[ShoeShane]

Hello all,

MODEL: Gateway GT4016 (Desktop)
OS: Windows XP SP2
PROCESSOR: 2.20 Gigahertz AMD Athlon 64
MOBO: First International Computer inc. KTBC51GPCB1X



My dilemma started a few weeks ago when my USB mouse quit functioning. I soon noticed that the rest of my USB peripherals were having the same problem. The devices all, themselves, recognized that they were plugged in, but windows failed to respond to the devices. After ensuring that USB was enabled in BIOS and checking to make sure that all of the drivers were properly installed and updated, I began to research and found several other people that encountered the same problem. The general consensus that I've found, is that I'm pretty much screwed. However, a cheap USB PCI card looked like a cheap fix to my problem.

So anyway, I secured a card for about 40 bucks at circuit city, popped open the case, and plugged it in. After powering up my computer, and starting Windows, I was expecting to see a prompt for "New Hardware Found". Well, the prompt never came, and after a frustrating process of attempting to get the card functioning, I gave up. I was planning on returning the card to get my money back. So I removed the card, sealed up my computer and attempted to power it back on. When I did this, the fans turned on, the CD/DVD player began to blink as it normally does--but the blue "power" light on the front would not come on and the monitor stayed blank. Curious, i plugged the PCI card back in and the computer started up like normal.

My question is, Why wont my computer start without the PCI card in place?

Any help would be very much appreciated.
Thankyou

Edited by ShoeShane, 30 June 2008 - 10:43 AM.