the usb slots on my pc is not working..
how do i get them to work..
everytime i stick my memory stick or anythng else in the usb slot..
nothing happens..
plz help

First start by going into the Bios setup and make sure the USB ports are enabled

Then check your device manager and see if they are listed and enabled

Beyond that we will need more info on the system you are working with
make,model, operating system

I had the same problem and ended up buying a USB card to install in one of my PCI slots. Disregard this applies only to desktops

I think Rick's suggestion is quite good,follow that and see whether it will ok .

everytime i stick my memory stick or anythng else in the usb slot..
nothing happens..
plz help

...
You stuck a stick of RAM in a USB slot?

USB flash drive or card reader would qualify as a memory stick...

There are even USB "sticks" called USB RAM - but they cannot be used like normal system memory; they are de facto USB memory.

If USB is enabled in the BIOS you may still have problems if you don't have USB2 - particularly with the larger and larger amounts of Flash Memory now available - from PC bus right through to the memory itself. I, for example, had to get a USB2 CF reader in place of an old USB1.1 reader before a 4gig CF card could be accessed at all; (so much for backward compatibility - it doesn't always work). You can add USB2 ports by PCI cards in desktops and PCMCIA cards on laptops.

but they cannot be used like normal system memory;
Try telling that to Vista...

Tried the usb port using a another usb device, like a mouse, to make sure its the usb port which is the culpirit.

Try telling that to Vista...
I did try telling it. ;) Toms Hardware however replied (http://www.tomshardware.com/2007/01/31/windows-vista-superfetch-and-readyboostanalyzed/page3.html).

"ReadyBoost is a memory extension for Windows Vista. It works very much like the swap file on the hard drive, but it is not used as an active extension to the main memory. Instead, Windows uses it to pre-cache application data for popular programs".

I remember a long time back, before Vista was released...
In the course of another topic...

Asking whether a Flash Drive could be used to hold the swap file.

No-one gave an answer at that time.
Then Vista came along offering that very thing. :)
"Ask and ye shall receive".

I don't think that super-fetch and the page-file are the same thing.

However, under Win2K and WinXP the page-file can be split across different partitions and AFAIK this can include external drives. The potential problem would be that if boot-up needed that particular page-file it might not be available and create problems. Also external drives are apt to have their drive letters changed when volumes are added or removed.

So if I were to locate my Win2000Pro page-file on my Flash Drive would that be likely to work faster than if located on my HDD? :)