USB Ports do not recognize Printers or any devices. Uninstalled Ports thru device manager, no change. Plugged in printer through a Linksys 4 port expander (no external power supply} it works fine. Can anyone explain why ??? TIA

If simpler USB devices work fine, sometimes more sophisticated USB connected devices will only work when plugged into certain USB ports, or, rarely, you may have an IRQ sharing problem you need to fix. If none of your USB devices work fine, your computer power supply may be failing. See response 3 in this: http://www.computing.net/answers/wi...

I'm assuming, of course, that all your onboard (built into the mboard) USB controllers are enabled in your bios Setup pages. If the current voltages in the bios Setup pages are okay, we have heard of mboards that were damaged such that the USB controllers on it do not work. That can be caused while the AC adapter is plugged in by external things such as - a power spike or surge, if the AC adapter is not plugged into something that protects against those, or by a lightning strike near you or on the power grid near you, even if it is plugged into such a device. - if the laptop is connected to the internet via a cable from/to a router that is not plugged into such protection, any of those things can damage the laptop. A PCMCIA USB controller card (or Express card USB controller card) should work if the card slot circuits are okay.