I recently reformatted my computer but stupidly forgot to backup my drivers. Once i had reformatted, there was obviously then some drivers that needed to be downloaded. I seem to have downloaded all the ones I need and there are none with the question mark on the device manager. However, I am still having the problem that no USB devices seem to work. When I physically connect a device to the computer, i do get the fouund new hardware screen and I install the necessary drivers needed. Still i get no result. For example, I am currently tryin to install this Logitech microphone/webcam. I have the CD that came with it with all the drivers on it and have installed them with no problem. When i connect the camera itself, and try and view it, it tells me that no camers is found! Even when i connect a simple USB pen drive, i get the message saying new hardware has been found. I didnt think you needed any drivers for a USB pen, and i didnt know where to search for them when asked so I am a bit stuck! I emailed Dell and they suggested to install chipset drivers which i did. Still no difference. I would appreciate any help guys! Thanks in advance

You need to get the USB drivers from Dell. Look here: http://search.dell.com/results.aspx... Did this computer come with Win98 installed? If not, then download Everest home to try and determine what USB controllers are built into your Motherboard. Find Everest Home here: http://www.zdnet.de/downloads/prg/1...

http://support.microsoft.com/defaul... http://www.ntcompatible.com/Despera... How To Ask Questions The Smart Way

There are a LOT of drivers on the Dell page OtheHill referenced - the USB drivers are hard to find. What you need are the Intel 850 chipset drivers for the mboard, which include the USB drivers for that chipset. For Win98SE or above, go here: Intel® 850 Chipset Family http://downloadfinder.intel.com/scr... Get the Intel Application Accelerator and the INF Update utility. The Win98 first edition INF Update utility is not listed in the current downloads on the Intel site. If you have Win 98 first edition, get the Intel Application Accelerator download from the above link, then go here: How do I install the Intel® 82850 Chipset drivers for the Microsoft® Windows® 98 operating system on the Dell™ Dimension™ 8100 Computer? http://support.dell.com/support/top...

Thanks for your suggestions. I followed your instructions but still no luck. I downloaded both the accelerator and the inf update utility. I have 4 usb ports. When i connect my webcam to three of them I get no response, apart from the sandtimer appearing for a couple of seconds. If i plug it into the 4th one, i do get the found new hardware box. It comes up as USB device and I searched the windows CD for whatever drivers it was looking for and those installed successfully. Then i get a message saying audio device found (the webcam has a built in mic). I did the same as before and that installed successfully aswell. Then i get a message saying Composite USB Device found. when i try to search for the drivers for that, it tells me that it cannot find them, and then it lists it in the device manages as Unknown Device. I have previously installed all the drivers and software required for the camera to function from the CD that came with it in the box. Im truly stuck! Thanks for all your help, but any more suggestions?

