USB problem under Windows XP

[JackFoligie]

Greetings all

A friend of mine is having a problem with USB connectivity on all ports of of a Pentium 4 machine running Windows XP. I've looked in Control Panel > System > Device Manager > Universal Serial Bus but had no luck troubleshooting. Plugging in say an external hard-drive, Windows returns a pop-up error

"USB device not recognized" etc

so the ports are being read. A driver problem perhaps? The machine has a frequently updated version of AVG 7.5 antivirus (Free Edition) so I'm assuming it doesn't have a virus.

Devices being used via USB are an external hard-drive, a printer and a flash drive.

The machine came with an original copy of Windows XP but the version installed is a pirate copy. This was never reinstalled, due to the extra hassle involved. This could have something to do with it as well.

Any ideas welcome.

[Paul Komski]

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/318773
but the version installed is a pirate copy
I didn't immediately pick up on that but it is not our practice here to support/condone piracy in any way or form.

If USB was OK prior to the pirated version you have your answer. Why not use the original anyway. Just use the original key code with any borrowed legitimate CD.

[JackFoligie]

Thanks for the reply, Paul.

it is not our practice here to support/condone piracy in any way or form

Totally with you on this point, it's not my machine and personally I'm completely against pirate software (and the associated headaches). It's just that the friend who's computer it is posed the problem to me, as stated above. The machine was originally bought second-hand and given that he had the original disks anyway, he just didn't get around to reinstalling it due to lack of time, work pressure etc. Re-installing from the originals is definitely the best option, which I will strongly recommend.

That being the case, the machine has apparently worked fine for close on two years, so I was just wondering if it's primarily the cracked Windows version that's the main problem or if it's an unrelated virus or driver problem.

[Paul Komski]

There's always Google: http://www.google.ie/search?hl=en&q=%22USB+device+not+recognized%22&btnG=Google+Search&meta=

[JackFoligie]

Once again it's Google to the rescue. Please excuse my brainless behaviour, I should have made that my first point of call. Anyway, a re-install is definitely the way to go, which will probably sort out the problem in the process.