I have Dell C640, with XP SP2, runs very hot, purchased a Notebook Cooler, no software, hooks up via usb port. Can not get cooler to work, system dosnt even know there. Anyone else had any experiances with this?? I have tried on my other Dell laptop same situation.

Don't those only use USB to get power?
I don't think the laptop actually controls it at all. It's just suppose to be on. Maybe your USB isn't providing power for some reason?

Just a guess...

My flash card works, this is the second unit, same brand. Thanks for the reply

yes, the cooler should only be using the USB for power.
I guess the cooler could have have software that monitors the system and tells it whether it needs to run. But I've never seen that before. It should just plug in and run, like the little USB lights that are available.

Just picked up one at Circuit City, since it was on sale. How do you know it's not working? The computer has no idea the cooler is there, since all it does is draw power from the usb port. Did you look at the fans to see if they are spinning? Also there is a little blue LED where the power cable plugs in, is it on?

Might want to turn off the "allow system to turn off device to save power" option under the root hub in device manager...... under the power management tab

Or.. check to see if your notebook is part of Dell's huge recall... go to dell.com and search "battery recall".