Failure when swapping devices between USB ports

I have several devices (like webcam, and bluetooth dongle) that are working only with the initial USB port they were inserted in during installation. If I tried to put them into other ports, I always got the "found new device" alert and I have to insert the installation disk again. I lived with that but I got a USB hub recently. It will be inconvenient to install the stuff again each time I change the port...actually I can't understand what is installation here?? I already have the drievers in system directory!
Has anyone any idea how to resolve this issue?

I hope I have better luck than the person who started this thread; I have a similar issue and didn't want to start a new one. Maybe this can slowly evolve into a failed peripherals PC tech support graveyard.

I occasionally use an old Sony DCR-PC5 digital MiniDV handicam to tape videos that would otherwise fill up all of our solid state cameras' movie features. Last time I used it, I simply hooked it up to my PC's IEEE 1394 card (aka Firewire or i.Link) and started Windows Movie Maker to control the camera and capture clips. Easy peasy lemon squeezy.

I went to try it today, and whilst the 1394 is working just fine, no joy on the camera recognition. It's my suspicion that some service pack update might've overwritten something, so I just spent an hour trawling the internet for fixes ... to no avail.

Therefore, before I give up, I thought it might be worth a shot to see if anyone else here has encoutered the same issue and found a quick fix. Thanks in advance for any guidance.