need help - USB problem

[CurtisEbear]

Ok, here's the story: All i did was take everything out of my case, and put it in a new case. Then suddenly I'm having my floppy drive not work, and my USB is acting up. Well, i fixed the floppy drive problem somehow...still not sure what i did exactly. Anyway the USB at first just wasn't recognizing anything i plugged in, and would try to install drivers for stuff (joystick, gamepad), but it couldnt find any drivers.

then, for seemingly no reason, everything just stopped working. The USB doesn't work at all. No responce from anything. I have a USB card type dealy in the back of the case that worked the day before i switched cases, now it doesnt work at all. (it's one of those cards that just hangs on the back, and plugs into the mobo) Also, the frontside USB from the case doesn't work, and neither does the USB thats on the back of the mobo. I have no clue at this point. frontside USB is 2.0 i think, and the usb card thing i have is 1.1 or whatever the older one is... Any help? Here's my specs:

Asus A7A266 (BIOS revision 1011)
XP 1600+
Windows XP w/ SP1
40 gig WD hdd
geforce4 ti4600
SB Live! MP3+5.1
Leadtek tv2000 xp tv tuner
pioneer DVR 05 DVDRW
Samsung 3.5" floppy drive



i don't know which, if any of my specs matter, so i just put everything in there...i'm stumped. my mobo driver disc didnt have any USB drivers.

 

[copyfixer]

Sounds to me like something got zapped by static maybe when you transferred stuff. Were you grounded with a static strap? If you put it back in the old case will it work again? Just my $.02 Good luck

 

[BraveSirRobbin]

When you said everything stopped working, you mean the system wouldn't even post or just the USB stopped working?

I would guess that something is shorting the motherboard out. Either screws to tight or something else. Can you try the system with the motherboard outside the case (say laying on a towel near the case)?

 

[CurtisEbear]

took me a while to check this thread.

To the first reply: I didn't have a static strap, but i was barefoot on a linoleum floor, and i touched the case before i started. I guess it's possible something got zapped by static, but i think it is highly unlikely that that happened.

to the second reply: Just the USB stopped working. The rest of the system works exactly as it always did, just none of the usb ports work anymore. The 2 frontside ports at least recognized that there was a USB device when i plugged on in when i first switched cases. It would come up with a message that either said that it "couldn't install drivers" for the USB device, or it would say that the USB device "malfunctioned". That was for the first couple hours. Now it doesn't work at all. If i plug a device in, there is no responce. It's like i didn't even plug one in.
I also have 2 USB ports on the motherboard which i'm pretty sure worked, and now do not, and i also have 2 ports on a USB card type thing that came with my motherboard. I've been using it for the past 4 months w/ no problem. Now that also doesn't work. same as the front side, no responce, it's as though i haven't plugged a device into it.

thanks for your ideas...is there any way to tell if its my motherboard, or if it's some sort of driver/software problem?

 

[BraveSirRobbin]

is there any way to tell if its my motherboard, or if it's some sort of driver/software problem

Do the USB ports show up in device manager (right click on "My Computer" icon on desktop, Manage, then double click on "Device Manager"? Is there a yellow exclamation mark next to them (shows something is wrong)? If you right click (say on "USB Root Hub" and show properties does it say "device is working properly"?

 

[CurtisEbear]

Yeah, when i do that it says everything is working properly. There's like a couple USB root hub things and something else, and it says everything is working properly.

 

[BraveSirRobbin]

Well here is a thought. I had a problem where I did one of those Windows "Critical Installations" and my USB printer stopped working. I saw where it showed up in device manager (though I think it did have a yellow exclamation marker on it). I deleted the device in the device manager, right clicked and selected "scan for new hardware".

It saw the printer but did not install it right.

It was not until I DELETED the printer from the printer manager, THEN delete the device in device manager, then right click and say "scan for new hardware" when the printer finally started to work.

If nothing else seems to be working I would delete your devices (maybe just try it for one device first), then delete this entry from the device manager, then right click anywhere where the devices are listed in device manager and select scan for new hardware. Don't know what else to tell you to try.

 

[CurtisEbear]

if I delete the USB root hub things, and scan for new hardware, or just restart, windows should reinstall them right? I'll try that.


also, maybe you can help with this, i have no idea if it is at all related to the USB thing: In device manager there is a "PCI input device" listed along with all my sound card stuff, and it has a yellow exclamation point by it. It says that the drivers were not installed (which they were not). The problem is, I have no idea wtf it is. If i delete it, and it tries to reinstall, I have no idea where to get the drivers. The automatic install yeilds nothing, and when it tries to connect to the internet to get the drivers, it still gets nothing. Nothing from the windows CD either. If the drivers need to come from some cd i have, i have no idea what to try, because i don't know what the "pci input device" even is.

thanks for your continuing help bravesirrobbin.

 

[BraveSirRobbin]

Yes, Windows should re-install these device drivers.

