dadguy

I have seen this a lot. When coming from a customer PC I find that many have set up a proxy for internet access to comply with company guidelines. This will block the internet access but not the ping. Give it a look; open Internet Explorer, Tools/Internet Options then go to Connections tab, select LAN Settings at the bottom and make sure the proxy is unchecked. Dadguy

Assuming they opened the case and removed the muriad of hardware to finally get to the motherboard and USB module. But I don'tsee any evidence of that (the screws look untouched). The geek squad booted from a hardware test CD and claimed that this tool used only software frm the CD; they determined that it was a hardware issue before sending to HP. It doesn't matter... I am just a little skeptical after trying so many other things. I do appreciate the responses, and your idea sounds like a good one. Many thanks! I will report back so this question gets resolved. Dadguy

Thanks for the reply, jaclaz. I read those links... the first one had some interesting stuff, but nothing I haven't considered so far. The second wasn't applicable. Hmmm... I would have thought that the System Restore would have brought me to a safe place with a fresh registry. It certainly looks like a new registry (it's size is a fraction of what it was). I wonder how HP can so definitively say this is software, not hardware? Is this a routine to deflect costs associated with replacing hardware under warranty? One wonders.... I hope someone out there recognizes this and has come up with a solution or recommendation.

Greetings all, I am stymied by several jobs where insertion of a USB device freezes my PC 1. An HP DV8000 laptop, about two years old. - XP Professional, SP3, 1GB Memory - The USBs have worked fine for two years. Suddenly they are not working. No indication of what event started the problem. - If I insert a USB wireless mouse, I get an "Device Not Recoginzed" message. I still have control over the Synamptec (SP?) touchpad to operate the cursor, but the wireless mouse doesn't work (yet it always has before). The power LED on the mouse USB stick flashes once but doesn't light like it used to do. The Device Manager shows an "Unknown Device" - If I insert a standard memory stick, the cursor locks up and I cannot recover. Everything is frozen, even after romoving the stick. The only recovery is a forced shutdown with the power button (hold for 5 seconds). Likewise, other devices like a USB External Disk locks me up. - The devices (mouse, stick, Ext Hard Drive) all work properly in other PCs. What I have tried: - All Device Manager USB items are "Working Properly" with no yellow ! - I tried upgrading the drivers of all of the USB devices in Device Manager. Each time, "An upgraded driver could not be found" result was returned. - I disconnected power and the battery overnight. Powered up after... no change. - BIOS had no choices for changing any settings. No "Legacy Device Support" or even a "Rest to Default" choice was available. Remember, they were working with the original BIOS. - Flashed the BIOS to the latest level. No change. - Restacked the USBs by uninstalling all USB devices in Decice Manager. then scanning for Hardware Changes. All were re-installed but no change. - Re-installed all OEM drivers from OEM driver disk. No change. - Checked Services, and noticed that "Universal Plus & Play" was not running (Manual). Switched it to Automatoc and started it. No change. - Uninstalled SP3. No change. - Took the PC to Geek Squad. They ran a Hardware test from a boot CD and said it was "hardware related" and that hardware compnents needed to be replaced. They sent it to HP and 2 weeks later HP returned it saying that the problem was OS related and left it for the Geek Squad to re-install the OS. - I picked it up (since I am a competent PC guy) and executed the following (it still had the same problems): - I booted from the OEM OS disk and did a Windows repair install; new operating system, retained the installed programs. No change. - I ran through all of the above efforts with the fresh install, no change. - I did a system restore (more invasive) to re-install to the OEM condition. No change. - I ran through all of the above efforts with the fresh install, no change. - I connected to HPs online driver install. Nothing found. No change. I have searched the internet tirelessly. Many have my problem, yet no one seems to have solved the problem. The forums always end without resolution. Many have solved it temporarily with the "remove power for 30 minutes" suggestion, but no one seems to know what the problem is. What is it with USB problems that I cannot find someone whom has a similar problem and a solution? I hope you can help. Dadguy