usb wirless adaptor not seen

[-keevill-]

Apologies for cross posting but I got no reply from XP.Hardware NG.
Here's the rather strange problem.
Suddenly after several months a WinXP Pro machine cannot see the SMC USB
wireless adaptor.It just doesn't show up. Nothing shows in device manager
about it . I figured the adaptor was bust to so I tried
putting in another one of same manufacture ( SMC ) and also tried a Level 1
but none are detected when I put them into the USB port. So I figured the
USB port was bust so I tested with another device in the USB port ( a USB
scanner and also a USB Bluetooth dongle ) in order to
check if the USB port(s) are faulty but they soon as I plug them in the pc
finds each no problem.
Any advice plse??

 

[Guest]

In device manager click on view/show hidden devices just to make sure there
are no ghosted adapters in there.

 

[-keevill-]

In device manager click on view/show hidden devices just to make sure
there
are no ghosted adapters in there.

And if there are ?...
sorry but I am not in the office now with the offending machine.. just
trying to prepare for Monday morning