Hi, I am running Windows XP on a laptop (HP Compaq). It is about 2 years old. The problem is as follows: Whenever I plug in a USB device to any port (I have 4), it does not show up in MyComputer as a drive. This is the case with any USB memory keys I have and also with my iPod. This is a recent problem, and they all worked fine up to a week ago. The USB devices are fine as they work on other computers. There is power going to the devices as the light on them lights up when they are plugged in. Also they show up in my taskbar to show I have plugged in a device. I checked the Device Manager (Contol Panel / Administrative Tools / Computer Management / Device Manager) and it shows up as a Disk Drive with the type of USB storage device it is. It does not show up in Disk Management (just my DVR drive). I went through the USB connections on the USB controllers and disabled each one and re-endabled it again and separately checked for hardware changes but still no joy. Any ideas on what to do next? Thanks Joe

Front panel jacks may have had the connector off slightly. Recheck. If back jacks fail then use knoppix disk to test hardware versus software. "Best Practices", Event viewer, host file, perfmon, antivirus, anti-spyware, Live CD's, backups, are in my top 10

Thanks for the reply. The back ones have failed too. I looked online for the Knoppix Disk you mentioned. When I download the files, do I burn them onto a CD? (Seems like this is what you do from the website - though maybe I have it wrong). How do I get my laptop to boot from my DVR drive? And more importantly what do I do then? Does a menu come up and allow me to check my USB connections or do I have to put something in for it to check them? Will this fix the problem I have or just diagnose it in more detail? Sorry if I sound stupid but I have no idea what do I do.

You need to use an application that can burn .iso images. You can't just copy. After you burn it (hopefully it is downloaded correctly) you boot to the CD. Set in bios if needed. It will boot to a "windows" like operating system. Insert the usb device. If shows up as maybe SDA1 or USB Flash or something like that on desktop then the computer is OK. That would show Windows XP has somehow failed. If it doesn't show up then board/controller is bad most likely if all cables are also OK. A damaged connector in the usb port might cause all of this too. "Best Practices", Event viewer, host file, perfmon, antivirus, anti-spyware, Live CD's, backups, are in my top 10