Code 41 - all USB ports malfunction. Brand new card

Gang this problem is gettin' the best of me.
Dell Dimension system running Windows XP Home sp3, all updated and clean - no malware, viruses or other thugs. Awhile back the USB ports stopped working outta da blue, so they say. I was suspicious of a windows problem or some other device interfering but searched every good forum I could find, saw others with same problem, no answers anywhere. unloading/reinstalling drivers no help. So I bought a well-regarded PCI USB card. Got it, installed it, windows recognized it properly, and defeated it just like the builtin ones.

I was not that suprised.

The only Event Log Error I see that occurred just after install of the card and reboot is this:
"The following boot-start or system-start drivers failed to load: FGXSCSI"

??
So something is interfering and I REALLY don't want to reinstall windows from scratch. Any suggestions?
:cry

 

Check out these links:

http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/240382-28-ports-working-help

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/817900

I would take out the USB card and try the suggestions in the above links.

Good Luck.

 

Unfortunately I have been through the steps in the Microsoft article and then some. always returns to the same state.
The Toms article boils down to hardware. The hardware is all working - load up any other OS beside the one that is failing and the system works perfectly.

Something loaded into windows is stepping on the access the USB ports need to the system bus. I dunno what that is.

If anyone hardware and/or machine-code savvy reads this, please comment on what type of device drivers might possibly cause this block.

I guess there is also a chance that the Code 41 error code is itself in error.... At any rate, Windows reports the devices as being installed, and the drivers are loaded [so says windows] but the device may not be accessed by the OS.

i feel a nuke & reinstall coming....