hunt4steve

Just today, I experienced the dreaded "USB Device Not Recognized" balloon. Great. My Specs: Dell Precision 380 Windows XP Pro, SvcPk2 2GB Ram Pentium D 3GHZ Here is a list of my USB devices that I normally have plugged in at one time or another: SmartDisk card reader Dell optical mouse Maxim keyboard Motorola Q Docking station Iriver 4GB Clix I had returned from a meeting and noticed that my screen saver was activated, as it should be. I always lock my computer when walking away, as I work in cubicle land. Sort like the movie "Office Space". I docked my Motorola Q, and a second later plugged in my Iriver to charge the battery. At this point, the computer locked up. The screen saver no longer responed, and the keyboard and mouse were dead. I powered the system down with the power button and waited a few mintues. I then powered it back up and noted that ALL of my USB ports were not responding. Great. After messing around with removing the USB devices in Device Manager, I found this site and read the entire thread. A few posts back somebody talked about going into the Registry Editor and removing any USB keys that had "Unknown" keys in them. I did find one key that had unknown USB devices. I deleted this one, and checked the rest of the registry entries. I then shutdown the system, and then unplugged it for about 5 minutes. When i fired it back up, I was not greeted with the dreaded "USB Device Not Recognized" balloon. I grabbed a USB mouse, said a quick prayer, and plugged in the USB mouse.....it worked. Amazing, well it has worked for now. I have since plugged in my Motorola Q, Iriver Clix, keyboard, mouse, and SmartDisk card reader, and they all appear to be working fine. I have even plugged int a USB 2GB thumb drive, and it appeared correctly and is working correctly. It appears that the ONE Unknown USB device was messing it up for the entire bunch of USB ports. All of my ports were not responding. I did find an article on Mircosoft's site about the screensaver being on, then plugging in USB devices within 10 seconds of the screen saver coming out of S5 or S6, things would go bad. I followed their directions, but they didn't work (no surprise there). I have concluded that my next computer purchase will be a MAC. Based on Microsoft's lack of interest in fixing their own operating system, massive security problems, problems with their new operating systems, disregard for the public's concerns, and an apparent inability to address the issues; I'm done with Microsoft's junk. I have an MCSA and I provide computer support for a large population of Windows users. However, my own personal preference is now MAC. Since the Knuckle Dragging Goons at Microsoft have no interest in fixing their junk, I predict more and more people will be joining the MAC ranks. ARE YOU READING MICROSOFT!