Thank you all for your help again but I have tried all that has been suggested and more. I have upgraded to 3D and all is well on the XP pc; but again no matter what I try I still get the 'no hardware connected'.
I am an engineer myself so 'should' ??' no a bit abut all this, but I as others, should not have issues such as this on a product that has been out for quite some time.
Yes, others may have had no probs at all, but the situation seems very unpredictable.
I have done a debug on the system, and in theory all should be well. The RB has the latest drivers and is showing up in both windows & on the sys as ok !!!
I give up !!!!