USB headset, Must unplug all other USB first!

Logitech USB headset, model A-0374A.
Windows XP Pro SP3 + all updates.
NVidia Foxconn C51XEM2AA, nForce 590a SLI, AMD X2 system

Windows installs automatically and uses default WinXP drivers. There are NO specific drivers for this headset. FYI, USB headsets in general are 100% separate from sound cards.

If there are any other USB devices plugged in already, I get no sound from the headset, but the mic still works. According to the test feature built into Windows, the mic seems to register sound and the bar for the output matches what I should hear... but there's no actual sound.

If I remove all USB devices, then plug the headset in.. viola, sound! I can then plug in the other USB devices with no problems until I reboot.

I've tried uninstalling using programs like USBDeview, cleaning the registry, uninstalling all USB devices including the USB root hub itself, cleaning all drivers, uninstalling the motherboard and chipset drivers, then completely reinstalling everything. Nothing seems to help.

I did have some other strange conflict where an old USB webcam that I no longer had would prevent the use of a Dell A940 all-in-one printer/scanner (made by Lexmark), but I found the obscure offending registry entry and deleted it. So... that's probably irrelevant, but I thought I'd mention it anyway.

Logitech tech support is a joke. Basically they always say "it's broken, take it back", to which you reply "there's no warranty", to which they reply "buy another Logitech product to replace it". :-D

I remember an old game where I needed to set the default or first network device in WinXP for the game to see my network, even though everything else in Windows and my networking worked fine. Is there any kind of USB device enumeration or resource assigning? Is there a reason that this headset needs to be "first"? Is there a way I can set it as the first device in Windows the way you can set a default network device? Thanks!

 

Still the same. The headset works fine on another computer that doesn't have any other USB devices on it, so the headset should be good.

It has to be a software, OS or driver issue. Any ideas? =(

 

Vista has an option on the volume thing to set your default device. I use ventrillo through my headset but leave my default devices - ie browsers and msn alerts and winamp running through the speakers, and just vent through my headset. Remembering back to windows xp, i had similar issues, but can't recall what i did to fix it. Good luck.

 

Already fiddled with that to no avail, but thanks.