OK, I doubt this will have a solution that isn't really traumatic. But oh well.
I was having a problem with some devices that were supposed to be 100% fully compatible with Vista Home Premium on My Dell Inspiron Desktop. Namely a SONY Camcorder that was being incorrectly identified and hence...
bios
camcorder
compatibility
corrupted driver
data loss
dell
device manager
driverinitialization
keyboard
legacy hardware
peripheral
ps2 adapter
reinstall windows
safe mode
startup
system restore
troubleshooting
usb issues
windows repair
windows vista