When I installed a USB card (and relevant drivers) on my computer the blue screen of death appeared. After rebooting a message appeared saying that Windows had recovered from a serious error. Can you help?

On the information provided it is going to be difficult to give you an exact diagnosis and resolution. So before beginning I will make a few assumptions regarding your question. I assume that your computer is running Windows XP and you are trying to install an expansion card in your computer which provides additional USB ports (e.g. a 4-port USB expansion card). In order to make a determination as to the cause of the problem I need the information contained within the error message on the blue screen, as this identifies the module in which the fault occurred. In any case, without this information we can still try some generic fixes.

First, make sure that the USB card you are installing is compatible with the version of Windows running on your computer (Windows XP) and that the drivers are compatible. If you are using a well-known brand of card, such as a Belkin USB PCI card, this should not be a problem as a quick check of the Belkin website shows that the card is compatible. However, other brands may have problems talking with Windows XP. Additionally, you should ensure that you have the latest drivers downloaded from the manufacturer’s website in case the newer drivers address any known issues which could be causing this problem.

Next, you should make sure that Windows is up-to-date with the latest updates and service packs. There could be an issue within Windows XP which is addressed by an update to fix this issue. To update Windows, visit WindowsUpdate (windowsupdate.microsoft.com) in Internet Explorer and follow the prompts. Be aware, if you have not updated Windows in a while it could take a while to update while it downloads all the necessary files.

The next possibility is that the USB card conflicts with another hardware device on your computer. Again, without seeing the exact error message which is appearing it will be difficult to determine with which other device the USB card may be conflicting and also work toward a resolution. However, often such conflicts can be resolved by changing the slot which the card has been installed into on the motherboard. The USB card may have been installed into a particular slot which, for some reason, is conflicting with a device installed in another slot (e.g. a graphics or sound card). As such, I suggest you try changing the slot in the computer and checking whether that resolves the problem.

If you have reached this point there is not much else I can suggest given the information at hand. However, a workaround may be to use a powered USB hub instead of a USB card in the computer. A USB hub functions like a power board from a power point – it takes one USB slot and converts this into several more (typically 4 or 6). You may see some USB hubs which are not powered – you should avoid these. Non-powered USB hubs do not take additional power as input but instead rely on the power provided by the single USB port to which the hub is connected. If you connect a large number of power hungry devices to the hub this will generally not work and the operating system will report that the USB bus is being underpowered (as there is not enough power to go around). Powered USB hubs get around this issue by providing a supplemental power source. Powered USB hubs are quite inexpensive and you should be able to pick-up a 7 port hub for around $60.00.