USB Root Hub conflict that won't go away.

Hi Lisa, been wondering how you were going. Those plans sound good to me. Vista was scheduled for release around mid-year, now it is the end of the year (thanks Pete).

There are some makers that build complete systems that don't proprietorise their drivers, let you use your own version of Windows, don't have special proprietry parts (that seem to be very expensive to replace), etc. Probably the best I can think of is IBM, they have sold the PC side to Lenovo, have a look at these as an example:
http://www-131.ibm.com/webapp/wcs/s...01&categoryId=2580522&langId=-1&dualCurrId=73
They still have the IBM feel of good support and information. Others may be Sony or Toshiba.
Suppliers like TigerDirect may have pre-built systems (see the 'sticky' at the top of hardware forum).
Over here we have lots of them. I could walk two blocks down the road, buy a system, then rebuild and upgrade it completely with parts from the same store.

I suggest you post a new thread in the hardware section when it comes time to buy...we LOVE going shopping!

Electronics prices are coming down all the time, so you should get reasonable system for not too much expense.

A lot of the hardware is being built into the motherboard now, like quality 6.1 channel sound, not the cheapo built-in stuff like in the past. You will probably find most add-in hardware will be USB (working, we hope ) and maybe the drivers will be easier to install (I only saw a small improvement in driver installation with XP over 98).

You do need to carry over good salvagable hardware like your second HDD (Edit: sorry...and your new HP scanner ) . If you have some favourite old hardware you may have to update it if new drivers are not made.

Matt

 

Also...watch the media for advertisements stating "this system is Vista ready" towards the release of Vista. There may be some good possibilities there...meaning that it would(?) be easy to upgrade from Win XP and thus reasonably easy to upgrade overall.

Matt

 

Advertisements like this one - "Our Printer are Y2k Ready" ?

 

Hope they can match those standards

 

matt, once again, thank you for the wealth of information you've bestowed upon me

When it does come time to buy this new Vista puter, you can bet your life I'll be here asking for advice on what to get. As long as it's at least practically set to go, I should be ok. Any complicated installations, like drivers, cards, etc..and I'm up blank's creek. LOL

 

Lisa, think about your hardware in the meantime. I suppose you have a printer and the way you connect to the internet (a dial-up modem built into the Dell?). If you have reasonable quality hardware, driver installation should be easy. Low priced hardware are usually the ones that are hard to install (drivers and their installation programs are minimised).

List what hardware you think you will need.

Find the model number of anything you think you will want to carry over to the Vista machine.

Hopefully, Vista will be very clever at installing drivers.

Matt
PS I told my sister how you were getting Vista... "Why can't I have that?" I have already purchased XP Home for her. She is extremely jealous .

 

mattman, though I agree with most of the points regarding hardware I find it very irritating when big companies *customise* their hardware so that none of the generic drivers work & then they provide only Recovery CDs with a lot of junk that you are trying to get rid off.

Recently a customer bought a Toshiba Laptop & then complained that it was very slow - slower than even his old SONY laptop. There were so many programs starting up that it just slowed to a crawl. I formatted it & reloaded new Windows XP but there were no drivers ! . None of the drivers I downloaded from Toshiba/Intel worked (apparently the drivers are a closely guarded secret & not to be disclosed on the site). I then had to use the Recovery CD again to get back the functionality & along with it came lots of garbage for free. So we were back exactly from where we started.

 

Hi guys. Sorry to keep dragging this discussion back to the USB/scanner problem, but I'm still working on my own fix, and encountered something that may help during the 9-month wait for Vista. It's a download from Dell support that could work; I'll be trying it on my own right now, but in case you guys want to give it a whirl, here's the link:

Dell Support Download (long address)

 

Good spotting Jetfire, it did not come up in my searches (there is not much useful cross-referencing in the Dell knowledgebase). It appears to be just what Lisa needs...resetting the USB Root Hubs and "This will enumerate the scanner and re-establish communication with it ". Perfect. Even if Lisa does not find it fixes the problem, someone else could be helped. It is certainly a helpful suggestion.
Don't worry if the topic wanders around here, we all bounce ideas off each other. Go back to the main topic immediately you have some relevant information .

rsinfo, we may need to scratch Toshiba off the list of possible candidates for the new machine. My plan would be to see if the manufacturer offers a full set of drivers and not just updates to the original drivers. Good info.

There is always the possiblity of seeing if Lisa (sorry about the third person Lisa) may be interested in having the computer custom-built. The custom-built computers I have made for my family and friends, rarely, if ever, come back to me with hardware problems and I am continuously upgrading most of them with better parts (there is a long chain of hand-me-downs ).
Lisa, you may want to check your local community (a rather large one ) for someone that could do that for you...specialised computer stores, local newspaper advertisements or local computer repairers. I was going to suggest this later when you were considering the system, but it would be good to start looking now. A custom-built system may seem a little more expensive to start with, but there will be a lot more support and options later [example: if someone asks about a problem with a Dell computer here, I usually refer them straight to the Dell Community Forums, frankly, no point in wasting both our times].

Matt

 

Hi mattman and all,

I'm sorry it's been so long, but I was on a last minute vacation, and away from my computer mess for a while!

First off, thanks jetfire, for the suggestions. IUnfortunately, I've tried that Dell download numerous times, and it's pretty much the same thing as removing it yourself, then rebooting. It didn't work . This is why I've resigned myself to the fact my computer may simply be breaking down after 6 years. Now videos won't play on websites! I have all the updated players (WMP, RP, Flash et al) and I can play videos on my computer, but when I go to a site, WMP and Flash will start loading the video, but it never plays, sometimes resulting in a Windows error message about not being able to access the playlist..blah blah blah! Is it ok to say I hate my computer now? LOL