[Primasapere]

I recently decided to build a new computer to upgrade from an outdated model I'd built four years ago.

These are the main components:

ABIT AV8 Motherboard
AMD 3000+ 1.84 GHz Processor
400W Generic Power Supply

The rest shouldn't be adversely effecting my situation.

After mounting the board to my case, and installing other components, I ran the computer for a while, pleased with its functioning. I hadn't thought to test out the USB ports, mainly because I didn't know there could be an issue.

I had a version of Windows XP Pro including SP1, which I had from college, so I installed that as the OS after reformatting the hard drives.

Everything works great as far as I can see, but when I thought to connect a thumb drive to a USB port to transfer some information from my old system to the new, I found that my computer wasn't recognizing my USB ports at all.

No error messages or anything. Just... nothing happens.

So, I researched, and found that a Windows Update from January (2004?) expanded Windows' capability to recognize USB 2.0. So I thought to check the Device Manager to see if the ports were recognized, but not working, and unfortunately, they're not listed at all. I tried downloading all of the updates that the Windows Update provided me with, including SP2 at some point, but the Devide Manager continues to not recognize the ports.

I've installed all the drivers included with my motherboard as well, so at this point, I'm not sure what to do.

I located a Windows Service Pack 1a, which I don't believe I ever downloaded, but I'm working with SP2 now, so it's a little late to get 1a. The update that included USB 2.0 support supposedly was an update on SP1, so I'm worried that I'll have to uninstall SP2, download SP1a (130-odd MB), and then redownload SP2 (111 MB).

I read through a couple other USB-related issues here on the forums, but most of the advice didn't seem applicable to my situation.

Any help would be greatly appreciated. I'm going back to school in the fall, and I use my thumb drive a lot to take my work out of my room, so the capability borders on a necessity.

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Did you check your bios to ensure your usb ports are enabled?

[makai]

Did you check your bios to ensure your usb ports are enabled?

[Primasapere]

No, how would I go about such a check?

[makai]

Restart the computer and repeadtedly hit the delete key... this must be done before the windows splash screen.

Once in bios, you have to navigate the menus until you find an option for USB devices. Make sure they are enabled... or on Auto. I don't know your bios, so I can't tell you what to look for.

If you do have to change it, you will need to save the changes and exit the bios. Normally, all you have to do to save and exit is hit the F10 key and then hit enter.

[Primasapere]

Okay good and bad bad bad news.

The good news is, after hunting around in the BIOS, I found options to enable USB devices (including 2.0).

The bad bad bad news is, after enabling them, saving, and restarting, my computer won't load at all. It displays the processor name, and gets out "Me" or "Mem" of "Memory Check" before freezing.

I've tried hitting ESC to skip the Memory Check, to no avail. I've tried hitting DEL to get back into the BIOS to change things around, to no avail.

The main reason I probably didn't think to check the BIOS for USB enabling in the first place is, the BIOS really scares me, because stuff like this can happen.

What worries me most is that it's freezing after about a second of being turned on. There's no sort of check going on internally past the processor check.

Props entirely on mentioning the BIOS as an avenue for my search, by the way. Any chance you can pull another rabbit out of your hat and get my computer started again, or do I need to grab a new motherboard?

[Primasapere]

Cancel that, guys. I enabled my computer to use Keyboard/Mouse/STORAGE DEVICES on the BIOS, and the issue was, I had a storage device plugged into a USB port during the boot. So, after sitting and watching my computer do nothing for a while, I looked, noticed the thumb drive, pulled it out, and was happy to see my computer continue booting as if nothing had happened.

I promptly entered the BIOS, changed the USB settings to Keyboard/Mouse only in DOS, and am overjoyed.

Thank you very much, Makai, for your assistance. This website is truly a gift from God.

[makai]

You're welcome... but... did you finally get your usb ports to work and does it recognize your thumbdrive now???

[Primasapere]

Yup, it works. After enabling the ports in the BIOS, it seemed that having one plugged in during the boot process was some sort of interference.

In my BIOS, there are three options for USB ports:

OFF - they just don't work at all.
KB/MS - Keyboard and Mouse load in DOS and are thus usable throughout the boot sequence and into Windows.
ON - Keyboard, Mouse, and Storage Devices are loaded in DOS and usable throughout.

For some reason, having the thumb drive inserted during the boot process was an interference. Currently, my mouse and keyboard are being used via PS2 adaptors, just because I wanted to keep my USB ports free, so I'm not sure yet if having them running through the USB ports will interfere with my boot sequence.

Right now, I'm happy to have a functional system, despite a few quirks. When I have more time, I'll work them out.

[Stasiek]

your usb ports will not cause a boot up problem if you can check that the boot up sequence doesn't include a usb ports

it should have only 3 at least, primary set for floppy, secondary set for hard drive (the one with the OS), third set for cd-rom anything after that should be on off/disabled