I'm not surprised. Upgrading an OS is perilous. Upgrading *with all peripherals attached* is worse.

Unplug all USB devices. Remove all USB software (in Add/Remove Software). Open Device Manager (DEVMGMT.MSC - nice shortcut!) and remove USB Root Hubs and then USB Controllers. Remove all Human Interface Devices (HID) and all other USB devices.

Now place the WinXP CD in the drive. Restart the PC and enter BIOS setup (look on the screen bottom for a cue - you will most likely have to press DEL). Once in BIOS setup, find the BOOT sequence entry and make CDROM #1. Restart and boot from the CD. At the first stop, choose "Install" (don't be nervous). At the next screen, Setup will say that it sees your current installation and will ask you what to do. You choose "Repair" and continue. This will take awhile, so go grab some coffee.

When the PC restarts, go ahead and reinstall all USB devices. Enjoy the coffee!

Bill

: i have a lexmark z33 printer that worked amazingly on windows 2000. Today i installed XP and now all the Usb ports are messed up. My scanner wont even get reconized and my sidewinder game pad only works half the time. also the computer makes a sound when i pull the usb out, but not when i plug it in. the error that it gives me is that they are unknown devices.
: i have the new XP drivers for teh printer but it wont let the computer connect to it even though i know its connected, and the controller will work if i reboot. but that only works a fraction of the time.

: thanks