"USB device not recognized"

Here is the first option from msinfo:
DX-220 HID\IRDEVICEV2&COL04\2&2818A073&0&0003 This device cannot start.
Unknown Device USB\VID_0000&PID_0000\5&2F4CFA0&1&1 43

And now dxidag

Your motherboard uses the Intel chipset. Try the Intel Driver Update Utility. See if it finds a newer drivers

It didn't find anything new. Says this version is valid.

I don't have a fix for your problem but I can at least explain what's going on and prevent you from spending time on dead-end solutions. Specifically, you will never be able to find a driver for a USB Unknown device (so no need looking)!! Because Windows has no idea what the heck the "Unknown" device is in the first place. The underlying problem is that the USB port and the USB device can't "talk" to each other over the USB bus.

When a Plug and Play device connects to a PnP bus (e.g. the USB bus in this case) the device sends Windows a set of IDs that were programmed into its firmware by the vendor. Windows receives and uses these IDs to find a driver for the device. Also just fyi, Windows doesn't need the driver to receive device ID strings. Windows only needs the driver to actually use the device functionality.

There's a PnP protocol handshake/data sequence defined for the USB bus. When everything works as it should, the device sends it IDs and Windows receives them. In your case, this handshake/protocol is failing so Windows can't read any data from the device.

fyi... If you right click a USB Device in DevMgr->Properties->Driver tab XP show you an ID string (for Vista or Windows 7 you need to change the pulldown menu to Hardware IDs)

That string will look something like this USB\VID_0411&PID_00A2. The four characters after VID_ is the "vendor ID". The four characters after PID_ is the "product ID" (Those are hexadecimal numbers meaning each character may be one of the digits 0-9 or one of the letters A-F ; those are the 16 digits in hexadecimal numbering). So in my example above
> the vendor ID is 0411, and
> the product ID is 00A2

Windows uses that cryptic string it receives to identify a device and find its driver. BUT if you look at a USB Unknown Device you will see USB\VID_0000&PID_0000 (where VID and PID are both all zeroes) because Windows can't receive a valid ID string from the device.

This might be due to hardware, power issues on the bus or drivers for the chipset/motherboard and perhaps other things I may not be aware of. Windows must first receive a valid ID string - which never includes all zero for VID and PID

I don't know what's failed or how to fix your problem

Thanks for your great support and explanation of the problem. I'll continue to try and fix it and maybe something new will work!

IF nothing else has helped, you "might" try this http://www.windowsanswers.net/articles/fix-usb-device-not-recognized-manual

NO guarantee.