I'm writing this from my laptop which still works. My desktop (Core2 DUO - XPSP3), which I used all night last night with no problems, suddenly developed a problem with recognizing the mouse through the USB port. The mouse no longer works and the computer repeatedly puts up the error message:
"USB Device Not Recognized
One of the USB devices attached to this computer has malfunctioned, and Windows does not recognize it. For assistance in solving this problem, click this message."
Of course, I cannot click on it. I tried that mouse on the laptop - works fine. I tried the mouse from the laptop on the desktop - didn't work. I tried a wired mouse plugged into the ps2 port - same message. Also, rebooting or restarting do nothing different. This happened when I attempted to download pictures from my camera, which I have done over a hundred times before.
Note: the keyboard works fine. I tried moving around with it, got to Device Manager. The entry for USB has the telltale yellow circled exclamation point.
I have a tremendous amount loaded onto the desktop, very important stuff. I do not want to have to reformat the drive... again. I've had viruses that force the issue before. Speaking of which, I have scanned the computer with AVG - no results, en though AVG seems to produce more false positives than the antivirus I am familiar with: Avast.
So, is there something I can do to repair whatever it is in Windows that has gone faulty? Is there something else I could do to remedy this situation? Again, I really don't want to reformat the drive.
Thanks for whatever insights you can offer,
Ken
"USB Device Not Recognized
One of the USB devices attached to this computer has malfunctioned, and Windows does not recognize it. For assistance in solving this problem, click this message."
Of course, I cannot click on it. I tried that mouse on the laptop - works fine. I tried the mouse from the laptop on the desktop - didn't work. I tried a wired mouse plugged into the ps2 port - same message. Also, rebooting or restarting do nothing different. This happened when I attempted to download pictures from my camera, which I have done over a hundred times before.
Note: the keyboard works fine. I tried moving around with it, got to Device Manager. The entry for USB has the telltale yellow circled exclamation point.
I have a tremendous amount loaded onto the desktop, very important stuff. I do not want to have to reformat the drive... again. I've had viruses that force the issue before. Speaking of which, I have scanned the computer with AVG - no results, en though AVG seems to produce more false positives than the antivirus I am familiar with: Avast.
So, is there something I can do to repair whatever it is in Windows that has gone faulty? Is there something else I could do to remedy this situation? Again, I really don't want to reformat the drive.
Thanks for whatever insights you can offer,
Ken