I just bought a used Dell Dimension 8100 (no peripherals) with XP Home just loaded, to replace my compaq that fried.

When I power up, I get a "found new hardware" balloon saying "SSA Controller". Then it says it cannot find the software for the SSA Controller.

It then gives me the option to search the internet for the needed software (a Wizard in Help & Support), but then says an internet connection cannot be established.

I can, however, connect to the internet through Internet Explorer.

I'm not sure if this is related, but there is a 4 port USB card that seems to be dead (I think it's an add-on). And the 2 factory USB ports are acting funny. I have to unplug, then replug in my keyboard to the USB port to get it working after power up.

Note: I read on-line that someone moved a PCI card to a different slot to get rid of this SSA Controller balloon.

Question 1) can someone tell me what an SSA Controller is, what this message means, and how to fix it?

Question 2) can it be related to my USB port issues?

Thank you!! (sorry for all the background)

Move your pci card to another slot and try again

You should look look for bios updates for your notebooks. Install any updated drivers available for your notebooks especially chipset drivers and cardbus updates. Then install your pcmcia software first... then plug in the pcmcia card.

There are numerous compatibility issues with pcmcia cards and notebooks... sorting them can be a nightmare. You could try backing up your data, restoring the notebook to factory conditions and then try installing the pcmcia card.

I found this web site to solved this problem:

http://support.microsoft.com/default...b;en-us;841567