Hi,
Have just fitted a new HD and decided to take full advantage of the extra space and installed XP Pro SP2. (Until recently I had been running ME.)
Had no real problems with getting things set up, but I am having a few niggly problems that weren't there before, while running ME.

Firstly, I get really bad sound quality. I have only a very old (maybe 6 years) MOBO with on-board sound, so it's quite likely that it's just incompatable with XP fully. I get a lot of pops and gaps in the sound, especially when playing back AVIs, etc. I would guess this is due to the load on my poor old CPU/sound chip? Am hoping someone can give me some tips to get the best out of it.

Second and most importantly, I am having some problems with USB devices. My PC only has two USB slots, so I currently have my USB mouse connected through one, which works fine, and a 4way USB hub connected through the other, carrying my ADSL modem, keyboard, printer and a fourth slot that i use to switch between joystick/camera/USB key. (I really could use a better USB set-up! )
As with the sound problem, all of this stuff worked fine under ME, but now Windows reports it cannot locate driver file for "generic USB hub". To be honest, it makes no difference that I can see to the performance of the modem, printer, keyboard, etc. but it shows as a problem in device manager and it bugs me. I've tried everything I can come up with. (unplug-replug; uninstalling fully via device manager; uninstalling "ghosted" USB devices via device manager...) Nothing seems to work. I would check for support from manufacturer, but I cannot remember who it was made by and it simply says "Highlight" on the Hub itself. I have no software/documentation for it either.
I thought that XP should have a default Hub driver, but I guess there's an incompatibility issue with my model.

Any suggestions on either issue would be great.

Thanks

Hi Betterspud,

Welcome to PC Help Forum!

We have a great staff of tech experts who will be more than happy to help you out on this one.

As for the sound issue, do you have a PCI sound card to try instead of the onboard card, it very well could be a device issue but it could also be a driver issue also, try getting the latest drivers for 2000/XP.