I have a similiar problem except that >>none<< of my usb mass storage devices
work any more. [This includes my thumb drives!] I get a message "One of the
usb devices attached to this computer has malfunctioned, and Windows does not
recognize it". This occured recently, so I restored an earlier (a few weeks)
version of my WinXP SP2 system (all updates). The problem remained. I reset
to the current version again so that I could dig into the cause. I
immediately found that virtually all my other installed third part USB
devices were not working. [The trackball mouse still worked.] All devices are
noticed, but all needed an OEM disk re-install of the drivers. I re-installed
all the drivers I have and now only mass storage fails. I.e., no USB memory
drives, USB 80 Gig Disk drive, USB hubs. My peripherals (non-mass store seek
to work OK. I too am seeking help and ptpusb.dll seems involved. [Please note
that I have an Averatek 6240 series machine. The restore disk wipes the disk
and restores the factory version. On top of that the OEM laptop jerks
encrypted the restore disk so that I cannot find and expand the usb drivers.
I am not pleased with the thought of using "web" copies of these drivers.]

"Kevin O'Rourke" wrote:

Hello Kevin,

"winthrom" <winthrom@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:90D5AB9F-B321-41E1-982C-1E558291DAC6@microsoft.com...
It sounds as though there may be a driver problem within Device Manager.
Open DM and see whether any of the USB elements have warnings against them.
If so, the easiest way to deal with the situation is to delete those entries
and then restart your PC - to let XP find and resolve the problem for you.
You could also make sure that XP is fully up-to-date on its required
upgrades, and consider the merits of AVG7.5, ZoneAlarm and SpywareBlaster
for keeping the gremlins at bay that can upset it.

Regards,

Philip Andrews

Phillip:
Thanks for the advice. I used DM and saw nothing listed as a warning.
Evething was "working". This led me to consider the time honored solution to
MS overload: "Re-install the OS". I have a spare disk drive (same make, size,
etc. as the original. I bought it for backup via the USB port, which no
longer works. I re-installed the original OS (Averatec uses Ghost CDs) and
did all the MS updates, re-installed McAfee, re-installed Office XP, and
hoped for better days. Sure enough everything works on this new drive. I take
your point about ZoneAlarm, but McAfee has a firewall now, and it seems to be
OK. I connected the old drive via the USB and copied the downloads I had been
using previously, but I am carefully running them after all my CD/DVD based
programs are installed again. If the problem re-appears, I'll have identified
the cause.

Thanks again.
Mike Winthrom


"Philip Andrews" wrote: