Most builds of ME will not automaticly connect or 'see' a device on the USB port. Keyboards and mice have built in drivers, but not so for embroidery software. This behavior was fixed in 2000 and up. You almost for sure will need a USB driver for your software or you will need to run a latter version of Windows. If the software was not designed to run on 16bit Windows (95,ME) then Futura may have a patch or 95/Me patch.

I had the software on Windows Me. The instruction book that comes with the software is quite clear on how to get Windows Me to recognize the device. The computer needs to recognize the Clem driver. If you call Singer support, they will lead you through the whole process. Look in your machine manual and the other documentation that comes with your machine, the number is there.

First, you have a device conflict from switching different devices on one port. That started your problems. What you should get ($20 or less cost) is a 4 port USB hub that plugs into the main USB port, and plug the machine and your other devices into the hub, and keep one port dedicated to that device.

My other thought is that you did hardware recognition in the wrong order..you are okay on software. Try plugging the machine into the computer with the machine and the computer off. Do a cold boot. When everything is on your desktop, turn futura on to see if device manager recognizes the device. If it does, you are good to go. Please remember to always not open the futura program until after the machine is turned on and do not switch devices on that one port.

There are several yahoo groups dedicated to futura that will help you with the learning and practice portion. There are things not in the manual they will help you with.