USB ports stopped working correctly. Windows doesn’t get recognize anything plugged into USB ports but sees the device.
I have a Dell Inspiron 5160. I’ve had it for about 18 months now. Just after the year mark, my USB ports stopped working correctly. Devices I plug into is recognize that they’re plugged in, such as my PSP, and others, such as my cell phone with cable, get charge from the port, but Windows doesn’t get recognize anything is plugged in to install. I’ve tried installing all the different software that Dell recommends/suggests, such as Dell Support, chipset drivers, updated BIOS, Dell Notebook System Software, and Windows XP SP2, but nothing works. In device manager, I see that the USB host controllers and Root hubs are all there, but nothing will be acknowledged through them. Dell is of no help now, as I’m out of warranty. They direct me to their people in India. When they can understand what I’m saying, they claim outrageous prices just for troubleshooting. Most laptop repair places I’ve looked into don’t actually repair anything; they just help with wireless network setup, which I know how to do. I don’t want to ditch this laptop, but since I use it constantly for traveling, it’s not providing the productivity I need. Is there anything you can think of to help?
I think that you might have a problem with the system board. Here is what I would do in your case to troubleshoot the problem. I would boot from a Knoppix CD – live Linux CD. It will boot the laptop to a Windows like environment but it would be Linux. It’s pretty easy to navigate and you don’t need to know a lot about Linux for this test. You can download it here. Download an .iso file and burn it on a CD. Booting from a Linux CD will help to eliminate any Windows related problems, if you have any. After I boot to Linux, I would plug a USB flash memory drive into the laptop USB port. Usually Knoppix recognizes these types of USB devices without any problem and an icon that represents the USB drive will appear on the desktop. If Knoppix cannot see the USB device, then it’s likely that the USB controller on the motherboard is bad and Knoppix cannot see it. It’s not a perfect test, but at least something that you can try.
Just recently I had to fix a similar problem on Toshiba Satellite M45 laptop. It had 4 USB ports. When a USB device was plugged in, Windows saw the device but wasn’t able to recognize it. I had to replace the motherboard and it fixed the problem.
July 10th, 2006 at 8:36 am
I just got Toshiba Satellite A105-S1014 that has exactly the same problem. A USB device is detected but not recognized in all 4 ports. In this model 2 USB ports are located on the system board and 2 ports are located on a separate board. I’m ordering a new system board.
July 12th, 2006 at 12:37 pm
Here’s an update. I just got a new system board and replaced it. Now all USB ports work fine. They detect and recognize a USB device I insert.
July 27th, 2006 at 10:32 am
Hi,
My name is Mike, I’m a Dell customer advocate located in Round Rock, TX at Dell corporate headquarters. I’ve read your post above and just wanted to offer any assistance needed in this matter. If you want to contact me back on this please just send an email to customer_advocate@dell.com with any details or updates to the problem and I’ll be happy to get back to you.
Mike B.
Dell Customer Advocate
Customer_Advocate@dell.com
August 24th, 2006 at 8:18 am
I also had a problem with the modem,would not pick up dial tone, works now, after bios update flash,thanks agian, Matt
September 26th, 2006 at 9:22 am
Hi,
I have an old-ish Toshiba Satellite computer, with just one USB port, and it has stopped detecting and/or recognising the devices I used to use all the time (an external hard disk and an MP3 player).
I have re-formatted the computer and re-installed Windows, and I’m still having the same problem. Any idea what I should do next?
Thanks,
Ana
September 26th, 2006 at 12:09 pm
Ana,
It looks like a hardware issue, because reimaging the drive didn’t fix the problem. If you take it to a laptop repair shop, most likely they will quote a new system board (I guess the USB port is located on the motherboard). I don’t think it would be the best solution for you, because the system board price will exceed the current price of your laptop.
I guess you can try using PCMCIA-USB card. You install this card into the PC slot on your laptop (you should have at least one) and get 2 or 4 USB ports. You can find this card online for $20-30 or buy it in any local computer store.
