[Samm]

As you have a Gateway system, I may not be familar with the bios layout but I'll help as much as I can.

When you get into the bios (with Gateways, this is usually by pressing the F1 key at startup), have a look at the top of the screen for a name. This will probably either be 'Gateway', 'Award', 'Pheonix' or 'Ami'. Let me know which.

If it says Gateway at the top of the bios screen and not any of the other names, then you'll have to describe what you can see. i.e normally you'll have several pages or sections. These will have names such as 'Boot', 'Advanced', 'Exit' etc.
Let me know exactly what sections or pages you have.

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Did you reformat your computer recently?

[JayBern]

Did you reformat your computer recently?

[Lipredator]

Sorry for the delay....

The name "Gateway" was at the top of the screen

This is what I saw:

BIOS SETUP UTILITY at the top and six tabs, MAIN, ADVANCED, SECURITY, POWER, BOOT, and EXIT. I'll give a description of each tab:

********************************************************************************
*******************************
MAIN

- BIOS Version PT84510A.15A.0004.P02
- Processor Type Intel® Pentium® 4
- System Bus Speed 2 GHz
- Cache RAM 512 KB
- Total Memory 1024 MB
- Memory Bank 0 512 MB (DDR266)
- Memory Bank 1 512 MB (DDR266)
- Language [English] (Brackets mean someone can change this setting)
- System Time [**:**:**]
- System Date [day **/**/****]

********************************************************************************
*******************************
ADVANCED

Setup Warning
Settings items on this screen to incorrect values
may cause your system to malfunction!

- Boot Configuration
---- Reset Config Data [No]
---- Numlock [On]
---- ISA Enable Bit [Disabled]

- Peripheral Configuration
---- Serial Port A [Enabled]
-------- Base I/0 Address [3F8]
-------- Interrupt [IRQ 4]
---- Parallel Port [Enabled]
-------- Mode [ECP]
-------- Base I/0 Address [378]
-------- Interrupt [IRQ 7]
---- Audio Device [Enabled]
---- LAN Device [Enabled]
---- Legacy USB Support [Enabled]

- IDE Configuration
---- IDE Controller [Both]
---- PCI IDE Bus Master [Enabled]
---- Hard Disk Pre-Delay [Disabled]
---- Primary IDE Master [WDC WD800BB-53CAA0] (this setting has another sub-section)
---- Primary IDE Slave [Maxtor 6Y120L0] (this setting has another sub-section)
---- Secondary IDE Master [HL-DT-ST DVDRAM GMA-] (this setting has another sub-section)
---- Secondary IDE Slave [HL-DT-ST GCE-8160B] (this setting has another sub-section)

- Diskette Configuration
---- Diskette Controller [Enabled]
---- Floppy A [1.44/1.25 MB 3 1/2]
---- Diskette Write Protect [Disabled]

- Event Log Configuration
---- Event Log Space Available
---- Event Log Validity Valid
---- View Event Log
---- Clear All Event Logs [No]
---- Event Logging [Enabled]
---- ECC Event Logging [Enabled]
---- Mark Events As Read (If enabled with "Enter" key a new windows appears with two options: [Yes] and [No]

- Video Configuration
---- Primary Video Adapter [AGP]

********************************************************************************
********************************
SECURITY

- Set Supervisor Password
- Set User Password

********************************************************************************
********************************
POWER

- ACPI
---- ACPI Suspend State [S3 State]
---- Video Repost [Disabled]

- After Power Failure [Stay Off]
- Wake On PCI PME [Power On]
- Wake on Modem Ring [Power On]

********************************************************************************
********************************
BOOT

- Intel® Rapid BIOS Boot [Enabled]
- Silent Boot [Enabled]
- USB Boot [Enabled]

- Boot Device Priority
---- 1st Boot Device [ATAPI CD-ROM]
---- 2nd Boot Device [Removable Dev.]
---- 3rd Boot Device [Hard Drive]
---- 4th Boot Device [IBA 4.0.19 Slot 0208]

- Hard Disk Drives
---- 1st Hard Disk Drive [Maxtor 6Y120L0]
---- 2nd Hard Disk Drive [WDC WD800BB-53CAA0]

- Removable Devices
---- 1st Removable Device [1st floppy drive]

- ATAPI CD-ROM Drives
---- 1st ATAPI CDROM [HL-DT-ST DVDRAM GMA-40]
---- 2nd ATAPI CDROM [HL-DT-ST GCE-8160B]

- Display Setup Prompt [Yes]
- Keyboard Detection Warning [Enabled]
- Mouse Detection Warning [Disabled]
- CD/DVD Detection Warning [Enabled]
- Hard Drive Detect. Warning [Enabled]
- Hard Drive Self Diagnostic [Enabled]

********************************************************************************
****************************************
EXIT

- Exit Saving Changes
- Exit Discarding Changes
- Load Setup Defaults
- Load Custom Defaults
- Save Custom Defaults
- Discard Changes


Answering your question JayBern, yes I did reformat my Computer last week....

Hope this helps

[JayBern]

The same thing happened with my friend who reformatted his laptop. No answer till today too. Lol. I'll do some research and I'll let you know if I find a way to fix this problem.

[Samm]

Ok, thanks for all the bios related info. Unfortunately it looks like there isn't a setting for disabling/enabling the USB in the bios.

Try refreshing the USB stack instead :
Unplug all USB devices (I assume you're not using a USB keyboard). If you are using a USB mouse then leave this plugged in for now, although you will probably lose mouse function at some point.
Go back to device manager (devmgmt.msc) & expand the USB Controller branch again.
remove (delete) the USB devices in this order:

any usb devices listed (eg printer/scanner etc. There shouldn't be any though)
USB Hubs (HID or composite)
USB Root Hubs
Host controllers

At the end, there should be nothing in the USB section of D/M.
Reboot the system & let it redetect & reinstall the USB controllers & hubs.

Once thats done, try connecting a USB device & see if it works. Remember to test all 4 ports at the rear or the machine. If you have a USB mouse that you know works, then this is probably the best thing to use to test them. Alternatively, a USB flash stick is good.

[Lipredator]

Ok

I did what you told me Samm. The computer detects MP3 player, Mass Storage, Printer, and so on.

I am starting to think that this problem is due to the mice I am using. As I stated before, I have Microsoft Wireless Notebook Optical Mice. I did a research and I found that other people had problems with their mice such as pointer not moving, mice not being detected, and so on (same mice type); but I did not find anything related with a "malfunctioning Microsoft Wireless Notebook Optical Mouse" making USB ports to not work properly for a while.

The first mouse I was using was malfunctioning, I checked it on my laptop and it was not working... (this one seems to be responsible for making the USB ports of my Desktop Computer to not work, can't really tell)

The second mouse I used works OK. However, is not detected by my Desktop Computer (??????). I also checked this mouse on my laptop and is OK...

My father has another Microsoft Wireless Notebook Optical Mouse and for some reason this one is detected by my Desktop Computer (!!!!!!!). It works fine

So everything seems to be OK...I guess

[Samm]

Very odd. I'd love to be able to give you an explanation for the mouse issue, but frankly, I can't! Let's just hope everything else continues to work ok.

[Lipredator]

Thanks for your help and patience Samm

[Samm]

You're very welcome