Here are some things to try out:
 
1) Disconnect the DVD reader from the primary channel that it's sharing with the hard drive. Remember you are testing here, be sure to disconnect both the data ribbon cable and the power connector from the DVD drive. You may also need to rejumper the HD for proper MASter settings. If it's a WD drive, just remove the jumper totally, this is the factory default for MASter without any SLAve drive connected.
 
2) Remove both the NIC and the USB2 expansion cards.
 
3) Enter the sytem BIOS and under the integrated peripherals, disable both the COM1 and the COM2 ports, if set for AUTO, change this to DISABLED instead. Also, do you have a USB printer or is it connected to the LPT port ?!? If it's a USB printer then go ahead and disable the LPT port as well. If it's connected to the LPT port, check to see if it also has a USB connector on the printer, many newer printers have both and I say it's much nicer to use USB scanners/printers/keyboards, etc...
 
4) Now find the onboard USB settings, disable these too. Remember you're attempting to troubleshoot here so if you have say a USB mouse and/or keyboard, then see if the BIOS will allow you to enable only say the first two ports, many newer motherboards support this too If need be, you may need to find an older PS/2 mouse and/or keyboard for testing purposes here.
 
5) Now find the Reset ESCD, usually under the PNP/PCI configuration settings.
 
6) Reboot into your OS and check the device manager for any RED X's or YELLOW exclamation marks. Note which these are and then use Device Manager to Un-Install the offending devices and then reboot again. Recheck Device Manager and see if these devices are now properly detected.
 
7) Now if this all works, power down the machine and add one of the expansion cards, say the NIC first. Plug the machine back in and boot it up and check out device manager again.
 
8) If this works and the NIC is functioning fine and all, then shutdown the machine once more and install the USB2 card. Again power back up and recheck device manager and if need be install any device drivers for this card. Reboot even if it doesn't ask you too and once more check out device manager and verify all seems to be in working order. Do some testing with any USB1.0/1.1/2.0 devices.
 
Be sure to let us know what happens

hey thanks for the reply!!!
 
havent had chance to read it all through properly
 
one thing i am doing is running 2 hard drives (primary and slave!) on the primary IDE Channel
 
the DVD drive is on its own on the secondary channel, just to clear that up!!
 
i didnt think of disabling the onboard USB ill give that a go!
 
when i put the cards in seperately like the NIC without the USB and vice versa then they work fine, its just when both of them are in together that the problems start so im not sure if its an IRQ problem? but it says there are no conflicts (if it ever gets into windows!)
 
hope that clears a few things up!,
 
when im next to my computer (at work at the moment!) ill give the other things a try!
 
thanks again
 
Nick

Hope this works for you
 
As for the DVD drive, I thought you said you have it setup as the Primary SLAve drive, sorry about that
 
As for having two HD's, well as another possible test, you can always discconect the second SLAve HD as well.
 
Also you can try the cards out in different PCI slots, I would however recommend not using the slot next to the AGP slot as these two share the same IRQ and this could be an issue in your configuration

a friend of mine also suggested disabling plug and play?? would that help??
 
i have tried placing the Network card in a different PCI slot (not the one next to the AGP) while the USB2 Card was installed and it didnt work so ill give your other options a go, havent had much time to look at it at the moment but will let ya know what happens
 
any other possible ideas then let me know lol!!
 
thanks again
 
Nick

Disabling PnP may help but which OS are you running ?!?
 
Seems strange to be having these issues as I've installed many expansion cards into machines without having to disable or troubleshoot like this.
 
Could also be there is some system registry corruption, could be causing some of the PnP functions, and who knows what else, to mis-behave

ok
 
i disabled plug and play
disabled COM Ports, Parallel Port, onboard USB, Onboard Game Port, OnBoard LAN (obviously!) and a few other things and it still didnt work
 
it is a CLEAN install of Windows XP Professional with a flashed bios to the latest release
 
the motherboard is an Elite K7S5A
 
so still not working
 
i really need 2 hard drives running so i didnt bother disabling one of them
 
ill probably just stick with the onboard LAN its only a SIS based LAN onboard but still does the job, would have preferred the Netgear one though!!
 
im not going to spend £70 on a new motherboard just so i can have a plugin NIC lol!!

I'm going to hazard a guess it's something to do with the ECS motherboard.
 
I've not ever had good luck with them but this is just my opinion of course. This is the same kind of board that Fry's always uses for their Lost Leader/Bait-Switch ad's ;(

thanks for your help anyway
 
im still considering buying a new motherboard !!
 
 
thanks again
 
nick