Vista - USB woes Vista Home Premium

I have suddenly been beset by USB port woes on my Vista Home Premium x64 system. Plug in memory devices were not being detected, but if I went to Device Manager and disabled and enabled the port, they suddenly appeared.

My Epson printer has been faithfully connecting, but my Brother MFC suddenly disappeared and steadfastly refuses to reinstall. There is a point in the install where you are asked to plug in the machine and turn it on, but nothing happens - no be-doomp, and the setup program hangs.

I have done the delete the USB and reboot thing and have redone the inf pnf files. I also have tested the USB ports from a boot memory stick, which does load UBCD.

Any suggestions? I need my scanner, and I just got a graphics tablet which I need for work.

Sometimes an internal cable gets loose. Open up your computer and check the connections. It happend on my son's computer.

Try this;

Check USB connection into MFC.
Computer Power On, and running.
Power On Brother MFC.
Remove MFC power cable from MFC connect port [ie, not from power socket] at rear of the unit. Do not switch off at power socket plug point.
Restart Computer.
Plug MFC power cable back into MFC connect port.
Computer should recognise new hardware, and reinstall drivers etc.