Non functioning USB ports

[truenorth]

Hope hands are not in the air in defeat on this one. Is someone waiting for more info from me before further input? truenorth

[patio]

Two things you can try and one to remember:
1)Unofficial Service Pak for Win98 SE

NOTE: you must be running the SE version of Win98 for this...Make sure to do backups of important data first.

2) Each USB device you try needs drivers for Win98...there is no one cure-all. So if the device has no Win98 driver your outta luck.

3) You can also try re-installing the motherboard drivers before you try the SP listed above...it won't hurt.

[truenorth]

Patio, Thank you. I did verify that it is for certain Win98SE by comparing it on the Microsoft site with the code for my O/S. I think i shall try and do the motherboard drivers method 1st. I will use Everest to hopefully determine the Mo/Bo. I shall then endeavor to try and find the drivers for it on line.Just as an observation. This computer did come with 98SE as the installed O/S and the USB ports are also "onboard" as opposed to later added. So i do find it strange that USB ports would have been a part of the MFG. and be so hard to utilize. I do realize that many new devices have been created that use USB that did not exist at the time this computer was built and that each generation of O/S and indeed computer has limitations backwards. IE: apparently it is getting harder to find new computer that have installed floppy drives (even finding the floppies has become harder).I will keep you posted as things progress. It may be a few days.I cannot logically understand how it was that reinstalling WI98SE over the existing O/S seemed to advance things whereas when asked to provide the exact same disk when trying to use a USB device did not advance anything. I find that very weird. truenorth

[truenorth]

Patio and others,well i have finally had some time to try and advance this issue. Patio specifically to answer your question re the motherboard. It is an ASUS P5A http://www.hardwarezone.com/reviews/MB/p5a/p5a.htm#bad  (this is some info on it). Other info that may be applicable. The "C" drive which obviously contains the O/S is from another computer (An HP 8550c i believe).Where as the actual computer it now resides in (with it's original M/B) is a "Revtek by Compuzone Inc. S/N 001463.I tried (by pausing) the memory count dos start up page and report the following 1. Award Modular BIOS V4.51PG, 2.ASUS P5A ACPI BIOS revision 1007.A ,3.AMD-K6-2/400 Processor ,4. O/S MS W98SE 4.10.2222A ,5. M/B Resources properties = Driver =Provider =MSA Date= 4-23-1999 ,6."No driver files are required or have been loaded for this device".
  Now to USB devices observations current to today. 1. A Trend Net "TEW-424UB " wireless router when installed in one of the 2 available USB ports (after win98SE drivers installed from Mgr. provided CD) is flashing. There is activity on the "configuration" window on the graph at the bottom of the window. Extremely little but some.However all my attempts to connect to MS explorer or MS outlook express are unsuccessful. Cannot connect to site. When i look under internet options at the available internet connections options (device type) there are 3 56k modems and nothing else. On the task bar there is an icon resembling 4 vertical green bars of different heights and they are lit and when putting the mouse on top of the icon the following appears "WLAN Connect to: default". Now without any way to connect to anything i am suspecting that the USB wireless router is actually functioning (but maybe not correctly). Do you agree? I have tried (using the other USB port) to install an "Emprex usb 2.0 1 GB flash drive. It illuminates and "new hardware"(identifies as a "mass storage usb device)  is found. It wants drivers. None came with the drive.A search on the Emprex site--what a frustration that is--not only did not find drivers but could not even locate the drive in their product line.Tried many google searches without satisfaction and many comments about non replies from the Mgr.(i have sent one though--not holding out much hope there). Anyway i hope this adds to the knowledge needed to advance this issue and not to the confusion.truenorth
P.S. Patio do you see anything on this page that looks like what i should download re above? http://drivers.softpedia.com/progSearch
P.S. P.S. Or this one? http://www.filesearching.com/cgi-bin/s?q=al5i107a.zip&l=en
Update: Things are happening so fast that it is hard to keep up. Short update=i am now connected to the internet via the Trend -Net usb wireless router (this update is being generated to the post from it). Now how you ask has this happened/ Short answer i don't really know. I still cannot access my Outlook Express (even though the ISP is properly identified). However i CAN ACCESS al web pages either directly through Internet Explorer or via indirect links such as "Musicmatch" online help. I was able to update my "flash player" So other than the "Outlook Express" problem plus the "Flash drives" i would venture to say that i now have functioning USB ports on this Revtek computer.