usb problems

[wayne_uk]

on my friends computer i was puting in an adsl modem which was usb , all i can see is enabled in bios , and both usb ports are installed properly , when i place any usb device into computer it senses the usb device , but never recognizes it , and all the software is installed , ive even installed the driver directly and it still doesnt recognize any usb devices , i tried my mouse and keyboard in both slots , any ideas ??

[rjo]

How old is the computer and what is the operating system?

[wedg1e]

I used to use Win98 which wasn't compatible with USB. Then I went to Win98SE which was supposed to cope with it, but no. Sometimes it worked, sometimes it didn't. The motherboard has 2 inbuilt USB ports. I then added a 4-port USB card and that was when things really went tits-up. On a recommendation, I installed Win 2000 and from that day to this, not a single problem. I have all six USB ports permanently in use (one with an NTL broadband modem) and nothing ever (touching wood like it was going out of fashion) goes wrong.

Ian