September 28th, 2006 at 11:42 am
To Laptop Freak: I tried what you suggested, and it worked! Thank you
October 4th, 2006 at 4:33 pm
Hi,
I could use a little advice on a Toshiba M55-S3314. Here’s the deal; I’ve had it for about 6 months, and it all of a sudden started powering the cool pad I had attached to the rear USB port WHILE THE COMPUTER WAS OFF (BUT PLUGGED IN). Unplug it, and it would unpower the port. And v/v. Then it would get to where it sometimes wouldn’t see the usb port at all. And removing the battery and replacing it would *fix* it temporarily. Then the DVD reader started not showing up in the BIOS sometimes, unless it was shut or jiggled just so. So I sent it in for repair, and they said that the USB ports were loose and malfunctioning and that the DVD was malfunctioning. I got it back today with the same issues (except for the dvd, which seems ok for now). But the USB thing remains. I can’t figure out what’s going on? Any thoughts would be much appreciated…..
Dan
October 5th, 2006 at 10:30 am
Dan,
How did they fix the problem? Did they replace the motherboard or they just replaced the USB/LAN board? Yes, it possible that the USB ports were loose, but it also could be motherboard problem.
October 5th, 2006 at 10:38 am
Hi,
They supposedly replaced the USB board (there’s 2, aren’t there?? Maybe they replaced both, since the ports felt awfully new (tight)…and they replaced the dvd drive.
Maybe the thing is just behaving in some kind of normal way that I am unfamiliar with, I don’t know. But it was odd that I couldn’t get the ports on the back to turn on until I pulled the battery off and put it back in, and the fact that it’s putting off power when the battery is plugged in but the computer is off. And even odder that it only affects the USB ports on the back; the pair on the right side of the M55 are fine and normal.
Thanks,
Dan
October 5th, 2006 at 11:12 am
Correction. I called the repair guys. They claim that they replaced the system board, the DVD drive, and both USB boards.
Now…this is starting to sound like a setting or something. There is NOTHING in the bios that I can see that would do it, and it’s the same with Linux and Windows…
[scratching head bigtime]
Dan
October 6th, 2006 at 3:09 pm
Dan,
Satellite M55 has 2 USB boards. Here’s a disassembly guide for Toshiba Satellite M55 notebook (www.irisvista.com). You can see one board on the step 21 (back USB ports) and the second one on the step 26 (side USB ports). So, the repair center have replaced all board located in the laptop base and you still have the same problem? That’s weird. You mentioned that you have the same issue in Linux and Windows, so I assume it’s not software related.
There are 3 different cables that connect the back USB board with the system board. May be one of these cables is bad? That’s my guess.
November 11th, 2006 at 12:41 pm
Hi, My cf 35 laptop with win 2k os has “error code 10 ” in device manager for pci/usb universal host controller. I have done the usual reinstall of driver and device but no luck. The usb port is giving out 5v? (anyway,it makes the green led on a 4 port usb hub light up when i plug it in) Would i be able to use a pcmcia /usb adaptor for usb connectivity ? by the way, the original os for this laptop was win 95 regards Duncan
November 13th, 2006 at 6:06 pm
I own a toshiba sattelite 1415-s115 and have recently decided to take on the arduous task of video editing. It seems to do quite well over all but I’m getting a few hang-ups when trying to export to disk. I may or may not be having issues with the external DVD burner (sony DRX-830U) but I believe I am limited by USB 1.1. After talking with a few folk and trying to research this online I have some conflicting views. My question is: what do I need to do to upgrade to USB 2.0?
November 13th, 2006 at 11:23 pm
Bramley,
You cannot upgrade to USB 2.0 but you can use a PCMCIA USB 2.0 card.
November 14th, 2006 at 1:28 am
Hi, I have a problem with my fujitsu siemens amilo d.
I have a great deal of usb devices, including wireless card to serve internet and files to the house and adsl and use 2 7 port hubs.
Today the wireless went down, first connecting only for file sharing, then after I pulled it and replaced as there was no joy in ‘repair’ the laptop didnt see it had gone (full signal!)
Now this has happened before with other devices, such as a nice usb midi controler that I had to sell in the end.
