i have serious issues on my laptop with my USB 2.0 PCMCIA card not seeing any USB devices and "Blue Screen of Death" errors alot, as well as ocassional 'Fatal Exception' errors in various programs.

for w while now i have been receiving random 'fatal exception' errors at random in differant programs. i just bought a new USB 2.0 PCMCIA card because the old one literally broke in peices (don't ask). i stick it in the CardBus slot, the laptop beeps, Windows 2K pro installs its own drivers, all seems well. except that it will not see/detect ANY USB devices like my flash drive wireless g usb adapter, etc nothing will light up or get any response from windows at all (pnp driver install screens, show up in My Computer, etc. as applicable). when i go to pull the USB card out (and windows gripes about improper removal as usual) about 3 seconds after the laptop beeps again with notification of card removal i get blue screen errors that say IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL and the only file mentioned is ntoskrnl. the USB card is a generic card with VIA (i think, thats what windows calls it) chipset, model XWT-745. already ran google searches, nothing relevant was found. this is just really odd because windows sees the usb card and its ports perfect but no matter what will not see anything plugged in to them. the device manager shows no conflicts or any problems at all concerning anything USB-related. but it wont see the USB PnP devices either on its own or when i run "scan for new hardware". plus the STOP screens, fatal exception errors, and i'm thinking IS GOING ON HERE??? the RAM is fine, it was bought brand new off eBay from a reputable seller about a month and a half ago. could my hard drive be bad?? if not then what is going on here??

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update: just finished complete cycle of entire hard drive with HDD Regenerator 1.51 and it found no bad or damaged sectors or areas of the hard drive at all. so what else is going on here?? i have already formatted twice in the past month for what seemed to be unstable operating due to corrupt files or drivers or something as i said RAM is almost brand new still and worked fine when first received. why is this b*tch so freakin' unstable, giving STOP BSODs and not seeing PnP USB devices and fatal exception errors etc this has really got me at wits end any help very much appreciated! thanx!

Preform regular PC maintenance to keep your PC running like new. For suggestions on free security virus/spyware removal and optimizing utils and software, visit my web site.

"the RAM is fine, it was bought brand new off eBay from a reputable seller about a month and a half ago"

And I'm sure the very 1st thing you did was install it, then test it with memtest86 to confirm it's good, right??

actually, yes it is. as soon as i confirmed that it would POST and boot into Windows, i restarted, boot with Memtest86 and let it scan for about 17 hours or so

actaully, it would seem i jumped the gun a bit on the HDD being okay. i thought it was, because HDD Regenerator had scanned like 93% of the drive and found nothing. but then it stumbled upon a block of 8 bad sectors and repaired them all, then another block of bad sectors shortly thereafter, which it has not finished with as of yet. when it has finished scanning to 100% and repairing all it has found i will reboot and try again.

the weird thing is that my drive is only about 46% full, with the rest free (empty). if these bad sectors (which should no doubt be repaired regardless) are the cause of the problems, why would they appear within the last 10% of the drive, which is certainly empty???

is there anything else i might try in the event of continuing problems after the scan for and repair of all bad sectors, eliminating the HDD as a possibility??

thanx jam and anyone else who may answer i appreciate it.

Preform regular PC maintenance to keep your PC running like new. For suggestions on free security virus/spyware removal and optimizing utils and software, visit my web site.

also, even if the hard drive "fixing" eliminates all instability (BSODs, fatal exceptions, etc) is it possible that is causing it to not see PnP USB devices, because i don't see how it would not even see them even taking into account the bad sectors potentially causing so much instability (pontentially meaning if bad sectors in free space would cause such, being in empty hard drive space)????

again thanx jam and anyone else who may answer

Preform regular PC maintenance to keep your PC running like new. For suggestions on free security virus/spyware removal and optimizing utils and software, visit my web site.

If HDD Regenerator found nothing wrong with your hard drive,then there is nothing wrong with your hard drive.

http://www.computerhope.com/issues/ch000648.htm

http://www.computerhope.com/issues/ch000646.htm

Why are you using HDD Regenerator instead of the software designed by the HDD manufacturer?

Excuse part of response 5 any part you want to.

Of course!

I posted this reply while you were making several manic depressive responses.

that was not manic depressive anything it was i have more information or questions after the previous post had already been confirmed...

because i have no idea what brand this hard drive is it is hard to use the maker's software, but i guess HDD Regenerator is doing the trick. this is ridiculous, though. 82 bad sectors found (and repaired) and not done yet. though as i said i beleive they are all in "free" empty hard drive space...

assuming this bad sector thing fixes the stability then why is it Windows will not see PnP USB devices and thery do not even light up as if receiving power but the card itself works perfect as i said no device manager -noted problems, Windows sees it fine, drivers are good, etc but PnP devices in any of the 4 USB ports will not power on or be seen...???

street, i do thank you very much for sending my HDD Regenerator, if it weren't for it i guess i never would have found out about the -what is it up to now?- [glances at laptop] 87 bad sectors (and still climbing) or been able to repair all these bad sectors. thanx a bunch, man.

sorry for my half a dozen follow-ups in a row i am just anxious to have this resolved thats all...

so anyway yeah thanx everyone for your help i need now (assuming the stability issues are soon-to-be solved) to figure out the USB problem(s)...

