Off topic: Windows

Sorry to post off topic but there are several people here whose advice I
would trust on computer-related matters.

Scenario: family member has a Dell laptop which is working reasonably fine
(though is now out of warranty and any support would have to be paid for),
but the owner of said laptop, hoping to improve matters, puts his Windows
installation disk in, and runs through the Windows XP installation program
after which the USB ports are behaving erratically, not detecting the mouse
or printer.

I have tried a few things without success. It just seems to be the USB ports
that are the problem but I don't know what other latent problems there might
be. I am inclined to reformat the HD and reinstall XP. There really isn't
likely to be another way of fixing it, is there?


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