Often I have had luck by removing the battery for a while (driver stuff does nothing, I always do that first) but this time it didnt work.
All devices including the wireless work on other computers.
The USB ports on the laptop work with other devices, but on previous occaisions more than two devices have been ‘lost’
I have a good knowlege of electronics and software and this one has really got me. If I cant sort it this time I will have to set up an old P2 as a server! not the best solution.
November 14th, 2006 at 6:39 pm
Ed,
It means that devices are functioning properly and the laptop USB ports are fine too (not a hardware issue). So it must be a software related issue. Have you checked if there are any updates for the laptop BIOS? If you have any spare laptop hard drive, you can reload Windows and see if it fixes the problem.
Do you connect the wireless card directly to the laptop or it’s plugged into the USB hub? Check if any of the USB devices have internal battery, may be the battery is old and must be replaced?
November 15th, 2006 at 4:11 pm
I’ve been having the same problem; Windows does not recognize my USB device. All of the devices I plug in used to work in the laptop before, but just recently they’ve all just stopped being recognized. It’s weird though, because the drive works occasionally and unexpectedly. But for the most part, Windows just doesn’t recognize anything I plug into any of the USB port.
This may or may not have to do with this problem, but on another note, my laptop often freezes out of nowhere, and only by pressing down on the area around the memory module opening on the bottom of my laptop does it get to working again. Also, my laptop won’t boot up unless I press down on my laptop near the memory module. Are these two problems related? Is there any hope for my laptop without having to replace the motherboard or the likes?
By the way, I’m running an HP dv4040US.
December 15th, 2006 at 10:05 am
The USB port on the side of my laptop is loose due to mis-handling of the mouse cord. I bump it and it will state it doesn’t recognize, or it’s not working properly. Most of the time it works well, but I have to fiddle with it when I accidently bump it.
My question is could it be a tiny screw or two that needs tightening, something I could do? I don’t want to take it apart only to find that I can’t even get to the area of the usb connector.
December 16th, 2006 at 8:53 am
Josh,
It’s hard to say if these two problems are related to each other, probably not.
If all USB ports stopped working but you need them back, I think you can use a notebook USB PCMCIA card. You insert the card into the PC slot and get 2 USB ports.
Now regarding your second problem. This notebook has 2 memory slots on the bottom, isn’t it? Did you try moving the memory module from the slot 1 to the slot 2? If you have 2 memory modules installed, remove one of them and test if the laptop works without pressing down on the area around the memory slots. Make sure that contacts on the memory module are clean. I think you might have a faulty memory slot on the motherboard but it’s unlikely that both memory slots failed at the same time. If one of the memory slots fails, you still can use the second slot without replacing the motherboard but the amount of memory you can use would be limited to 1GB (this model supports up to 2GB when both slots occupied).
December 16th, 2006 at 9:03 am
Tracy,
USB ports are soldered to the motherboard or USB board. There are no screws that you can tighten in order to fix it. It’s necessary to replace (re-solder) USB ports on the motherboard/USB board. I don’t know if you can find these ports. Most repair shops will offer you to replace the whole motherboard/USB board.
You can use a notebook PCMCIA USB card. This card is not expensive and when you plug the card into an available PC slot you get 2 USB ports instead.
January 4th, 2007 at 10:57 am
Hi,
I own an Acer Travelmate 4001WLMi and I have the same problem. None of my 3 USB ports works but Windows detects them. When I plug a device such a pen drive the led on it starts up, although Windows doesn’t recognize it. Wouldn’t an hardware issue disable the power supply on these ports?
January 4th, 2007 at 8:12 pm
Gus,
Nope. These ports would be powered even if the USB controller on the system board goes bad.
January 6th, 2007 at 2:11 am
I have a Toshiba Tecra M4 with a broken docking port door (piece cracke off) and also damaged docking port (this is the bottom port that connects to a port replicator docking station). Some of the pins a a bit bent snice the port’s plastic is chipped.
An Authorized Toshiba repair shop wants to replace the entire motherboard but that is not worth it since it is just a chipped port and cracked port door that are damaged. The laptop still works just fine, even the port after I bent back the pins.
