USB Devices Stopped Working after Disconnect

[Guest]

I have a Compaq Armada laptop running XP SP2 which I use with its mobile
expansion unit (the floppy and CD drives, and a USB port.) Yesterday I
disconnected the MEU without properly stopping the drives first, and got an
error message that said something about a power surge in the USB port. I
think it said that if I didn't click to reset something at that moment, the
port would stop working properly, so I clicked to reset it.

Now my machine won't recognize any of the three USB devices I have plugged
into either USB port -- the one on the laptop itself, and the one on the MEU,
which I usually use. The USB controller shows up in teh device manager, but
the computer doesn't find anythign I plug in.

Have I done serious damage here? Is there a way to reset the port? I've
restarted twice, to no avail.

Thanks so much for your help.

 

[Guest]

Sounds like you fried something. If you have a flow of electricity going to
a drive or just about anything, then you unplug it while it's still useing
power, you'll get a spark. It's not always big and noticable, but it's
enough to fry just about any computer hardware.