USB doesn't detect peripherals

Question

I have an Inspiron 8600 running WinXP SP2. I've purchased the laptop in November 2004 and it has been working great with absolutely no problems. Today, all of a sudden, my computer just turned off, so I proceeded with the following:

I instantly checked to make sure that it was plugged in, which it was.
Tried restarting the computer, but no success until I took out battery and re-added it.
Burned files to CD for backup purposes (just in case)
Noticed that my Mouse and SanDisk mini-cruzer drive were not working. Lights are on (there are blue lights on both the mouse wheel and mini drive), but for instance, my SanDisk cruzer drive usually is visible on drive E:\, but this is no longer viewable.
Ran Dell Diagnostics on USB ports with no errors
Restarted computer in safe-mode and checked if there were errors with USB ports in device manager. Everything looked ok.
Removed the devices under the USB node to let Windows find the new hardware and have it re-install it.
Restarted windows in regular mode and Windows found new hardware and installed the drivers. I verified that the device drivers were re-added.
Plugged in my USB mouse and SanDisk mini-cruzer drive and they were not read. Lights are on for both the mouse and drive, but the mouse does not move and my "use-to-be" drive E:\ is not accessible.

Ok, what changed? Well, I did map a network drive to my desktop, which I designated as drive Z. It was after this that these things acted up, probably within 10 minutes of it.

Can anyone please help with what I should do next. It's very frustrating at this time. Thanks a ton!!!

regards,

Brian

jankerson · Answer

Ok,

Undo what you did last first. Remove the mapped drive.

Reboot and see what happens.

If that doesn't work then go into device manager and uninstall the USB controllers and reboot the computer. Win XP with reinstall the drivers for you and you should beable to see your devices.

jankerson · Answer

Have you tried to do a system restore back to before it shut down? Or a Repair?

bgaines · Answer

Ok, well, I did unmap the network drive during that process listed above, which I guess I failed to mention, and I did the removal of the usb controls in the device manager (see step 7). Any other ideas? I suppose I could try again since I don't recall if the drivers were re-installed before/after I unmapped the network drive.   Any other ideas? Thanks

bgaines · Answer

I tried removing the devices and rebooting and that did not fix the problem. How would I be able to restore from an earlier version or perform a repair? I have not tried this yet. Thanks

bgaines · Answer

Ok, I figured out how to perform a system restore, which I did twice, one to the day before yesterday, considering the problem happened yesterday, as well as, to last week. I tested the usb drives by adding my mini-cruzer usb drive during each restore checkpoint and did not work. I therefore, undid my restore and am back to my current version. Any other suggestions? Thanks

jankerson · Answer

Try another USB device like a mouse and see if that works. It might not be the ports.

jankerson · Answer

I still think it is a software problem, you might want to call Dell and see what they say.

Or run a repair of Win XP.

You will have to boot the machine from the XP CD and choose repair.

If that doesn't work then you might want to think about reinstalling Windows.

bgaines · Answer

I have both a USB mouse and mini cruze drive, which I have tried and neither of which work. Thanks

bgaines · Answer

I really appreciate your help. I will post again when and if this issue is resolved. I welcome suggestions from anyone else who would like to comment. Thanks   regards, Brian

bgaines · Answer

I have support ticket with Dell currently and I'll see what they have to say. If this is a hardware issue, then hopefully it's covered under a limited warranty. Re-installing windows is my absolute last resort considering how much stuff I have on it. Thanks

jankerson · Answer

Yeah thats what I was thinking. If it is a hardware issue that Dell will fix it under warranty. That would be a motherboard issue.

bgaines · Answer

How do you mean? You think I might have a warranty issue or that it will involve something that is covered by the warranty?

jankerson · Answer

No problem. Sorry I couldn't be more help, but I really think it might be a warranty issue.:smileysad:

jankerson · Answer

Something that is covered by warranty.:smileyhappy:

bgaines · Answer

Let's hope!:smileywink:

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USB doesn't detect peripherals

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