PC help...Hardware or Software Trouble?!?

[BurningSkies]

Hey Y'all,

I've run into a patch of computer trouble in the past day. Lemme tell ya the story, and then I'd love to hear feedback on what's up. Thanks!

-Last night I was setting up to record in our practice room, which some of the outlets have dicey power. There was some kind of surge and my computer hiccupped and shut down. I had to hit the reset on the bottom of the laptop to get it to restart, and all seemed fine (I ran norton at home and it showed no problems), nor has it shown anything except for one thing...

All 3 of my USB2 ports are apparently dead. At the time, I had been hooked up to my 4 channel interface to record. The computer wouldn't recognize the interface after restart at practice and I figured I fried the interface.

Once I got home, I tried all my different peripherals...external drive, burner, etc. and the computer won't recognize any of them. I have a docking port that connects to the laptop from a junction on the bottom of the computer...and neither of the USB2 ports will work on it now either. My cell phone will recognize that it's been plugged in, but gives me an unauthorized charger message and the computer doesn't see it either.

In the software manager, it shows the ports and they all show to be working. I've tried to roll back the drivers to see if that was the problem and there's nothing to roll back, nor will it 'update' the drivers. I don't really know how to manually replace the drivers and when I go to the HP/Compaq site, there's nothing listed.

The computer is a Compaq Presario 2500 series from 2003, running Windows XP, with 1gig ram and a 2.4ghz processor.

Am I pretty much screwed on this? A computer person at work (not a tech,one of our sales guys) said he thinks its a possibly a software issue rather than a hardware one, but is honest in saying he doesn't know.

Any advice, wisdom, insight would be appreciated...besides telling me to switch to a Mac. I already have one of those too.

I did get offered a 17" mac powerbook pro new/unabused floor model for $1499 due to my hardship...I'm having a hard time turning that down, but it would be better to have my machine with MY software working!

 

[BetterBottomEnd]

USB controller is probably fried. If thats the case (which I'm 99% sure it is) the only way to fix it would be to replace the motherboard which would be quite expensive. On the other hand it's still perfectly fine for surfing, schoolwork, etc. Buy yourself a Mac book for your recording give the laptop to your kid, SO, keep it for yourself, whatever.

 

[BurningSkies]

USB controller is probably fried. If thats the case (which I'm 99% sure it is) the only way to fix it would be to replace the motherboard which would be quite expensive. On the other hand it's still perfectly fine for surfing, schoolwork, etc. Buy yourself a Mac book for your recording give the laptop to your kid, SO, keep it for yourself, whatever.

Yeah, that was my suspicion, especially after trying the dock.

I'd love the Macbook pro, but I'd have to find new recording software, a new copy of Photoshop CS 2 or 3, and a number of other programs. That will be a loss for me (I actually LIKE cubase).

The compaq has run well for a number of years of hard use, but things have been going on it for a while...the DVD drive only works for CDs, the power settings never work right, etc...I'm getting tired of so many peripherals to do things it used to do itself!

 

[smidgley]

Try going to the control panel, right clicking each of the USB devices (and controllers) and uninstall them all. Reboot.

 

[msquared]

I'd love the Macbook pro, but I'd have to find new recording software, a new copy of Photoshop CS 2 or 3, and a number of other programs. That will be a loss for me (I actually LIKE cubase).

Cubase is available for Mac OSX. Rumor has it that it is superior to the Windows version, even.

I had three Macbook Pros. The first died within a week, the second within two days, the third within a month. Thousands of people use them without any trouble but I just seemed to get the lemons for some reason. I'd still be using one if I knew it wasn't going to croak on me, but I wasn't going to go for #4 and am now typing this on a Thinkpad. I still miss OSX, though not quite so much when I'm booted into Linux.

I agree with the idea of trying to uninstall the USB and rebooting. You'll know for sure if it's hardware related after that.

 

[BetterBottomEnd]

There's no reason reinstalling them should make any difference. That doesn't mean it won't work though and is certainly well worth a try. I've seen Windows do weirder things. I just like to spend other peoples money because theres no way I could afford a new Macbook even though I would love one.

