After being fed up with a slow pc, too many installs and uninstalls, and a webcam not working, I did a complete format and reinstall. however after my boot, xp will not "save" any preferences. I keep removing the language bar and it returns. I go to explorer/i explorer preferences and choose to open maximised, and it resets next boot. And still the cam won't work lol. It works perfect on 2 of my other pc's (1 has nvdia card like this 1, the other is A radeon), 1 has an identical nvidia. I have done a gazillion installs of all the windows since 98se, so I'm no stranger lol. Also the transfer speed through ethernet is slower than bluetooth!! I'm currently transfering a 700mb file to the other pc, it's been going for about an hour, and there's still 118 minutes to go??? Shouldn't take more than 4 minutes. The cable is through a dell router, and is 20 meters in length, which is plenty. Any ideas are gratefully recieved. Neil.

Couple of things. First, don't have any USB devices connected while reinstalling. Second, did you install the MB cohipset, video, NIC, sound drivers after you reinstalled?

hi Othe Hill. I had nothing plugged into the usb ports, although 2 usb "extension cables" were. not sure that would affect anything. My motherboard disc is scratched (3 yrs old and 2 kids, sorry lol), but I did use my head and also downloaded ( I believe) the same drivers. But no I havn't installed all of them yet. All peripherals, seem to be working fine though.

You need to install the Chipset drivers in order for the USB ports to work. WinXP may have installed some drivers but best to use the drivers designed for your MBoard.

Thanks for the advice, I'll be installing those tonight. Many thanks :o)