What Software Interacts With The USB Ports?

On a reinstall (or new install) the correct and required install sequence is (1) Install Windows (2) Install Dell Desktop System Software (3) Install motherboard chipset drivers (4) Install device drivers including video, Dell sound drivers, ethernet, etc.   Also ALL external devices, such as a printer, except the keyboard and mouse must be physically disconnected from the PC BEFORE doing the reinstall.

The chipset drivers are key to a successful install. 

The ONLY drivers for USB is the default Windows drivers.  Many devices have drivers for the device and if the drivers are not installed first the device may not work or work properly.

Printers require the installation of the Printer Vendor's software BEFORE physically connecting the printer to the PC.  If the printer was left connected during the reinstall or connected before running the Printer Vendors install software that is probably the reason it is not working.

For any device that is now working, connect the unit to the PC and then go to the Device Manager and there will probably be unknown devices listed in the USB section.  RIGHT click on each of these unknown devices to highlight the entry and then LEFT click on "uninstall".  Physically disconnect the device(s) from the PC then restart the PC.  After Windows starts, if the device does not require the installation of a driver connect it and Windows should "find new hardware" and install the device.  Then BEFORE you disconnect the device such as a flash drive, use the "Safely Remove Hardware" icon in the Sys Tray to "stop" the device and then disconnect.   Printers normally do not require using the Safely Remove Hardware.

fireberd,

Thanks for the ideas. Here is where I am right now.

1.) I definitely followed the correct order during re-installation of Windows XP and the Dell Drivers.  I installed the chipset drivers right after I installed the Desktop System Software, so that can't be the problem.

2.) By the way, it makes sense that you would need to install the chipset drivers to have your computer working properly but that's not what is indicated on Dell's Drivers and Downloads page.  It lists the chipset drivers as Optional, not Recommended or Urgent.  Weird.

3.) I do wonder about the peripherals that I had attached to the USB ports.  I disconnected the printer, so it couldn't have been a problem, but I wonder if the speakers and mouse could be causing me problems.  I didn't disconnect the speakers because that isn't mentioned in any of Dell's materials on performing a re-installation but maybe I should have.  Also, I changed mouses (mice?) between the first and second re-installation procedures.  The first mouse was a regular Dell mouse that was starting to wear out, the second is a Logitech wireless mouse.  When I go into Device Manager, under Universal Serial Bus controllers, the mouse is listed as a USB Composite Device.  The keyboard isn't listed at all, so I wonder as I'm writing this if the first mouse also wouldn't have been listed.  Maybe that's what I need; I can't have any peripherals connected to the computer during the re-installation process that are listed as USB devices in Device Manager.

4.) When I have my MP3 player connected to the USB port, the computer does appear to be interacting with it, at least in a minimal way.  In Device Manager, it is listed as a USB Mass Storage Device, with a yellow circle that has an exclamation point in it.  When I double-click on it, I get the following information.

Location 0 (SanDisk Sansa Clip)

This device cannot start. (Code 10)

But, the MP3 player isn't listed under My Computer, the battery in it won't recharge through the USB port the way it used to, etc.  So there obviously is still something very wrong with my USB ports.

5.) All I did to start this process was to re-install Windows XP.  I didn't re-format the hard drive previous to doing that.  I don't know whether that makes any difference or not but I thought that I would mention it.  I would hate to have to re-format the hard drive, especially since just doing a re-install of the OS has given me so many problems, but maybe people have been assuming that I did that.

6.) I tried the uninstall procedure that you described in the last paragraph and that doesn't cause any change in the computer's abilty to interact with the MP3 player.  By the way, another weird aspect of this whole process is that I'm getting the Safely Remove Hardware icon in the system tray but I didn't get that previous to re-installing Windows XP.  I didn't get it when a flash drive was connected to the USB port, when my MP3 player was connected to a USB port, etc., so I may have to figure out what happened there.

The mouse and keyboard attached during install is OK.  You need both of these devices during install. 

A code 10 error in most cases means the driver is not installed for the device. 

The "optional" on the Dell downloads is for the updated chipset driver, as it's a newer version. It assumes you already have chipset drivers installed and it's optional if you want to install the updated driver.  The chipset driver is still required as one of the main things it does during an install is identify all the devices. 

You should get the Safely Remove Hardware icon if any USB device is attached. 

When you just reinstall Windows over the existing install, not a reformat and install, many programs will not run as they will still need reinstallation.  Drivers need to be reinstalled, etc.  Almost the same as reformatting and reinstalling everything which is the best way to minimize install problems.   Ultimately you may have to do a "proper" reinstall whether you want to or not.  If your PC came with XP then there is a Dell restore partition on the hard drive accessed by CTRL/F11 at power on and this will restore the PC to the original factory condition and no discs are needed (and the best way to do it).   If it comes to a complete reinstall, back up your user data to some external device such as a flash drive, CD/DVD's, etc so you don't lose them during the reinstall.