Power Surge on Hub Port - A USB device has exceeded the power limits of its hub port

Greetings.

I've maintained my XP Pro SP3 for years, have used my USB ports without a problem, and have even used a powered hub extension and external hard drives for over a year (plugged into a 2.0 USB port in the rear of the PC).  This issue just started a few days ago, and so is quite a surprise to me:

I am now getting a balloon message of a power surge on a unknown port, indicating to unplug any hardware before clicking 'reset.' I've accordingly clicked on the reset option and the issue apparently goes away, but only for a short while. 

I googled and came upon two possible treatments.  I have not tried any solution yet, preferring to get some feedback online first.

Solution 1)  ... a patch on a Dell support site put out back in December 2004:  http://www.dell.com/support/drivers/us/en/19/DriverDetails?driverId=r89758

One forum poster, however, reported that he was unsuccessful at installing the patch because he had already upgraded to the SP3.  http://en.community.dell.com/support-forums/laptop/f/3518/t/19306641.aspx

--- Question:  Can anyone point to another possible patch that is customized for an XP SP3 upgrade?

Solution 2) ... tweaking properties settings for the USB ports, possibly after taking the following preliminary action: 

-- Open device manager and expand USB Controllers, right click on all the sub entries and select "uninstall", one at a time. Once this is done click the "scan for hardware changes" Icon at the top of Device Manager, to reinstall all the drivers; then probably reboot.

Then, the properties setting tweak: 

http://wdc.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a\_id/1488/~/error%3A-power-surge-on-hub-port-or-usb-device-has-exceeded-the-power-limits

1. Click on Start.
2. Click on Control Panel.
3. Double-click on the System Icon.
4. Click on the Hardware Tab.
5. Click on the Device Manager button.
6. Click on the + next to Universal Serial Bus Controllers to expand the selection.
7. Right-click and select Properties on any listing that displays USB UNIVERSAL HOST CONTROLLER.
8. Click on the Advanced Tab.
9. Check the box that says: Don't tell me about USB errors.

-- Question:  Can anyone confirm that this properties-tweaking conclusively resolves the issue of a 'power surge' false report?

Opey