Donald DeWitt writes (clipped) <<< Also in the Device Manager there are a few yellow question marks.>>> Hi, I assume these are under "universal serial bus controllers" if i am correct (1) click once on any one, to highlight/ click "action"/click "properties" here in the "general" tab you should get info on the device status(working/problem) (2) now click "driver" tab/then "view" if any drivers are loaded. if so(unlikely) note this down (3) click "update driver". now show the path to the correct drivers in your "system utilities cd" <<<< When I give the command to upgrade the USB drivers using the system Utilities CD, I receive a message that they already exist>>> <<<Even after replacing the drivers, the USB ports are not recognized. >>> i am sorry i am not quite clear on this. on a side note, branded pc manufacturers have a way of loading the o/s and drivers different from poor folks like me, leading to hiccups like these during re-install. " customising" is what they call it i think. HTH. goodluck and merry christmas---Venkat PCBUILD maintains hundreds of useful files for download visit our download web page at: http://freepctech.com/downloads.shtml