USB Not Working

[I know nothing]

Hello to all. I'm new here, so any help would be GREATLY APPRECIATED! Just a few days ago, my computer, in the task bar, a message popped up saying "power surge in usb port". Now, the I only have 2 usb ports (there are 6 altogether). Is there a fix for this, or am I just screwed. I went to the device manager, and it said that all usb ports were working properly, but I'm not really sure that I was reading it correctly. I hope that someone could give me an aswer that I could trust. Once again, thanks.

Oh yea, I have a Compaq Pressario, Windows XP, Model S5200NX (I think thats the model), and I have a printer, external harddrive, and camera all plugged into the usb ports (which by the way, have been that way for a year now.)

[Moz]

Hi. It's a bit hard to tell where you stand without more information. What have you done since then to check whether the ports are working? Which ports aren't working - the ones out the back of the machine or the ones out the front?
Some devices use more power than others, and can overload the 500ma max provided by usb. Also, some ports are linked, so the total power is split between them. A device like a usb mouse uses very little power, so try unplugging the rest of the devices and plug the mouse into each port and see if it works.
A powered usb2 hub plugged into a working port might save you if the other 4ports are in fact dead, or perhaps a USB2 PCI card installed in the machine should work (but the ports will all be out the back of the machine in this case), but otherwise there's not much you can do.
Good luck
Moz

[jbennet]

either its a malfunctioning device, or your port is broken (e.g the tab fell out, allowing you to stick things upside down) - and its very likely that as a consequence, all the usb ports on that bus are permanently fried. Sorry but it looks like you wll need to buy a PCI usb card, or a new motherboard

[I know nothing]

Wow! That was a great response time! Info on the computer. I haven't done anything different over the past couple of weeks than any other time. My external harddrive, if I read the device manager correctly, is only pulling 2ma. I don't think my ports are broken. I took off the side of the case, and they look to be ok. I don't smell a burnt smell, so I don't think they could be burnt. I also stopped by Best Buy to pick one of those guys' brains. Yeah, they were no help! He said that it could be a spyware program causing it. What do you guys think about that? I'll try the mouse thing. Thanks for the help.