[JakeBob]

Hello. I just recently reinstalled Windows XP onto a Dell 8300 PC. It's got 3 sets of USBs, 2 at the front, connected to the motherboard via a peripheral wire, 6 connected directly to the motherboard and 4 on an expansion card.

The front and expansion USBs work, but the motherboard USBs don't recognize anything plugged into them. There's power going to the port, but it's not understanding what to do with what's plugged in (eg I plug in an MP3 drive with a screen. Plugging it into a motherboard port will power it, but it won't show up on "My Computer", whereas if I plug it into the front USB port, it'll ask what to do with the drive contents, like Play with Windows Media, or Take No Action)

I'm thinking it's either the motherboard itself (it probably isn't, otherwise there'd be worse problems popping up), the USB ports or the software (which I'm thinking is the most likely cause).

Any help would be greatly appreciated, thanks.

[daniel_b2380]

did you make sure you also installed the chipset drivers?

[JakeBob]

I think I have. I got this downloaded, and I have it installed, but it doesn't seem to have done anything.

I'm still not sure which, if any, of these drivers would be useful for getting the USBs working...

[daniel_b2380]

this item: Service Tag: is VERY important
then - on the site - click on: Add or Edit Service Tag
doing that will get the EXACT items to download for your pc - otherwise, the items displayed are for ALL the dell 8300 series
- the number is on a sticker on the case
-OR-
- you can even have the site do the checking for you

[JakeBob]

Right, I put my service tag in, and got this. I should just try and install all of these, see if that works, right?

[daniel_b2380]

well, 'kind-of' right - JUST the 'chipset driver' - that should clear the problem up - UNLESS - do you have any question marks [?] or exclamation marks [!] in yellow or red on other items when you check in control panel? - if so, then you would need the drivers for those items also

question though,
didn't that unit have the 'hidden' partition to do a 'restore' from?
if so, why did you do a total reinstall?
if you use the 'hidden' partition to 'restore' from - all the drivers and softwares are integrated - thus no looking for drivers to be installed

[JakeBob]

Well, I've got an Ethernet Controller and Video Controller (VGA Compatible) with yellow question marks by them.

And the re-install of Windows was required. It's a rather long story.

Basically, my dad took the PC in to a local PC store as the USBs were showing power surges. One of the employees (who hadn't done much work with Windows) heard "Get all the data off the hard-drive, then format the drive and install Windows" as "Get the Documents from "Files stored on this computer" saved and install Windows". He somehow installed Windows on top of the current settings, overwriting duplicate files and not wiping any files that weren't needed (soon after the owner heard of what happened, a job vacancy popped up, strangely enough :P). This caused more problems, and as my dad thought the PC was a lost cause, he got a new one, stripped it of all the useful components that'd come out and gave me the old one to mess about with. When I started it up to see what was going on, the desktop wouldn't save any changes (screensaver, other visual settings etc) and was showing the users as having avatars that weren't on the system, so I thought the best thing to do would be to format the drive (after removing anything that was useful) and reinstall Windows.

The USB problem's been hanging around the PC like a bad smell since before April, so it could be a hardware problem, in which case I'll take it to a reputable PC shop (one that doesn't have an I at the front and doesn't misspell 'tech' to look cool)

And I tried installing the A07 BIOS as I thought it wouldn't do any harm, and since installing it, this has been happening:

If you can't read it properly, it says:

"Phoenix ROM BIOS PLUS Version 1.10 A07
---} (copyrights, not too important)
---}
All Rights Reserved

Dell System Dimension 8300 Series
BIOS version A07
www.dell.com

Secondary drive 1 not found
Strike the F1 key to continue, F2 to run the setup utility"

Pressing F1 will boot Windows alright, but it's still a minor thing.