Anyone seen this usb problem before?

[arrgon]

Ok guys, thanks in advance.

I'm a long-time lurker but a first-time poster so bear with me.
Anyway, long story short about a week ago my usb ports stopped working properly (both front and back ones). When i plug in a usb 2.0 card reader or scanner i get a windows balloon that says "usb device not recognized...yadda yadda yadda" and the device appears as an "unknown device", however the ports work fine with a usb 1.1 printer, mouse, joystick etc.

Now, i first thought it was a hardware problem so i tried the scanner and card reader in 2 other computers where they worked fine. On the windows level, fiddling with the device manager as per some websites didn't help, however when i disable the "enhanced host controller" both the card reader and scanner work fine, only at usb 1.1 speeds obviously.

Resetting the cmos had no effect, flashing the bios had no effect, getting new motherboard and usb drivers had no effect. I have updated to service pack 2 to no avail and reinstalled windows and SP2, again to no avail.

I am completely out of ideas now.

As far as system specs go:

P4 2.53GHz at..um...2.53 GHz
Gigabyte GA-8ST667 (sis 645dx chipset) (yes i know its bad)
leadtek mx440, newest drivers, newest everything
512 mb ddr266 ram
450W no frills PSU (yes i should get it replaced but it works fine)
pioneer 109
BenQ cdrw
Liteon dvdrom
wd 120 gb hdd
2x seagate 80gb hdd
silicon image sil0680 raid controller
flyvideo 3000 tv tuner

no-name card reader and canon lide50 scanner, canon i850 printer, keyboard etc.

thats it i think.

 

[Arcanedeath]

Try and remove all the USB controlers and Devices from the Device manager and get it to re-rec. everything and see if that solves the problem.

 

[ohnnyj]

You said that you tried multiple motherboards? That is strange as we had almost an identical error on our server, we ended up having to call up Dell and they had to replace the entire motherboard which fixed the problem. The USB controller must have been damaged. Did you try identical motherboards? I would just get a new motherboard as you yourself know the one you have isn't the greatest .

 

[arrgon]

thanks guys, but i've tried different PCs not identical motherboards and i've read that the usb controller on this one isnt the greatest either, so if worse comes to worse i was planning on a new mobo in the near future anyway. What's weird is that it worked fine the day before. And Arcanedeath, i've already done what you said, i just didnt mention it as i figured it was common sense.

Also, regarding a new mobo, what would you guys suggest? If possible, though i would like to try to fix this first, but if it's a hardware problem i probably have no choice.

My budget is about Australian $200 (american $100-140) and i'd like something that's a decent improvement on the old one.

I've been eyeing the Asus P4P800-E deluxe among others that goes at $160-180, but it's the most expensive of the bunch so i want to look at some alternatives.

 

[ohnnyj]

Originally posted by: arrgon
thanks guys, but i've tried different PCs not identical motherboards and i've read that the usb controller on this one isnt the greatest either, so if worse comes to worse i was planning on a new mobo in the near future anyway. What's weird is that it worked fine the day before. And Arcanedeath, i've already done what you said, i just didnt mention it as i figured it was common sense.

Also, regarding a new mobo, what would you guys suggest? If possible, though i would like to try to fix this first, but if it's a hardware problem i probably have no choice.

My budget is about Australian $200 (american $100-140) and i'd like something that's a decent improvement on the old one.

I've been eyeing the Asus P4P800-E deluxe among others that goes at $160-180, but it's the most expensive of the bunch so i want to look at some alternatives.

Sorry I am an AMD guy so maybe someone else can give you some recommendations, you may want to start a new thread, however, so people know the question you are asking no longer pertains to the USB error.