USB ports not working properly after using external USB hub

Hi folks,
I REALLY need some help as googling & trawing other forums has failed to find a solution.
Last night I was trying to install an external dvd-writer to my Dell Inspiron netbook.This device had TWO usb plugs,and neither of my usb ports are side by side. Although they recommended using an extender cord,of course none was included.I thought I'd get around the problem by using my ac-powered usb port.
After slowing my netbook to a crawl,(probably not helped by the attendant installation software Nero 9 freezing & failing to install) I gave up trying to install the software by nixing all the frozen programs with Task Manager & safely removed the dvd-drive from the hub & then unplugged the hub.
Now when I try to install any of my portable/external drives(Samsung s2 2.5" Portable 1 TB Drive,Western Digital 500g Portable Drive)directly into the netbook's usb ports,they won't work.They don't show in Device Manager or as a Lettered Drive.
They will show up in the Drive letter area a limited way if I connect them via the ac-powered hub(Autoplay searches for content,& kinda of gets stuck but you can see/access the files.)But they're still not giving me all the options they did before.The Drive letter doesn't have the picture icon it normally has,just a placeholder & the drive's letter & the device's name.
When each device is plugged in, the 'installing drivers' animation starts & when finished says something about 'Initio device installed' rather than giving a name to the device(e.g Samsung Portable,Western Digital Ext Drive etc) as it normally does.
A small 4G flash drive will show up,and my wireless mouse works,so it suggests at least I haven't fried the ports-I hope!
I tried disconnecting all usb devices,& the ac hub,then deleting all the Universal Serial Bus Controllers & rebooting.They re-install on boot-but doesn't fix my problem.My large portable dives won't connect without the ac hub,& do so haphazardly.
Same result with deleting the Initio Controller.
System Restores to points before the DVD-writer installation failed to fix it as well.
I don't know what to do anymore! How do I get my netbook to read all the external & portable drives directly from its usb ports like it used to?How do I get it back to full functionity,rather than hanging on the 'Search for Content' & get back full autoplay? I know some devices need a hub,but these ones didn't.What am I doing wrong? Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in Advance,
WT

Are these external devices USB-powered or A/C Powered?
If they are USB powered it could be that the Power Supply of your netbook cannot handle the demand of electricity the devices need to function, they thing that draws me to this hypothesis of the issue being is that your netbook gets very slow when they are plugged in and little voltage can cause that.

I also had issues with my old PC using an external hub, the whole PC would freeze, so it may be a software conflict as well. Put I think it is mostly PSU based.

Try following this tutorial; USB Driver - General Fix for Problems[2]=Hardware%20and%20Drivers