Problems when removing devices from USB ports

It sounds like there could be multiple problems - some the Windows Operating System and other could be hardware.  But I would lean more towards a Windows problem. 

I've got the blue screen on my home built system when disconnecting a USB device if the device was not shut down properly first or if it was still active in the system.  It's only been once or twice as I learned not to just disconnect without shutting the device down and using the Safely remove hardware to stop it.

With the Safely remove hardware not showing up, that is a Windows function. 

With the USB hardware, reinstalling the Intel motherboard chipset drivers may help as this is the only motherboard function that could affect the USB.  The drivers for the USB are default built in Windows/Microsoft drivers there are no 3rd party drivers, so this also gets back to the Operating System.  

As "painful" as it is to do a reinstall, that sounds like the best "first step" option.    If you still have the original operating system installed you can use the Dell PC Restore (recovery partition) to do a complete reinstall back to the factory condition and no discs are needed (best way to reinstall).  If it came with XP, CTRL/F11 at boot up will access the restore, if it came with Vista, F8 accesses the restore.

How to Restore a Dell  

Always include PC model and version of windows in your posts! :emotion-5:

Couple of things to try before you do a reinstall:

1.  Disconnect all USB devices, except mouse and keyboard. Reboot. 

    Manually set a System Restore point, just to be safe.

   Go into Device Manager and expand list under USB. Look at each root hub to see which one is connected to the mouse. Then right-click and uninstall all USB root hubs, leaving the root hub with the mouse for last. Reboot. Windows should reinstall the USB drivers.

See if that fixes your problems.

2. Even if #1 fixes the problems, go into Device Manager and double-click on each root hub, one at a time. Go to Power Management tab, and uncheck box  "Allow PC to turn off device to save power". Repeat for all root hubs and then reboot.

3. You didn't say what version of Windows you have, so the following is based on XP:

Connect your USB wireless hub

Double-clik My Computer

Right-click your boot hard drive and select Properties.

Click Hardware tab

Assuming the wireless hub appears on the hardware list, double-click it and then click Policies tab. Click the button for "Optimize for quick removal". Click OK back to desktop and reboot. From now on, you shouldn't have to click that dumb Safely Remove Hardware icon before you disconnect the hub.

4. It's also possible you have too many power-hungry USB devices connected to the PC. To protect itself, the PC may start ignoring a USB device, in this case the mouse.  To resolve the issue, you'd need to buy a USB hub with its own power brick. Plug the brick into the wall and the hub into a (rear) USB port. Connect power-hungry printer, scanner etc through the hub.

Ron

Thanks for responding. Unfortunately, I can no longer restore my computer back to factory settings by using the recovery partition. I will have to use the discs. Back when I got this computer, I had problems with it from the very first day. I used the F11 option to reset it numerous times. After experimenting, I discovered that my Microsoft Office software was creating my problems. I then stupidly did what a tech from Microsoft told me to do, even though I felt like what he was advising me to do was WRONG, and the result was a crashed system. Not knowing much about computers, I finally got it running with some help, but my recovery partition was gone, along with the system restore function. I've managed to use it all these years, but I guess it's about time--past time, really--to do a reinstall. Thanks again.

Sorry to mess up my posts--the previous reply I wrote was directed to Fireberd.

Ron--Thank you also for replying and offering your help. I mentioned my computer model but didn't even think to include my OS, which is Windows XP.  As you might notice in my reply to Fireberd, I don't have the system restore function available to me. I cannot set any points nor can I go back to any automatically set ones (another good reason for me to just go ahead and do a reinstall). I will, however, try the other options you mentioned first, especially the one about "optimizing for quick removal" for my wireless adapter. I didn't even know about that option until I searched on the Internet for help with my flash drives. I discovered that this option was already set for those devices, but I'll see about setting it for my wireless adapter. I guess the first thing I'll have to do is finish using that one piece of software that I can't replace (go through it and take all the practice tests on it), and then reinstall XP. Thanks again for your help.

Have you scanned thoroughly for malware lately?

If you can't do a System Restore, the Restore database may be corrupted. You should be able to fix that by turning off System Restore and rebooting. That will delete the corrupted database. Then turn System Restore on again. Reboot once more and manually set a restore point. And then use that new restore point to restore the system.

You may be able to avoid doing a clean install. Assuming you have a Windows XP SP3 CD, you can run a Windows system file check (sfc) to replace any missing or corrupted Windows files. It may take ~30 min but that's still easier than doing a clean install and having to reinstall drivers and all your other software. Personal files are not affected by sfc, but always good to back them up first.

Click Start>Run

Type in: sfc /scannow

Click OK

Insert XP SP3 CD, if requested and reboot when sfc is done. Note: sfc is dumb and doesn't tell you anything when it's finished. It just exits. To see what it did, open the Windows Event Viewer. Click System and look for "Windows FIle Protection" in the right pane. Click on those. First one should say "Started"; second one should say "Successful", assuming it was able to fix everything it found.

If sfc fails, then it definitely is time for a clean install.

Ron

Thanks again, Ron, for the help. A long time ago, I tried turning off System Restore to delete all of my previous points and hopefully to regain its function, but it didn't work. Since it's been a while, I tried again per your suggestion and now it seems to be working. Don't know why it didn't in the past. (I even had some techs try to fix it using remote access, and they couldn't.)

As for malware, last Thanksgiving I did get a Trojan. I had to pay Dell to get it removed. They assured me that it was gone, but sometimes I wonder because it seems like a lot of strange things started happening immediately afterwards, including the problems mentioned in my original post (except for the System Restore issue--that's been going on for about three years). An additional problem that started right after Dell "fixed" my computer was losing connection when on the Internet. Previously,  I had never had any connectivity problems. I couldn't help but wonder if the Trojan had somehow affected my wireless router, but Dell insisted that that wasn't possible. After testing everything they could think to have me test, ATT came to the conclusion that my router/modem needed replacing. Not wanting to spend the money, I tried to do some research on my own and found that simply changing my channel corrected my problem (for some reason, ATT never suggested that). Did the Trojan have something to do with that, or was it just unfortunate timing. I don't know. I need to learn so much more about computers than what I currently know.

You mentioned doing a Windows system file check. Would having just an XP SP2 CD make any difference in performing this task?

Thanks!

sfc probably won't run from an SP2 CD when you have SP3 on the hard drive. You'll get a warning that files on the hard drive are newer than on the CD and it'll exit without doing anything.

You can create a slip-streamed CD with your SP2 CD and a free download of SP3 from Microsoft, by following the instructions here. Alternatively, you might be able to get Dell to send you a Windows XP SP3 CD for your system by completing the form here, assuming you live in the US. They may charge you for the disk.

Otherwise, it's time for a clean installation. Be sure to back everything up on external media first. And make sure you have all the current drivers for hardware in your system.  And then be sure to install SP3 and all the latest updates from Microsoft.

Ron

Thanks so much, Ron. I haven't been able to check back on here until this morning--due to power outages for the last 28 hours--and was glad to see your latest posting. Although I won't be doing a clean installation quite yet, thanks to all the help I've received on here, I know I'll be fully prepared to tackle doing it later on. Again, thank you for all of your advice and help. It's really appreciated!