Friend's Laptop not recognizing any USB devices

[katzdvd]

My friend's story;

Running XP Pro on an HP. Laptop started freezing after a couple minutes use. I was able to narrow it down to what I think is a battery/power supply problem. It's running now, with the AC plugged into it.

However, none of my USB devices (mouse, printer, external hard drive, iPod connector) will be recognized by my computer. Any ideas as to what could be the problem?

AFAIK, the dev. manager looks okay.

He came to me for some help, but I don't really know what to tell him about the USB not working properly.

Whenever I plug something USB in, it tells me that the device has malfunctioned and to unplug it and try a different port and it repeats that for all my stuff on all the ports.

Ideas? Suggestions?

[Chewy]

mouse uses little power, printer has it's own? external hard drive has it's own power adapter? ipod probably uses a little power.

weak battery?

[katzdvd]

Battery is reading 100%, & he has AC power plugged into it, which is bypassing the battery?

[Chewy]

well I hope he hasn't been unplugging them when the computer is under power? probably has? power down, disconnect all usb devices, power up connecting mouse first,
in device manager/root hub/power it shows the draw of each component

my usb mouse 100ma, my wireless adapter 200ma
total load that's allowed 500ma

he may have exceeded it and fried the mobo usb ports

a powered hub might work?

btw does the penguin read the usb loads?

[katzdvd]

well I hope he hasn't been unplugging them when the computer is under power?

Doesn't everybody? That's what we we're all told to do, plus who wants to power down the pc every time, esp. if you are connecting camera, ipod, etc. I know, you mentioned in another thread that hot plugging USB is not the best thing to do.

I forwarded the info. you posted to him; he is looking things over right now. Is there such a thing as a "switch box" or something that you could plug the usb devices into safely & then turn it on to connect to the pc? Something like an A-B box, like we used to use in the old days for using multiple printers when there was only 1 port available.

[katzdvd]

btw does the penguin read the usb loads?

You're askin' the wrong guy I would "think" that you can do that, I have found pgms. that are allowing me to monitor other stuff, so maybe anony can answer that one for you.

[uufta]

Doesnt he have the "Safely Remove Hardware" Icon in the lower right?

[Chewy]

I guess that little safely remove icon is worthless then, of course that one friend that keeps going thru usb jump drives and another that ignores what it says in the manual about usb mp3 players???????

My usb wireless adapter only gets unplugged when the computer is power down!

I guess I am just lucky that my devices keep working when everyone else's die within a year.

[katzdvd]

My usb wireless adapter only gets unplugged when the computer is power down!

I guess I am just lucky that my devices keep working when everyone else's die within a year.

Point taken...