This is sounding more and more like my problem I described above. I remember now after you mentioned about the PCI device that I had this same thing in my device manager. Turned out it was that problem with my USB printer that I mentioned (weird huh??)

The problem is I don't know what USB device is causing your troubles. In my case it was the printer (which was the only USB device I had in my system at that time).

I would unplug all your USB devices, delete that PCI device in your device manager, and possibly delete any USB devices such as a printer (under your "Start" "Settings" "Printers" then delete any icon related to a USB printer.

Then probably the safest thing to do is reboot the machine.

Then plug in your USB peripherals one at a time and hopefully all will be well.

Look at your device manager each time and just to be ultra-safe you may want to reboot each time.

Let me know how this goes.

Good luck.

 

[jellyjams]

:disgust: I've had the same thing happen to my USB. All USB peripherals were working OK. Now get this...I plugged in a brand new Micro$oft USB Optical Trackball Mouse. Before installing it, I uninstall the Logitech mouse drivers that I had been using. I cleaned my registry and all indications left in the Device Manager. I then rebooted and plugged in the Micro$oft mouse. I got the "Detected new device" and then "Drivers installed for Micro$oft USB Optical Trackball Mouse". Then I got a popup simuliar to this--Could not locate the Micro$oft USB Optical Trackball Mouse, your hardware may not work correctly". Now I'm yelling at my CRT--What the (use your imagination)? The (use your imagination) thing IS plugged in! Well, after redoing this procedure again, and again, and again, and agin, and again (that's 5 times), I made a sandwich, poured a glass of lemonade and put in a Three Stoogies DVD! You ready for something else weird? My USB printer works. My USB scanner works. My USB keyboard works. My USB joysticks work. My USB Flight Sim Yoke works. My Force Feedback Driving wheel works. My USB Smart Card reader works. My Wacom Digital Pad works. The only (use your imagination) things that doesn't work are any of my (3) USB mice! I'd like to ask if anyone knows if I delete everything related to USB including the root, and then reboot, will Windows reinstall the USB drivers? BTW, I am running Win XP (up to date) and I have tried (use your imagination) Restore...I guess you can tell how that worked out! I haven't tried calling Micro$oft Support because I have been told one TOO many times to REINSTALL WINDOWS!!!!!!!!

 

[Bacinator]

Have any of you gone into your BIOS and enabled USB Mouse support?

 

[CurtisEbear]

Yeah, the USB stuff is enabled in my BIOS, that was the first thing I made sure of.

If anyone cares, here's some more wierd sh!t with my USB: I think i mentioned before how when i first switched cases, the floppy drive was all screwed up. Well somehow i fixed it. or more acurately, it just started working for no reason. Now, even though my USB stuff isnt working, i have the back ports plugged into the motherboard. Every once in a while, I'll start up, and the floppy drive will be seeking a disk continuously, and the computer wont load windows. It POSTs, and then it just sits there. No wierd BIOS beeps, no "no OS found", nothing like that, it just sits there. If i unplug the USB ports from the mobo and restart, viola! It works! WTF is up with that? And sometimes even if the USB isnt plugged in, the floppy drive will do the same thing, and the system wont start. In that case i just unplug the floppy drive from the mobo, and the system starts.

I'm starting to consider a reformat, but i just did that like a month ago. This is really getting on my nerves though.

 

[Bacinator]

Doesn't sound like a reformat issue, because the problem comes before the OS starts to load (from the disk) it is most likely a mobo problem, or BIOS problem. You could try flashing our mobo with the lastest BIOS approved by your manufacturer (usually found on the manufacturer's website).

I tried to look for you to speed you on your way, but I cannot find the A7A266 on the Asus website. I assumed u might have meant the A7S266, but the only bios options there are 1001 and 1002, not 1011 as you listed... So you're on your own.

 

[CurtisEbear]

I have the latest BIOS revision for my motherboard...do you think flashing it again w/ the same revision would do anything at all?

Here's a link to the A7A266 on Asus' website http://www.asus.com/prog/spec.asp?m=a7a266-e

As far as i can tell, the 1011 BIOS is the latest, and the other updates just seem to be audio updates, manuals, and the ALI AGP drivers. I don't have the latest AGP motherboard drivers because when i install them it seems to screw up video stuff, so i just kept the ones installed that came on my motherboard driver CD.

 

[Bacinator]

If you are willing to risk it, you can try flashing to a slightly older BIOS. There is a great risk because something may be messed up in the process. But, if everything DOES work, you know what your problem is.

 

[Bacinator]

Oh, and if you have the exact same symptoms, you'll know it's probably not the BIOS.

 

[Willoughbyva]

Sounds to me like you hooked the floppy ide cable up wrong.

Also check that you plugged the usb cable onto the motherboard headers right. I don't have that particular board, but on my board you can hook it up right or exactly backwards. I would imagine that is what has happened in your case.

 

[CurtisEbear]

thanks guys, i'll try that stuff.