It can be a pain moving over to OS X but at least you can take the chance to upgrade to CS 3. If you were asking for the most reliable notebook I wouldn't recommend a Macbook to you (I would probably say Thinkpad actually) but it is surprising that you had three die on you. The flipside is that Apple has good customer service and Apple Stores are getting more and more common so you don't have to send your laptop away to get serviced.

 

[BurningSkies]

Cubase is available for Mac OSX. Rumor has it that it is superior to the Windows version, even.

I had three Macbook Pros. The first died within a week, the second within two days, the third within a month. Thousands of people use them without any trouble but I just seemed to get the lemons for some reason. I'd still be using one if I knew it wasn't going to croak on me, but I wasn't going to go for #4 and am now typing this on a Thinkpad. I still miss OSX, though not quite so much when I'm booted into Linux.

I agree with the idea of trying to uninstall the USB and rebooting. You'll know for sure if it's hardware related after that.

Sorry to hear about your problems. I've had a G3 iMac since 2001 that had a memory problem early on, but was covered under warranty and hasn't had a problem since. Its the 'house' computer and gets 'housecleaning' once a year and has problem free.

Its good to hear that Cubase is also Mac...I really find it works for me better than most. I also won't stop recording just because of this week's problem...I'll just be more careful!

Try going to the control panel, right clicking each of the USB devices (and controllers) and uninstall them all. Reboot.

Thanks. I did this, and it did re-install the drivers, but there's still no sign of life.

There's no reason reinstalling them should make any difference. That doesn't mean it won't work though and is certainly well worth a try. I've seen Windows do weirder things. I just like to spend other peoples money because theres no way I could afford a new Macbook even though I would love one.

It can be a pain moving over to OS X but at least you can take the chance to upgrade to CS 3. If you were asking for the most reliable notebook I wouldn't recommend a Macbook to you (I would probably say Thinkpad actually) but it is surprising that you had three die on you. The flipside is that Apple has good customer service and Apple Stores are getting more and more common so you don't have to send your laptop away to get serviced.

I'm fairly comfortable on X as my iMac is running one of the early versions of it. The thing is, for the price, I don't think I can beat this Macbook Pro. It lists for 2800 bucks, and while its been a 'display' version at the place I work (a university bookstore), it really has been babied and has had no problem for the 6 months it's been on display. They're also willing to throw in the whole extended warranty bit for me. We have a local mac store about ten minutes away from me so that's not a problem.

The other nice thing is that I get educational discount on software as well as occasional 'deals' like the free legit copies of Cubase and Sibelius that have come my way in the past year.

 

[brisonic]

USB controller is probably fried. If thats the case (which I'm 99% sure it is) the only way to fix it would be to replace the motherboard which would be quite expensive. On the other hand it's still perfectly fine for surfing, schoolwork, etc. Buy yourself a Mac book for your recording give the laptop to your kid, SO, keep it for yourself, whatever.

you can buy a card with usb 2 ports for cheap if that is the issue.

 

[BetterBottomEnd]

you can buy a card with usb 2 ports for cheap if that is the issue.

Yeah it's true you could squeeze a little more life out of your old Compaq. Sounds to me like it's served faithfully and it's time to retire it. Thats a killer dealer on the Macbook. Be honest you just wanted to buy it the whole time and were looking for a little push over the edge.

Honestly I was actually surprised how cheap PCMCIA USB cards were its not really a that bad of an option.

 

[BurningSkies]

you can buy a card with usb 2 ports for cheap if that is the issue.

Yeah it's true you could squeeze a little more life out of your old Compaq. Sounds to me like it's served faithfully and it's time to retire it. Thats a killer dealer on the Macbook. Be honest you just wanted to buy it the whole time and were looking for a little push over the edge.

Honestly I was actually surprised how cheap PCMCIA USB cards were its not really a that bad of an option.

I had been looking at a card for my laptop, but I figured it was a 50/50 shot as to if it would work, or if it would be the same thing as with my docking port, where while it has USB ports, they're not recognized by the computer.

Honestly, until this happened I was completely happy with my Compaq, and had no thought of a Macbook...and didn't get a word on the deal until I went to talk to these guys about this situation. It seems like the kind of deal that you don't get every day. I'd be basically charged cost on the computer.