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will77

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Faulty USB

Hello,

I have a dell laptop with a windows 98 operating system. The USB was working fine then sometime ago it stopped recognising any USB device connected.

HOW CAN I CORRECT THIS FAULT?

The laptop is working fine apart from this USB fault.

Regards

Will
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Alan Henderson
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Laptop USB ports have a maximum current rating of 1/2 an amp. (500 miliamps)

If you have used a device (or a combination of devices through a hub) that pulls it's (their) power from the USB port itself and you exceeded 1/2 amp you may have permanently damaged the port.

USB devices (or a combination of) that use 500 miliamps or more should only be used if they have their own AC adapters.
~Especially on Laptops!~
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If the driver doesn't help (download and install the complete set of drivers, not only the usb ones), get a copy of the UBCD (full version) or knoppix, and boot the PC from that CD (the insert option of the UBCD). You will get to a GUI similar to windows, and if the USB devices aren't recognized in knoppix or ubcd (make sure the USB devices are connected when before booting), then you ports are broken, and then there is nothing that can easily be done. The workaround would be to get a PCCard USB device.
you can always try to delete all usb entries in device manager, reboot and test
-right-click on my computer, go to properties,hardware devices
see if theres an "x" or "?"
the reinstall the driver from dell.com

-make sure it enabled in the bios.

-make sure ther is no conficts with other devices in Hardware devices
if all fails, get a pcmia usb card for laptops