In the course of moving someone stepped on my still plugged in Game controller. It ripped all the insides out of my front 2 USB ports. First I tried plugging the same controller in the back USB but it wouldn't pick up the drivers. Because I hadn't unpacked I didn't have the driver handy so I just went to Wally world and got another cheap game controller(different brand). I uninstalled all the previous drivers, installed the new drivers and plugged in the card. XP went to it's install new hardware program and never recognized I had already installed a driver. Now, I have found the previous driver but cannot get that to work either. Any help would be appreciated. I do have a printer and a mouse hooked into 2 of the 4 rear USB ports and verified they all worked by switching these items around. The last thing is, when the xp install new hardware message comes up it doesn't read they drivers off the install disk! thanks!

When the front USB ports were ripped out that could have burned out the USB controller for two of your ports. I suggest you verify the front USB ports are still operable first. Check in device manager to see how they show there. If you have 6 USB ports total, you should have 3 USB controllers installed and functioning. Try swapping one of your known working devices to the front temporarily. If the device won't function but the controller shows OK, remove the controller thru device manager anyway, and reinstall.

I don't fully understand. The front USB ports are mangled and although I can "hold" a USB connection device there to have it work it will not stay in place. (that was 3 days ago). Last night I held the game controller up and it recognized a USB device but not game controller like the back ports do. As it sits at home right now I have unplugged the two front USB ports from the motherboard. Should I remove it from device manager and not reinstall? Can those be replaced/repaired?

If I understand your last post, you can get the front ports to work? If so, all you need is a replacement for the broken case components. Check with the maker of your case for replacement options. The actual ports themselves are generic but the connectors to the motherboard can be configured differently than what you currently have, making it more difficult to connect to the motherboard. Additionally, the physical attachment to the case can be propriatory. If you have no luck with the case maker you can do a google search for front USB ports or check at pricewatch.com for them. One other option is a breakout box that goes into one of your empty drive bays, if you have any.

It does work, kind of. Right now I cannot drivers to load for any USB game controller front or back though. It loads the driver but the computer does not recognize it when I plug in the USB cable. I was thinking the two things had to be related but do they? Why can I not install a new driver if the USB ports in back ARE working. I tried moving the mouse USB to every rear port and it worked in everyone. But I cannot install a game controller in the back ports. When I put connect it windows goes to its install hardware program and ends up finding nothing, whether I have already installed the driver or not.

Did you ever have those game controllers working under WinXP? WinXP handles game controllers differently than Win98. I would say that the controller needs to be certified for WinXP. If the controller is certified for WinXP and still can't get it to work you probably need to totally remove all reminants of the old drivers first. Also, don't assume that the driver download you made is good and the correct one. If the USB port works with any device, I doubt your problem is with the USB port.

They worked with Win XP before I moved and had the front ports damaged. In the midst of all these problems I had tried to install a Leadtek 6800 Vid card that was bad. I sent it back and put in a 9600se that is only working sparadically... I figured that these two couldn't have anything to do with each other, right? I had the 9600se before and the game controller worked but the driver was preinstalled when I had my ti4200. For some reason it allows the driver install.. but then won't read it when I plug in the controller. I took the controller over to my dads computer(he has xp to) and it worked fine. This sucks! Thanks for posts so far... any other ideas? P.S. I don't have my home internet connection working so I can't tell you what the device manager is saying but when I looked last night it seemed to be reading all three USB controllers.