# Trouble With USB Devices



## lanny1b (Nov 7, 2005)

I'm posting this for a friend, who's not quite as computer savvy as she could be. She wants to know what’s wrong with her son’s computer, which is described as follows:

OS = Win XP Home, SP2.
PC = 200MHz, HP Pavilion 061 PC106A, Desktop
Generic USB CF Reader USB Device [Hard drive] -- drive 2
Generic USB MS Reader USB Device [Hard drive] -- drive 4
Generic USB SD Reader USB Device [Hard drive] -- drive 1
Generic USB SM Reader USB Device [Hard drive] -- drive 3

She bought a flash drive for her son because he needed it for school. It was a Memorex 2GB Travel Drive. She plugged it into a USB port on his computer, and the new hardware wizard wanted to install a driver for the flash stick. The wizard couldn’t find a driver for the device. Then she tried it in the other USB ports, with the same results. The USB ports work because his steering wheel uses a USB port and that works fine (but of course, she had a CD to install a driver for that).

She then took the Flash drive to her own computer and lights flashed as soon as she plugged it in. Her computer was smart enough to know it didn't need drivers and she had no trouble copying data to or from it.

Can any of you guys help?


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## BCCOMP (Jul 9, 2007)

Ummm, I am a little confused. I went to HP to see this Computer system and I get over 300 hits. Please check with your friend about the specs on this PC. If her son's computer has XP it should load drivers automatically. If it is 98SE, drivers have to be downloaded. You can get the 98SE driver at Memorex site.
Thanks,
Bill


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## lanny1b (Nov 7, 2005)

Bill,
Belarc Advisor lists these specs for the HP desktop:
"HP Pavilion 061 PC106A-ABA a610n 0n81211RE101KELUT00
System Serial Number: MXQ42700LB NA430"

Belarc also identifies the OS as:
"Windows XP Home Edition Service Pack 2 (build 2600)"

And the Processor is: 
"2.10 gigahertz AMD Athlon XP
128 kilobyte primary memory cache
512 kilobyte secondary memory cache"

I know that XP should load the drivers automatically. Any other insights into the cause of the problems?
Lanny


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## BCCOMP (Jul 9, 2007)

Please check the device manager for any errors (Yellow or red exclamation point). Post your findings. It sounds as if the flash drive is operational seeing she put it on a different computer and it worked.
The confusing thing is, XP should load drivers automatically. The add new hardware wizard coming up (it should not if the OS is XP, wk2) has got my attention. Does this computer have other problems to your knowledge?
Thanks,
Bill


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## lanny1b (Nov 7, 2005)

Bill,
No indication that the USB ports have any problems, except when a device is plugged into the port it asks to install a driver. Awhile back this same PC had problems recognizing that it even had hard drives. I was able to help her with this. It now recognizes that it has drives.
The PC is always on. Restarts take a long time. In fact, they have to leave the PC off for about ½ hour.
I'm about ready to tell them to re-install Windows and let XP find the USB drivers.
Lanny


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## dai (Jul 2, 2004)

check your tempretures and volatages and if there are a number of usb devices us a self powered hub they are cheap to buy


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## BCCOMP (Jul 9, 2007)

In stead of a reinstall you can try win XP repair and see if that resolves the issue.
Also, It sounds as if this has more problems. As you state it takes 1/2 hour to attempt to reboot? Let us know how you make out.
Thanks,
Bill


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## lanny1b (Nov 7, 2005)

BCCCOMP et al,
My friend sent me this message:

"Nope - that doesn't work either. I think this computer is just strange. It really doesn't like to reboot or shut down and it has problems from time to time with the monitor not working. All I have to do is plug the monitor into the other port that monitors work from and it works again. And then the next time it happens, I just plug it back into the original one. I just need it to last one more year..."

Thanks for all the support you guys gave me.
Lanny


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## BCCOMP (Jul 9, 2007)

I would check PSU, Your monitor not showing is an indication. Why are you running two video cards? This could be a problem. I would also check Memory. Run Memtst. This Pc has had various issuses. If all this check out,save the data and reformat and reinstall the OS. It may be that her son has viruses and spyware that has corrupted this PC. She may not know where her son or whom ever has been on this computer,has been. I am able to save alot of PC by just giving them back a clean one. If they wish to safe Data I would run it through a virus Checker before reinstalling it.
Thanks,
Bill


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