Help! USB ports not working!

My new N80VN-X1 has been a dream computer the past month. Today I try plugging in my USB mouse and it doesn't work in any of the ports on the left or right side and in the back I get "USB device not recognized" but not until I pull it out. As I am typing it just keeps popping up while the mouse is plugged in. I tried my USB drive and it works in the two USBs on the back, but not on the sides...I really do not want to send it in. It has not been dropped or misused in any way. I tried updating the Intel Chipset and card reader drivers from Asus' webpage, with no luck. Thanks for any help!

~Josh

EDIT: I almost forgot...Any time I tried opening Ad-Aware Anniversary Ed. it would say loading and then just go away. I have since uninstalled Ad-Aware. Am defragging HD as I type.

 

try downloading and booting up an ubuntu linux livecd. do the same ports not work? (you can check with the command "lsusb" in console)

 

I will try that when I get home (Ubuntu live cd is there).

 

I'm home now and the ports are working.
similar situation here: http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=345456

Another thing is "Windows host processes have stopped working"

 

this Host process stop thing is SERIOUSLY annoying.
resulted by many hard to detect viruses+trojans.

the BEST policy in this case is to clean format your HDD.
install windows, do NOT connect to ANY network.
install ESET/Kaspersky or any other good A/V.
then you know...

 

can't help with vista issues unfortunately, but if you reinstalled windows from asus' recovery disc or partition, first thing should be to remove _all_ the bloat. even the bloat which you think could be useful, because it isn't.

disabling services (even only a handful, eg. ClipBook) and removing stuff from startup (Adobe Speed Loader?) is also good. if you want to go one step further, get loadord ( http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb897416.aspx). it lists every driver and service and the order its loaded in. all the entries are in HKLM\System\Current Control Set\Services. if you don't know what something does, it never hurts to google. some are obvious (idk of any laptops with a serial port, so Serial is most likely not needed), some less.

start types: 0 = boot, 1 = system, 2 = auto service, 3 = manual service, 4 = disabled. keep in mind that disabling Serial MIGHT break printing, but i've never had that happen. so before you go disable-happy (you can cut the xp boot time to 22 seconds; the cd drivers [imapi, redbook, cdrom] take 7 seconds alone), it would be good to make a backup of your current settings -> right click on Services -> Export.

 

I also suggest a clean "safe" install.

If there is suspicion of a virus:
Format the C: drive, reinstall Windows, do NOT run ANY exe file from the other drives. If you have "clean" CD versions for antivirus install from that, otherwise connect to a (safe!) network, go straight to the website of the antivirus, download, update, and scan everything.

Then follow the guide above to streamline your installation. You can also have a look at my Vista optimization guide (old-ish but much of the advice is still valid).