My friend's USB ports on his laptop are fried. Anything you plug into them causes them to freeze up the whole pc. Having tried everything suggested to fix the problem from google searches, I gave up and told him to get a PCMCIA USB 2.0 card. We found this on ebay. It came in the mail, I plugged it in, Windows automatically found the device and installed the drivers for it. Problem is, whenever I plug a USB device into it. Nothing happens. USB thumbdrives, Ipods, dvdrom drives, nothing. The OS is Windows XP Media Center Ed SP3, the machine is an Acer Aspire 5100-3583 (Model No : BL51) laptop.
Had similar problem with an Acer laptop some years ago. I bought a PCMCIA card like you did but for me has always worked. At the end I have also changed the motherboard...it was the only solution to have back my original usb ports. Now about the PCMCIA card not working. Try the card on another laptop. If it works then we exclude hardware issues with the pcmcia card. Then go to device management and completely remove the card. Turn off your pc, remove the card. Turn on your pc. Insert the card again. If the problem persists...the better would be to control on another XP laptop if it works. Check if you have all the services packs and updates for XP. As an ultimate step I could suggest a format...full updates and then try to reinstall the card. If this does not work too, return the card to the vendor ( if possible) and get another one. Sometimes motherboards that have been damaged create various issues without obvious explanations or solutions. It's also not safe for your data work on such a laptop. The laptop motherboards cost a lot. Consider the present value of the laptop and then evaluate if it's convenient repair it or replace it with a newer model. Acer's quality has been discussed for years. In general there is the opinion that Acer's laptops have often a better price but the low and mid range products are made with lower quality standards.
