unable to connect to capture device - error

[lanb]

I have a presario 5150 with win98.
I have been using usb webcams
(kensington,ibm etc.) for sometime.
i got a new intel usb webcam (pro pc hot deal)
and i installed it and it worked ok.
I then proceeded to remove the old webcam software
and now the webcam gets the above error.
i tried connecting the old webcams and they get the
same "unable to connect" error (i reinstalled their software)

Things i tried already :
0. Verify device manager (no yellow exclamations)
1. Uninstall all webcam software and reinstall them
2. Remove ghost drivers in safe mode

I suspect some usb driver got removed during the uninstalls
and needs to be reinstalled. Can someone help ?

 

[lanb]

reading some usenet posts, i found that one of the causes
could be IRQ conflict.

My USB host controller & PCI fast ethernet adapter share
the same IRQ. Is this okay ? My other USB devices [Intel
wireless mouse ] work ok though. Hmm.