I just want to know if there is a way to just get that port part and port door part and fix it at teh component level instead of replacing the expensive motherboard?
The laptop still works and docking is still fine but I just want an idea since I think it will eventually break in time. Anyone do this kind of repair?
Thanks for any information you can provide.
January 6th, 2007 at 7:15 am
Well thanks anyway. It’s been one year I’m working with a pcmcia USBx2 2.0 and recenty I bought an external HDD USB 2.0 that requiers usb power supply. The problem is pcmcia usb’s are not powered and the HDD has a single usb plug so I can’t use those broken usb on laptop to supply the HDD. I realy need that powered USB 2.0 on laptop! I’ve BIOS upgrade, downgrade and upgrade again and nothing. Do you think BIOS upgrade from esupport.com would resolve my problem since it could have some features to enable/disable usb ports? (my bios has none)
January 8th, 2007 at 6:19 pm
Dave,
I don’t think that you’ll be able to find these parts, they are part of the motherboard.
January 8th, 2007 at 7:22 pm
Gus,
You have to be very careful with upgrading the BIOS. If it fails, the BIOS might get corrupted and you’ll have to replace the motherboard, it’s kinda expensive. If you tried reflashing BIOS with the manufacturer’s utility and it didn’t help, I doubt that esupport.com upgrade will help.
February 17th, 2007 at 10:56 am
I`ve got the same problem, but with additionel symptoms, I own a travelmate 660 which is getting really hot, the battery (did) last for 20 minutes, while before it lasted easely 2,5 hours. You’ll say, that`s your battery short-circuiting, but without a battery the machine is running hot also. And the battery performs better in the travelmate of a friend.
Besides I have 3 destroyed usb-flash-disks.
So I think there is something wrong with the (internal) powersupply eg, I suspect that its running on too high voltage, drawing excessive power.
Has anyone experience with this ?
February 21st, 2007 at 11:57 am
My problem is not with a laptop, its with a Dell Dimension 8300. I thought maybe you might be able to help. All of the USB ports stopped working after I upgraded XP Home to XP Professional. I also installed all of the Windows service packs.
One person said that he had that problem, and got a web answer saying something like “run some type of windows program that would clear the USB settings and then reinstall them correctly. Does that sound familiar to any one?
Thanks
Mike
February 21st, 2007 at 11:53 pm
Mike Reese,
Not really.
Try this. Go to Control Panel – System Properties – Hardware – Device Manager. Find Universal Serial Bus controllers and expand it. Right click and uninstall any single entry in there. Reboot the computer and Windows should detect and install all missing drivers automatically. It might help.
You don’t need any special drivers for USB ports, Windows already has it.
February 22nd, 2007 at 1:43 pm
I don’t know who sent this procedure, but it worked great!
March 3rd, 2007 at 3:01 pm
I found this solution a month or so ago when the same thing happened to me. Shutdown your PC. Unplug it. This apparently clears any residual power on the motherboard. Leave it disconnected for a few minutes. Reconnect everything, boot up your PC and your USB ports and devices should be working again! Let me know if it works for you. Good luck!
March 29th, 2007 at 10:43 am
I have Dell Latitude CPxJ. wheni try to use usb 2.0 hub, i get a message.
This USB device can perform faster if you connect it a High Speed USB 2.0 port.” When I click on that a message a window opens up saying: “There are no High speed usb hub controllers installed on this computer.The USB Storage Device is a HI-Speed USB Device and will function at reduced speed when plugged into a non-HI-SPEED port. You must add a HI-SPEED USB host controller to this computer to obtain maximum performance.” Do i need to install something.
