Windows Xp not finding drivers for any new usb devices

[ambysam]

My wonderful toddlers broke my old PCI slot broadband adaptor on my Tosh Satellite laptop (and the slot itself I think, cos now when I try to insert a pci device it doesnt connect into the slot). I then bought a edimax usb broadband adaptor and it works fine but problem being that round about when I installed that I noticed that any time I plug in another isb device, windows cant find the driver to install> Have tried finding the drivers on the web but says they should be included in xp - just simple things like card readers, usb flash drives, digital camera etc?

I tried restoring the system back to a date prior to when the new modem was installed but hasnt made a difference....Anyone come across this before? I dont have original disk for xp as think it came pre-installed with the laptop when I bought it from Currys...

Just wondering if my only resort is to rebuild the machine? Just my desktop has issues too - (graohics card I think!!) - my plan had been to copy my data across to my desktop(which I did), and then rebuild the laptop but wanted to have one of them up and running so that I could download any necessary files and check on web if I needed any help!

Thanks for any advice,

nikki

 

[ambysam]

No I do have a router but as i am only adult in house (Single mum), only needed one online at time. Only brought desktop online cos I was copying my data across from laptop via shared drive on laptop\wifi network cos I think my only resort is to rebuild the laptop

With the laptop whenever I plug new hardware into usb's find new hardware window comes up and then says after a few mins that it cant find the driver. I look on net but says driver is included with xp. these are card readers etc that I have previously used on laptop.
The pc - the monitor started blacking out and coming back on. for last few days when booting it shows the bios and then went black, came back on and off a couple of times then went to standby saying no signal, just after I clicked on my username to logon. Next time I tried to get in via F8, VGA mode and got logged in and then just as I was away to go into device manager to have a play aorung with adaptor it went back to standby. Since then I cannot get back into the machine as screen wont stay on long enough!!! PC tower stays on though, PSU fan is going round, eveyrhting looks connected okay butcant get in to find out spec and have no drives shared on laptop to access my data to transfer it back or access the file I had saved on it with system info! Plus dont have PCAnywhere or anything similar installed on it so I can access it from another machine.

Vaguely remember when i was at Shell we had some software in which we could install remotely without responding on main pc but cant remember what it was so I could give it a go!!

Nikki

 

[ambysam]

Re Laptop - Like I said windows update detects the hardware but cannot find the drivers....Have tried rolling back to prior to the problems i but didnt fix it either, and prior to these probs windows was detecting drivers for my carrd readers\flash drives no probs. Thought I had already mentioned ALL this previously?!

Re desktop - Its a lcd was working fine one day then started blacking out, every few minutes,then during boot up and now wont come out of standby so I cannot access menus etc. I have tried a different LCD with same result. Tried going into VGA mode and still no joy. Not sure how old PC is, I bought it off fleabay,have had it about 4 months but only had it running for about 3 weeks. Its an Airxl case and PSU is 350W and if I leave the pc running it will run all day even though the monitor reports no signal with the main fan and the PSU fan running fine. Its a bit noisey when it first boots but once windows is loaded its quiet. the psu has a sticker saying with N/Killer. Not sure how I can identify the graphics card cos I cant get a display to list system settings etc. I know its red! Guess I will take all the numbers off the card, google them and see what comes up!?

cant afford too much outlay as am a single mum with toddlers, and cost of living isnt cheap in UK, and PC's and parts dearer over here!

Thanks for comments so far!