Preform regular PC maintenance to keep your PC running like new. For suggestions on free security virus/spyware removal and optimizing utils and software, visit my web site.

I guess I'll never understand the way you go about doing things.

jam -

you've finally reached the point where I gave up trying to help this 17-year-old kid (see his homepage) :-)

i_XpUser

i actually turned 18 a few days ago i just havent updated my web site yet...

look guys i know i am not a computer genius or anything but i am trying to learn not only so i can help myself and my family but when i am out of high school my intended career path is as computer techie/network admin (as well as working on cars and lawn-mowers on the weekends)

i want to LEARN MORE and BECOME BETTER instead of insulting me help me to do this! pass on your knowledge to me so that someday i CAN be as good as you all are...

anyway, my laptop's hard drive has 156 bad sectors (repaired) and still counting, good god...

can someone help me try to figure out my USB device issues please??

Preform regular PC maintenance to keep your PC running like new. For suggestions on free security virus/spyware removal and optimizing utils and software, visit my web site.

You could have USB 1.1 support and be trying to use USB 2.0 hardware.

http://tinyurl.com/7ayrb

Go to the above site item number 9 may help with USB.

".....(as well as working on cars and lawn-mowers on the weekends)"

WOW !!! Dragon boy, you've got more flava than a pistachio.......LOL

When Google isn't your best pal

is that a compliment, saber?

in the end there were 331 bad sectors, and all were reapired. now to my USB problems...

Preform regular PC maintenance to keep your PC running like new. For suggestions on free security virus/spyware removal and optimizing utils and software, visit my web site.

"i CAN be as good as you all are..."

Falls on the floor, laughing so hard - ends up cracking a rib

We've heard that a million monkeys at a million keyboards could produce the complete works of Shakespeare; now, thanks to the Internet, we know that is not true

Report Offensive Follow Up For Removal

Just jerking your chain, needs to be done every now and then.

So you've got Win2K Pro, do you have SP4 installed ?

When Google isn't your best pal

yes. actually the porblem is kind-of solved with the USB it SEES DEVICES NOW but IS ONLY ACTING AS USB 1.1 INSTEAD OF 2.0 AS IT IS SUPPOSED TO BE

any ideas on this??
Preform regular PC maintenance to keep your PC running like new. For suggestions on free security virus/spyware removal and optimizing utils and software, visit my web site.

Microsoft includes generic USB 2.0 drivers in Win2K Service Pack 4. Install SP4 and do the "Update Drive" thing in Device manager for any legacy USB controllers that show up.

"If it ain't broke, upgrade anyway."

wow, problem solved! thanx tropic! and everyone else who has helped me! (excluding jboy and his never-ending sarcasm and insults)

Preform regular PC maintenance to keep your PC running like new. For suggestions on free security virus/spyware removal and optimizing utils and software, visit my web site.

A couple of thoughts for you that seem to have been overlooked in all the excitement.

Data is not stored sequentially on the disk - look at the patterns on defrag and you will see what I mean. So the dodgy files that were causing your instability could perfectly well have been sitting in those bad sectors, even though they were at the end of the check process.

And... 331 Bad Sectors!!!! Repaired or not, I would be looking very hard at replacing the HDD before things got even worse.

yes i know it needs to be replaced and i will do so as soon as i get some more $$$ but in the mean time they have been "repaired" and the stability issues are corrected.

Preform regular PC maintenance to keep your PC running like new. For suggestions on free security virus/spyware removal and optimizing utils and software, visit my web site.

...Interesting saga... As this drive apppears to be flakey... might be wise at this stge to backup/copy off all your data and other critical files (downloads etc.) to removable media... Then if (when??) the drive goes belly up... you have your data safe 'n sound, and available for a restore to a new drive (after re-installaing the OS etc.).

Usually it's very wise to have data duplicated (and regularly updated) off the system regardless???

Don't take the some of the assorted "comments" too much to heart... Frequently here pholks are really just joshing with you; and are very ready to help etc..., but do hope (expect...) the novice (and we've all been there - some of us still are...) to be willing/able to post info clearly and follow advice carefully, logically etc... And this is not always the case...

Hang in there and you'll soon discover you know more than you think, and be helping others along the way...

Main result - you've managed to resolve the problem(s) for the moment...