May 6th, 2007 at 2:29 pm
I have Acer travelmate 4052 with Centrino processor, Intel 855 chipset. It was a bit slow even with 512 mb ram and heating as well. I serviced and cleaned the fan and it was fine again. Recently I bought a external hdd casing for desktop hdd which comes with an adaptor to power the casing, when I plugged the usb of casing to my labtop it worked well for about a hour or so then suddenly msg appears something like “Power surge on USB port…..”. I unplugged the usb from that port and reinserted it into another usb port of my laptop, again it worked for a while then again this power surge message. Now all three usb ports are not working or responding. If I connect my nokia phone, the phone shows that it is connected but my XP Pro doesnt. I tried reinstalling all the USB hubs and controller from the device manager but didnt help. Somebody told me that USB controller on the motherboard may be fried, some DBM chip, but I have seen my motherboard there is no Intel DBM chip, I thought of performing a clean install, but when I run the xp pro setup, my laptop freezes, sometimes at formating, sometimes at initial copying of files, and sometimes at final installation when it shows 35 mins left, I tried many times, sometimes after an interval of 12 hours and then it pushes to 5 mins left for setup to complete and then again it freezes.
Somehow, after about 50 tries I have successfully installed the xp pro and all the chipset drivers, latest, updated the BIOS as well, xp is with sp2, but system still freezes sometimes while booting, or sometimes after a while. Also compared to earlier time, it is taking a lot of time to boot, read things, to perform anytask, like opening IE, doc,etc. I have checked by replacing the HDD, ram replacement but to no use. Please help me I need these usb ports. My system is working but very slow and whenever I try to insert any usb device, it freezes. I can perform any repair myself, just help me to repair it. I cannot afford to replace the board as it is very costly almost equal to the price of my laptop. I tried the PCMCIA card with usb ports, initially it worked but now it is showing unknown device when I try to install my IDE to USB adaptor so that I can copy the data from my desktop hardisk to laptop, earlier mouse was working with pcmcia card usb port but now it is not working. Please help me. I was told by a technician that if USB controller is fried then howcome pcmcia card with usb ports will work as the controller is the same but only the interface has changed. I even tried to find the schematic for my motherboard but couldnt. Please help me.
Regards
July 22nd, 2007 at 10:52 pm
I have the exact same problem as Indi. Same notebook, same series and same situation ….pls help..!! or any shortage on the Acer Travelmate 4052.
July 28th, 2007 at 6:01 pm
i had the same problem, my usb ports quit working so i bought Dynex 2-Port USB 2.0 PCMCIA Notebook Card. it installed ok and solved my problem of non working usb ports but i have a new problem.burning a dvd was really slow.it normally takes about 10 minutes but now it takes like 25 minutes.does anybody have any ideas of why its so slow. the Dynex 2-Port USB 2.0 PCMCIA Notebook Card says its usb 2.0 so it should be about the same time.
July 30th, 2007 at 11:33 am
I had the same “This USB device can perform faster if you connect it a High Speed USB 2.0 port.” Nothing seemed to fix it until I just tried Beckie’s advice of unplugging the computer for a minute or two. USB seems to be working correctly at hispeed now. Thanks!
August 23rd, 2007 at 8:09 am
I have a desktop VAIO from Sony and suddenly my USB 2.0 devices stopped working, all the 1.1 devices are working correctly. I bought a PCI card with 4 2.0 USB ports and Windows says they’re there but nothing is recognized on them… 1.1 devices are still running. Is it the motherboard or a driver-related issue?
August 29th, 2007 at 2:19 am
I own a Toshiba satelite and the problem is if I insert any usb device my laptop freeze. Is it possible to fix this problem.
November 23rd, 2007 at 11:19 am
WHEN i HAVE usb PORTS OCCUPIED MY tOSHIBA a200 DOES NOT REVERT TO SCREEN SAVER. Why?. When I remove connections to USB ports then it’s OK
January 2nd, 2008 at 1:36 am
Any new device that I plug into any one of the USB ports on my laptop is not recognised but any of my older devices I plug in are fine.
The computer works and the USB ports all work fine with some items. I have checked various leads e.g. my new ipod is not recognised but my wife’s is with the same lead in any USB slot.
Can anyone shed any light on why the new items are not recognised – someone has suggested they heard of the same problem with the SP2 update to XP. Anything plugged in prior to this update seems to work but anything ‘new’ since is not recognised.Has anyone heard of this before ??
Windows states I am up to date with the software (XP with SP 2 update) but there is obviously something wrong.
