OK - here's the outputs.
(this first one is obviously before the USB adapter shuts itself off - once that happens it disappears from lsusb. Also, I've tested other USB devices (e.g Printer/Mouse) in the ports and they work fine, so confident it's not the ports themselves causing trouble)
m1dn1ght@m1dn1ght-laptop:~$ lsusb
Bus 003 Device 019: ID 07d1:3c03 D-Link System
Bus 003 Device 002: ID 0bda:0158 Realtek Semiconductor Corp.
Bus 003 Device 001: ID 0000:0000
Bus 002 Device 001: ID 0000:0000
Bus 001 Device 001: ID 0000:0000
m1dn1ght@m1dn1ght-laptop:~$
m1dn1ght@m1dn1ght-laptop:~$ lspci
00:00.0 Host bridge: Silicon Integrated Systems [SiS] 671MX
00:01.0 PCI bridge: Silicon Integrated Systems [SiS] SiS AGP Port (virtual PCI-to-PCI bridge)
00:02.0 ISA bridge: Silicon Integrated Systems [SiS] SiS968 [MuTIOL Media IO] (rev 01)
00:02.5 IDE interface: Silicon Integrated Systems [SiS] 5513 [IDE] (rev 01)
00:03.0 USB Controller: Silicon Integrated Systems [SiS] USB 1.1 Controller (rev 0f)
00:03.1 USB Controller: Silicon Integrated Systems [SiS] USB 1.1 Controller (rev 0f)
00:03.3 USB Controller: Silicon Integrated Systems [SiS] USB 2.0 Controller
00:04.0 Ethernet controller: Silicon Integrated Systems [SiS] 191 Gigabit Ethernet Adapter (rev 02)
00:05.0 IDE interface: Silicon Integrated Systems [SiS] SATA Controller / IDE mode (rev 03)
00:0f.0 Audio device: Silicon Integrated Systems [SiS] Azalia Audio Controller
01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: Silicon Integrated Systems [SiS] 771/671 PCIE VGA Display Adapter (rev 10)
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Output from System > Admin > System Log:
Jul 9 22:50:53 m1dn1ght-laptop kernel: [ 290.950348] usb 3-5: new high speed USB device using ehci_hcd and address 3
Jul 9 22:50:54 m1dn1ght-laptop kernel: [ 291.221408] usb 3-5: configuration #1 chosen from 1 choice
Jul 9 22:50:54 m1dn1ght-laptop kernel: [ 291.856196] usbcore: registered new interface driver rt73usb
Jul 9 22:50:54 m1dn1ght-laptop kernel: [ 292.043173] ADDRCONF(NETDEV_UP): wlan0: link is not ready
Jul 9 22:51:07 m1dn1ght-laptop dhcdbd: message_handler: message handler not found under /com/redhat/dhcp/wlan0 for sub-path wlan0.dbus.get.reason
Jul 9 22:51:08 m1dn1ght-laptop dhcdbd: dhco_input_option: Value -1 cannot be converted to type L
Jul 9 22:51:08 m1dn1ght-laptop dhcdbd: dhco_parse_option_settings: bad option setting: old_dhcp_lease_time = -1
Jul 9 22:51:24 m1dn1ght-laptop kernel: [ 321.203184] ADDRCONF(NETDEV_CHANGE): wlan0: link becomes ready
Jul 9 22:51:30 m1dn1ght-laptop dhcdbd: dhco_input_option: Value -1 cannot be converted to type L
Jul 9 22:51:30 m1dn1ght-laptop dhcdbd: dhco_parse_option_settings: bad option setting: new_dhcp_lease_time = -1
Jul 9 22:51:30 m1dn1ght-laptop dhcdbd: message_handler: message handler not found under /com/redhat/dhcp/wlan0 for sub-path wlan0.dbus.get.host_name
Jul 9 22:51:30 m1dn1ght-laptop dhcdbd: message_handler: message handler not found under /com/redhat/dhcp/wlan0 for sub-path wlan0.dbus.get.nis_domain
Jul 9 22:51:30 m1dn1ght-laptop dhcdbd: message_handler: message handler not found under /com/redhat/dhcp/wlan0 for sub-path wlan0.dbus.get.nis_servers
Jul 9 22:51:41 m1dn1ght-laptop kernel: [ 338.231016] usb 3-5: USB disconnect, address 3
Jul 9 22:51:41 m1dn1ght-laptop kernel: [ 338.461266] ndiswrapper version 1.52 loaded (smp=yes, preempt=no)
Jul 9 22:51:41 m1dn1ght-laptop kernel: [ 338.529388] usbcore: registered new interface driver ndiswrapper
Jul 9 22:51:45 m1dn1ght-laptop dhcdbd: dhco_input_option: Value -1 cannot be converted to type L
Jul 9 22:51:45 m1dn1ght-laptop dhcdbd: dhco_parse_option_settings: bad option setting: new_dhcp_lease_time = -1
Jul 9 22:51:45 m1dn1ght-laptop dhcdbd: dhco_input_option: Value -1 cannot be converted to type L
Jul 9 22:51:45 m1dn1ght-laptop dhcdbd: dhco_parse_option_settings: bad option setting: old_dhcp_lease_time = -1
Jul 9 22:51:46 m1dn1ght-laptop dhcdbd: message_handler: message handler not found under /com/redhat/dhcp/eth0 for sub-path eth0.dbus.get.host_name
Jul 9 22:51:46 m1dn1ght-laptop dhcdbd: message_handler: message handler not found under /com/redhat/dhcp/eth0 for sub-path eth0.dbus.get.nis_domain
Jul 9 22:51:46 m1dn1ght-laptop dhcdbd: message_handler: message handler not found under /com/redhat/dhcp/eth0 for sub-path eth0.dbus.get.nis_servers
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dmesg output following problem (too long to include in message):
http://pastebin.com/f41fb0e70
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Would really appreciate any help people can provide!