USB problem?

[Thelemech]

Have been spending the day cleaning up a buddies computer - anti-virus/antispyware/junkfile removal etc... Made major headway and now computer is working well excluding USB ports- Usb memory stick is recognized by windows but any time flies are moved or copied there(backup) error message says cannot create or copy file - cannot find specified file path
is this a damaged (2) Usb ports or a software problem?
Properties state that the devices are working properly!

[Your Amish Daddy]

All windows checks to see if it's working properly, is to check for driver conflicts, or if the driver even loads. That's it. So yeah, the ports could be bad, or if they're the ones on the board, the board could be ready to go.

[Thelemech]

It probably is dying - it's a P3 600 MHz - only being used for email and online poker and occasional surfing.

[Thrax]

Boot with a linux liveCD and see if they work.

[Thelemech]

Boot with a linux liveCD and see if they work.

I went that route with a Ubuntu (FF) liveCD
But for some reason it froze on the load up screen - has enough ram(256) but maybe is aged CD-Rom was not up to the task.
I'll give Fedora or SUSE a whirl - but he has been asking me about getting a new machine - that might be the best advice.

Today 200 to 300 should buy him what he requires.