Anything anyone can offer would be helpful but please bear in mind I am very limited in my knowledge of computing so please try to make it as basic as possible.
January 9th, 2008 at 5:01 am
Hi, my computer has been re-installed with all the drivers it came with XP Windows, i have a DELL Latitude 100L. But for some reason, now anything i plug into any of the 2 USB ports, be it my camera or ipod or printer, i go to My Computer and there isnt anything showing, would you know why?
I am not very tech minded with computers, so please can you reply in dummy form.
Many thanks
Amanda
January 9th, 2008 at 10:59 am
Hi my name is Vinay. I have a DELL INSPIRON 1501 which is 5 months old. I am experiencing some problems with the USB drive. When ever I connect an external device to my system, the laptop screen turns blue and I cannot work anylonger. I need to re boot once again. I had already expereinced more than 10 times now. I dont figure out where the problem is. Do you think it is the problem with the wndows OS? a couple of times even with out connecting any external device, i had experienced the same problem. But this happens very rarely.
can you please let me know what the problem is?
thanks and best wishes
vinay
January 13th, 2008 at 11:19 am
Amanda,
Did USB ports work before you reinstalled Windows?
Did you reinstall drivers for these devices? Does your laptop detect devices at all when you plug them into the USB ports? Usually, when you plug a new USB device, a message pops up in the lower right corner and it says that new USB device has been detected. Can you see that?
Check the device manager and find out if you have something unusual (maybe a yellow exclamation mark) by the USB controller line.
You can access the device manager if you right click on My Computer icon on the desktop or in the start menu, then click Manage and click one more time on Device Manager.
Find out if you are running Windows XP Service Pack 2 (right click on My Computer and then click on Properties). If you have Service Pack 1, update it to Service Pack 2. Connect your laptop to the Internet and then run Windows Update Utility.
January 13th, 2008 at 11:34 am
vinAY,
This problem started just recently or it was like that from the time you bought the laptop?
Is it happening with one particular USB device or with many different devices?
I cannot tell you because it could be both software or hardware relate problem.
The first thing to do is find out if you have the latest BIOS installed. If not, reflash the laptop with the latest BIOS you can find on Dell website.
If your USB devices require some kind of special device drivers, make sure you have the latest drivers installed.
You can try reinstalling Windows. I know that’s a lot of work, but these way you can eliminate any OS related issue.
If updating the BIOS, reinstalling device driver and reinstalling Windows doesn’t help and you still have the same intermittent issue with blue screens, it’s possible that you have a hardware related issue. You’ll have to ship your laptop to Dell for service.
January 18th, 2008 at 5:31 am
LF..
i got a problem. Its my PC. Ihave windows Xp Pro installed. when i install service pack 2, my cpu usage history in the task manager is always at 100% and the system process will be at 99. If i unistall the sp2 then its back to normal.
Also my USB dont detect anything. I tried reinstalled Windows and its still not working. There are no yellow Q marks in devicemanager but the USB device are shown as Unknown device or USB root hub. i installed the USB 2.0 drivers from the CD which came with the PC.
Processor…. AMD 64 bit
Motherboard… MSI rs480M
can u tell me whats wrong??
March 11th, 2008 at 7:12 am
Hi,
I have a Dell Inspiron 4150 laptop. The USB Port has come loose and does not work unless i keep it firmly jammed with my finger until I am finished with the USB device. Is there any way to replace the USB Port, or should I just resign to not using it whatsoever?
I also bought a USB card that I thought would solve my problem, but it still needs to be plugged both into the USB and Card port.
Please help.