You haven't said whether you are using Win 98 first edition, or Win 98SE (second edition). If it is 98SE, Second Edition is printed on the CD - the Win 98 first edition CD has nothing like that printed on it. The USB drivers required for Win 98 are DIFFERENT from those required for Win 98SE and above. You MUST use the right drivers. The INF Update and Intel Application Accelerator downloads may end in .zip - if they do, you must extract the files from the .zip file, or go back to where you got the downloads and get an .exe version of the same thing. If the download has an .exe extension you must run the download. Win 98 and 98SE do not come with a utility to extract the contents of a .zip file. You must obtain WinZip 7.0 or later from a web site on the web, or another program that can extract files from a .zip file, and extract the files. E.g. WinZip 7.0 is available here: http://www.oldversion.com/program.p... Note: The Winzip web site no longer has that version, and you can download and use a newer version of WinZip, but WinZip 7.0 is the minimum you need for Win 9x and up (long file name support), it works fine in any version of Windows 9x and up, it supports multiple floppy (spanned).zips, and best of all it is small enough to fit on a floppy disk. When Windows looks for drivers it is often looking for files ending in .inf - information files - that tell Windows what settings to use. In this case, you run the INF Update Utility first, rather than letting Windows try to find the proper .inf files on it's own for the chipset - if Windows looks for drivers related to the chipset after that, it should automatically find them, except possibly in this case the drivers for USB 2.0. It isn't clear from your last post whether you now have one USB port that works, or you now have 4 that work. If it's just the webcam that doesn't work in all 4, at least some USB devices should work in at least two ports, or 4 ports if they are all ports built into the mboard. Many Manuals, Specs, etc.: Dell™ Dimension™ 8100 System Reference http://support.dell.com/support/edo... Technical Specifications: Dell™ Dimension™ 8100 System Reference http://support.dell.com/support/edo... Says: USB: four USB-compliant connectors System Board Connectors and Sockets http://support.dell.com/support/edo... You have at least 2 USB ports built into the mboard edge (#8 on the diagram) , or 4 if you have the built-in LAN port (at #9 on diagram) That is also shown on page 14 of the PDF at emachine-upgraders (AU31.pdf), as well as a header on the mboard that allows you to connect 2 more USB ports via a USB wiring adapter. You may or may not have the header on the mboard, or a wiring adapter to two ports in a card slot for it - if you have a wiring adapter it must be connected to the proper pins on the mboard header with the right kind of female connectors - standard 4 in a row or 5 in a row connectors will work, but some double row connectors may not. I see from this AU31.pdf that the USB for this mboard has both USB 1.1 and USB 2.0 support. USB 2.0 support built into a mboard is often not enabled unless you are using Win XP SP1 or later - there are usually no Win 98, or 98SE, or ME drivers available. This results in there being a USB device or a USB 2.0 device with a yellow ! beside it in Device Manager. You can RIGHT click on that entry in Device Manager, choose Properties, and click on the box beside Disable in this Hardware Profile to install a checkmark there. (NOTE: if there are USB 2.0 drivers for Win 98SE or Win98 for the onboard USB, which isn't likely, they will be installed by the Inf Update Utility. In any case, the Inf Update Utility will install USB 1.1 drivers.) You haven't said whether you used this Logitech Webcam/mic before or whether it worked properly before in Win 98. Some more recent USB devices will only work with USB 2.0, or will complain (display error messages)if USB 2.0 drivers aren't found. In other words the wecam must be USB 1.1 compatible, or it can be USB 2.0 compatible and be backward cxompatible with USB 1.1. If the Logitech webcam/mic worked fine before, it should work fine now. You must follow the directions about how to install the webcam software - sometimes you must install the drivers first, then plug it in; sometimes you must plug it in, then install the drivers. If you did that in the wrong order, you may need to Remove the webcam from Device manager, and Un-install any drivers installed for it in Control Panel - Add/Remove Programs, and start over. If your webcam MUST have a USB 2.0 connection, the only way you can get it to work in Win 98/98SE is to get and use a separate PCI USB 2.0 controller card in a slot and connect the webcam to a port in that - the card must have Win 98 or Win98SE drivers - not many cards have Win 98 drivers; many more have Win 98Se drivers. Win 98 and 98SE have this irritating bug of specifying the wrong location when a hardware is detected and Windows looks for drivers that are supposed to be on the Windows CD - you often have to correct the location it looks to the letter of the CD drive the Windows CD is in, and, usually, to the \Win98 directory (folder) on the CD. E.g. if the Windows CD is in a CD drive with a drive letter D:, make sure Windows looks in D:\Win98. ***********************************************************************

Oops - ignore the part "I see from this AU31.pdf that the USB for this mboard ..." etc. I got this mixed up with another post. Your mboard probably doesn't have USB 2.0 hardware support. "E.g. if the Windows CD is in a CD drive with a drive letter D:, make sure Windows looks in D:\Win98." Same goes for CDs for devices. There may be a \Win98 or a \Win98ME directory you need to go to on the CD if a driver is not found in D:\.