing saying it cant find software)
Where is this "\windows\system32\inf."?
thx
Monique

 

[GTS]

I'm sorry. I should have said \windows\inf This is a directory, not a
device name. When the Add hardware wizard appears and asks for the disk for
the phone point it to that directory. It's not certain that this will fix
the problem, but when Windows asks for a driver for a USB device that
shouldn't need one (more commonly seen with mass storage devices), it
sometimes fails to properly reference the inf file store where the driver
information is stored.
--

 

[Sheisty]

Google "usb.inf". Download the file and place it in tyour Windows>Inf
folder. It solved the long and drawn otu problem I had with certain usb
devices not being recognized.

 

[Lucy]

Your advice was very, very helpful. I was just about to purchase a new mp3
player but couldn't resist trying to find a solution one last
time.......Thanks a million!