Thank you
March 30th, 2008 at 7:41 am
i have just purchused a wire-less U.S.B adpter ive installed the programe lyk i have been told and it then says to insert the wire-less adapter but it keeps saying a high speed U.S.B device is pluged in to a non-high speed U.S.B hub an then says the unknown U.S.B device will function at a reduced speed . you must add a high speed U.S.B host controller to the computer to obtain maximum performance. the wire-less is compatable with windows 2000 as it says on the box but i dont understand how im goin to download one without gettin on the internet on that computer because i have tryed downloading onto a U.S.B storage stick and try sending it over that way but still no look can u notify me with a way of resolvin this problem
thankyou
March 30th, 2008 at 7:45 am
one last thing aswel the laptop im usin at this tym has become infected with a trojan. but what i realy dont understand is that i have had norton ati-virus for a number of years and usally it will qworantine them but it doesnt seen to be doin anything any advice
May 13th, 2008 at 8:24 am
I have a Dell Latitude D510 Laptop. Devices such as sound (speakers), USB ports (4 if them), CD drive and network connection, symantec anti-virus, firewall are not working, printing,(disabled). Running the “msconfig” will display under services that these devices have been stopped. I do not know how to get them running. There is some very important information on this machine, which I am unable to save so that I can have the machine formatted. The machine is still able to connect to the internet and also receive email via outlook, but it wont show this under connection (LAN). What should I do?
May 13th, 2008 at 8:26 pm
Collins,
You can back up all personal information using these methods and after that reinstall the OS from scratch.
May 16th, 2008 at 5:03 am
I have a HP laptop. When I plugged my cooling station into the USB port – unknown to me – I was allowed to plug it in upside down – my computer shut down after a while and that’s when i noticed the cooling station had been plugged in upside down. The top tab of the usb port is no longer visible (or missing) which is why it probably let me plug in upside down. Well the computer will not power on at all. Would the usb port cause the complete power failure? If so, will repairing the usb port resolve the power situation? Will all my data on my computer be lost? Is this expensive to fix? Did the usb port allowing me to plug in the cooling station incorrectly cause additional damage internally to my laptop?
May 26th, 2008 at 6:46 am
Dear Laptop Freak,
For some time now I have been looking for a solution to a problem I have with the USB ports on my Toshiba Satellite A60 which has 3 USB ports (2 on the back and 1 on the side). Whenever I plug a device into the back 2 it says USB device not recognized, and when i plug it into the side USB port the device powers up but nothing happens in Windows. I have tried downloading a bios update but it won’t let me re-flash the bios as it says the bios is already up to date. I have also tried purchasing a PCMCIA USB card, but I get no joy from plugging devices into that either, and the drivers are installed correctly. Please help!!!!!
June 25th, 2008 at 7:45 pm
hi, ive read all the comments above about usb devices causing toshiba laptops to freeze, my own problem is a little more complex lol, I own a Toshiba Satellite Pro A60 EN (EN? i cant find this anywhere online) the model number is PSA65E-00200UEN if thats any help, my problem is that when i bought the laptop (as a back up when my main pc crashed and dyed a hundred deaths in an hour lol) it had just been re-built, new hard drive etc and all new internal components, (or so the seller said lol anyway beside the point, i love it to bits and want it going again lol), i mean hard drive, cpu and a centrino processor, i got it homeand all was well, till i pluged in my ipod, which immediatly started charging, the dialog box in the bottom left showed up saying that the ipod had “malfuntione@ and i shud click it to see what the problem was, so i followed what i was asked to do, and the damned thing froze, so i re-booted, and tryed again, same thing happened, it eventually came to point where the laptop would let me login using password etc and immediatly freeze (whether usb device was plugged in or out) when my desktop pic appeared, i got my neighbour (who works for rank xerox) to take a look at it, so he completely re-built it again, using the original components it came with, everything went fine for the first few days and it just froze again randomly when i was online, i rebooted and i got about half throught the windows xp loading screen (the one just after u see all the ibos info at start up, b4 u log in) again when i froze yet again, (geting a bit of a habit by now i bet ur thinking lol) so i w8ed another few weeks as my own desktop pc was back in action (thank-fuly, i missed crimson skie’s, well ace game, anyway…) i