KenB

Let us know how you get on. If it is fixed I would be interested to know what the problem was :)

Try what Woodworker suggests - no harm done if it doesn't fix it for you. This implies a problem with the wireless side of the router - or your machine. One thing to try first is to change the channel that the router broadcasts on. To do this you need to access the router software. ( ask if you need advice on this ) The setting will be under "Wireless" or similar - routers are all different. The usual settings are 1 - 6 - or 11 If it is set to channel 6 try one of the other two. It could be that a neighbour or yourself is using something that interferes with the wireless signal. This could be a cordless phone for instance. Let us know the make and model number of the router please. ( from experience - this could take some time as there are so many options ) Be thankful you are not with TalkTalk :)

Hi DSTM It is a possibility - the thing that confuses me is .... if the device is not connected it should be possible to remove the entry from Device Manager without it re-installing immediately.

That's odd - most should only install if the hardware is present. Have you uninstalled them one at a time anyway ? Try this M-$oft "FixIt" - click here

I don't understand - the system shouldn't restart automatically. I have just uninstalled one of my USB Controllers entries and the system didn't restart. If you are prompted to restart click "Later" Once all are uninstalled - then restart the system.

Ok. Go back to Device Manager and uninstall / delete every entry under USB Controllers There are 13 showing in your last image. Then re-boot. Windows should detect "New Hardware" and re-install the drivers. Take a look in Device Manager - let me know what is listed now please. There will not be 13 as this list gets added to as you introduce new hardware to the USB Ports.

What is showing in Device Manager against USB Controllers now ? Any change ?

Hi if you can afford it - this is probably the best way to go. You will find that all of the Operating Systems are Win 8 - which you will find a bit awkward at first. ( unless you can get hold of Win 7 :) )

Hi John this will confirm if the fault lies with the drive or not. If the second computer does not read the drive then there is definitely a problem. If, however, the drive is able to be read on the second machine then the problem obviously lies with your specific machine. Let us know how you get on.

I didn't have any luck with that particular page either :( I did find this - click here There are USB Drivers there ..........not sure if you have tried these ?? There doesn't seem to be a chipset driver which is odd. Let me know how you get on with the USB driver.

Send me a PM with the Model or Serial Number please. Click on my name ( to the left ) then click on "Private Message"

Hi and welcome to ExTS :) If Windows is still recording this as a problem ( yellow exclamation mark ) after you have uninstalled it - then it seems that Windows is "seeing" hardware that does not have the correct drivers. I doubt that this is the cause of your USB ports not working. When you say you updated drivers - did you update the Chipset Drivers for your machine? Take a look here - click here See if you can update the Chipset Drivers.

Hi George Good to hear that you have sorted it. It may help others if you could explain what you did :) Question: Have you registered here before with slightly different names ?

Hi and welcome to ExTS I am sure that you are aware that M$oft have withdrawn support for XP as of April this year ? In other words - whilst the OS is perfectly good ....it is progressively more vulnerable. Most AV software is still receiving updates and will do so for the next 2-3 years Without a re-install I doubt that doubling the RAM will make the system any quicker. XP runs very well on just 1GB RAM .....2GB is more than enough ( or should be ) We have members here who have invested in a SSD drive - they will be able to advise you better on this one. Suffice to say .... this is an expensive investment and I have to ask is it worth it on a 6 year old machine ? This is fairly typical of XP. A re-install should solve this ...if you decide to go down this route. This is an option. If you are thinking along these lines then Win 7 or Win 8 is the way to go. You may find that your present system is not up to running either of these. Run Win7 Upgrade Adviser - click here This will let you know ( for Win7 anyway :) ) If your system will support Win 7 we can take it from there.

I still think, as the others do, that you need to try this drive direct using a SATA cable. Also - I can't remember if you have tried this ..... does it work if you plug it into another computer ?

DSTM has a valid point. If you need a SATA cable take one from the DVD or CDROM if they are SATA. You didn't answer this ...

Hi John Thanks for the Device Manager image. This shows you main Hard Drive having 2 partitions - 97 GB and 368 GB If you take a look at the diskpart image you posted in post #9 ... It shows a 76 GB partition with no allocated letter. You are not getting the full information from diskpart > list volume Mine looks like this : The top one is without a USB Memory Stick - the second set of data is with the Memory Stick. Your image does not show C: ............which is your main hard drive. Can you have another go at this please ( diskpart > list volume ) and see if you get the same results ? Obviously - make sure that the external drive is in place. ========== By the way .... Does this drive use 2 USB connections or 1 USB and a mains adapter ?

Jim I am not sure if your last post implied that you were going to BUY a new version of Win7 If you don't have an installation disk there is no need to buy one. We have a link here to a free ISO download - as long as you have the 25 character Product Key from the original installation :) This would need to be an OEM installation I think ....Dell / HP / Acer etc.

John You deleted an image of Disk Management - was this intentional ? This image shows Disk 0 = The Main Hard drive The CDROM is listed there as it should be. Do you want me to reproduce this screenshot ?

Hi Jim Try taking one of the RAM modules out and run the machine. If it is still slow ....swap over to the other one. It could be just a co-incidence and it may not be anything system based but the RAM may be slowing it down if one of the modules has gone west. Also try - Safe Mode Boot up in safe mode ..... Switch on ...tap F8 about once per second ....select Safe Mode from the list. Does it still run slow ?

This is the disk that Nev will require. Not sure if Nev is thinking of a "Repair" .....if this is the case take a look here - click here [ also - you may not be able to use this disk for a "Repair" ..... you will soon find out ] You will need to check that the DVD CDROM is first in the boot order. Switch on and alternate between F2 / DEL about once per second. This will take you into the BIOS. Move around using the arrow keys. If you need to move the DVD CDROM up then it will explain on screen. If you do move it don't forget to Save and Exit. Usually F10 ...but again it will say on screen. Is there ANYTHING on that disk that you need to take off - this is the time to do it Now back to Nev :)

Hi Jim Did you try sfc /scannow as DSTM suggested earlier ? Start > type in ,,..cmd.exe ..... right click on the cmd.exe that shows top left of screen > then click on Run as Administrator. At the prompt type in ....sfc /scannow .....ENTER [ there is a space after sfc ] You may be asked to pop in the Installation Disk

I assume that this is Start ....type in msconfig .....startup ? When you say nothing .....do you mean nothing or are all entries unchecked ? CTRL+ALT+DEL ............then click "Startup" Is there anything there ?

Hi Jim These may be recoverable using something like Recuva - click here You want the free version. If that machine is as slow as you say it may take a very long time. The problem is - if you want the files back, the more you do with the machine the less chance you have of recovering files.

One other thing that has not been discussed so far ( I don't think ) is ... if you do manage to get a video card for that machine - is your present Power Supply Unit going to have enough power to run it. ? New video card often calls for new Power Supply Unit.