USB ports memorizing what hardware is plugged into them - WINXP

Did I fall off the planet for awhile or is this something that has just started happening in the past six months or so? I've been experiencing issues when I move a pc from one location to another. If I don't plug peripherals back into the exact usb port when I reconnect everything...WinXP starts flipping me off (for lack of a better term). Basically it won't allow me to reinstall the printer or check scanner or whatever....it won't recognize hardware, if I do finally get it back up and working, the hardware will fail after a few uses. It's like "plug and play" has left the building!

Did you drop the pc on its head when you moved it and now its mad at you?

Have you opened the case and re-seated thinks like the ram chips and video card?

Ha ha! I didn't drop it but it sure makes me want to throw it!

All I did was move the pc from one location to another. Trust me...I'm writing down exactly where each peripheral goes now before the move. Anywho...I'm not even opening the cpu. Just a move.

I have had a few systems do that to me also. In some cases, they had more than one USB controller, with different drivers.

So what would the ultimate solution be?

On PC's where that is a problem, you have already found the solution. Write down what you have connected to each port. Otherwise, you have to remove all USB devices (including hidden ones) in Device Manager and reinstall them in different ports. In some cases, you may even have to resort to a clean install of Windows if you can't get rid of all of the device info.