I upgraded my dad's older computer to xp from 98se and now the USB ports don't work. If you plug anything into them, camara, memory stick, mouse, etc., the computer freezes up and you have to restart, even if you unplug the device that you plugged in. The computer is about 5 years old. PIII 667mhz. If you shut the computer down, hook up the device, and then turn on the computer, it works. If I remember correctly, that's the way 98se always worked. What do I need to change to make them work like normal, where you can plug devices in and take them out without turning off the computer. Thanks for your help.
You might need to update the drivers.I have some XP USB devices that must be turned on before powering the PC but in Win98SE the same devices don't require that.I can plug them with the PC running.
I remenber correctly the driver get installed and then the device must be powered on for the next restart,then everything works as normal from then on.
I've tried that. After the computer was on I unplugged the device and then plugged it back in and it locked up the computer.
First things first. You need to find out what is INSIDE his PC: Install Everest and find out what Motherboard and chipset it is running. Put that info here and we'll be able to help. BTW, I only see this issue with AMD/VIA systems, so my guess is that you need to install the latest Hyperion 4-in-1 drivers, but it is possible to have this problem with other chipsets, namely SiS. Let us know.
My cousin is a computer genius and he thinks the bios are messed up, so we are going to flash them and install new info and see if that helps.
If it's a VIA chipset good luck. The VIA 4-in-1 may fix it or make it worse. Did you get the serivice pack for XP?
98se runs fine on 128 ram. I've seen it function smoothly on 64. I've NEVER seen an XP install work well with less than 256.. long term. I won't build an XP computer with less than 512.. Ram may not be THE issue, but it impacts performance and time-outs to the point that it becomes difficult to diagnose errors when ram is short. As you have a PIII, likely your ram is PC100, and very possibly you have 64-192 megs, and you shouldn't have upgraded to XP. Flashing the bios is a risky business, even when it works it's not a magic bullet, and it CAN (read, all too often Will) ruin the computer. Given the comp is not broken, what I'd do is, reinstall 98se, bump the ram to 256-384, run some tweaks to smooth & secure it, and quit. If you want an XP comp, sell/trade that one and build the foundation of hardware that XP was designed to run on. Might seem harsh, wasn't meant to. Just realistic. ;g
