I had a sudden disk problem (couldn't boot); disk was 'fixed' using OS CD Repair by running Chkdsk and fixboot and system was fine..almost. But it worked. Suddenly, a couple of weeks later, my 4 USB Controller ports (2.0) wouldn't load their driver. I go thru the wizard and it terminates with "The driver installation file for this device is missing a necessary entry. This may be because the INF was written..etc". I thought it was just the USB drivers, but now I find 2 more in Device Mgr with the yellow indicator and when I try to load the drivers for them, I get the same thing. (they are: High Precision Event Timer and Intel 82901FB/FBM SMBuss Controller - 266A). The HW is a Dell Dimension 8400 and all was fine before the disk problem. I'm afraid there's still a disk problem affecting some files in the system area but chkdsk doesn't find anything. (For example, restore points didn't work, indicating the System VOL files were corrupted. Backup fails on lots of files, but Explorer sees them fine. booting takes longer probably due to the remapped sectors.) I've tried many things including looking for drivers in various locations, including the CD with the OS on it; all ends with the same msg. I've booted with msconfig in minimal config; same thing. I've updated the Intel Chipset...and on and on.
Somehow I need to find out what's REALLY wrong, and a way to get passed it. BTW, to be clear, the USB ports did work after I fixed the disk but then suddenly 'disappeared' and all my USB devices (printer, camera, Ipod) don't work.
New ideas are surely welcome.
Thanks in advance,
George