tryed to boot it up about 12 times in a couple of hours, and everytime it froze at the same point, (i have not at anypoint after the second re-build used any usb devices as i thot that was the main cause), i called a company with a very, very high customer support service, and they recommended replacing the harddrive for a bigger 80 GIG model, which i did, then re-installed xp-pro sp1, i find sp2 has lots of bugs, and both my dad and myself use sp1 on our desktops without any probs at all, now the laptop has a far better proccessor than my desktop so i wud expect it to handle sp1 quite easily, its the 2.80ghz centino thats in my toshiba at the moment, is that standered kit for this model???? i dont know, im at my wits end with this thing now, but im reluctant to ditch it after the amount of cash i have already spent on it, so anyway to finish off my story lol, even after 3 re-installs, and 2 new hard drives, it still freeze’s when ever i turn it on, im now beginning to think it may be the motherboard, the main system board, or just an electrical fault with my usb hub’s, as far as i no they are the one’s that came with the laptop, as all 3 are the same colour and etc, and none of the plastic housing that holds them in place as damaged or scuffed so that sez 2 me they are standerd, one more tiny thing to chuck in at the end, when i tryed the remove battery and hold the power button trick, it froze FASTER! just as the windows xp loading screen apeared, not half through, lyk every other bleeding time lol, i also tryed to disable the usb ports in the ibos menu but it wudnt let me access the menu, it just jumped clear of the section, the laptop now freezes no matter what way u try to start it up, cd, dvd, safe mode with net. and comand promptand everytime the same thing, wudnt boot, so again sorry for the length of this but i felt i needed to fully explain my problem, thanks alot if you can help, and thanks alot anyway if you cant lol
A PI**ED OFF TOSHIBA A60 OWNER
June 25th, 2008 at 8:03 pm
The Fozzy,
I would definitely run the memory test. Download Memtest86+ utility, burn it on a CD and boot your laptop from that CD. The memory test will start automatically. Run the test overnight, so it makes many passes.
If the memory fails, you’ll see a lot errors in red color. In this case remove an external memory stick (if you have any) and run the memory test again. Now you are testing the onboard memory – memory chips soldered on the motherboard.
If onboard memory fails, you’ll have to replace the motherboard.
I believe your Satellite Pro A60 (European model) is similar to Satellite A60 (USA model) witch has a few known problems. Read about these problems here.
June 28th, 2008 at 12:31 am
I have a HP Pavilion dv4000 and for the past 3 weeks I have left my printer plugged into my laptop via usb port. Now my computer will not charge unless my printer is plugged into it. The printer doesn’t even have to be on, ust as long as its in my laptops usb port it will charge my computer. Doesn’t sound to bad,but the problem is the normal power cord that is suppose to charge laptops does not work at all. If I unplug it from the laptop it doesn’t dim the screen, but if I remove the printer usb cord the screen dims and the battery symbol shows up. However if I remove the charger while the printer usb cord is plugged into my computer then the screen will dim and the laptop will run on its battery. I have run virus scans and deleted a ton of my computer and nothing seems to fix this. Anyone have any ideas on how i can get my computer to charge normally? Thanks!
August 8th, 2008 at 10:54 am
i have a HP pavillion DV6000. for the last few months non of the things that i plug into my USB ports are not recognized by windows. i have done everything reinstalling drivers, flashing bios what ever things is possible. and i have also Used LINUX to check my usbports they are working fine with LINUx. what ever i plug in works as wel. and i have to mention one thing here. althou my windows VISTA now doesnt recognize anything now. but it recognizes my old Flash drive which i plug in, dats the only thing that works. so tel me do you have a solution for this ..
Thank you in advance
August 13th, 2008 at 9:30 am
Hi,
I have a Vaio VGN-FJ170 with SP3 for XP. As of late, I’ve been having issues regarding usb 2.0 devices. In the past I was able to be detected and run devices at a slower rate, but now, 2.0 devices are completely undetected. I’ve bought a powered Belkin 2.0 hub and a 2-sloted PCMCIA device – both which were not detected. I had hoped that those devices would enable me to use my 2 gb memory stick and external hd – too bad. Oddly enough, the PCMCIA usb card I bought can still power my laptop fan when plugged in. Please advise!
August 19th, 2008 at 9:02 pm
i have a sony vaiao. i bought a psp recently and after i plugged the usb, my sony laptop suddenly losses its power. Trying to reboot the pc is not possible. What is the problem of losing power?
November 2nd, 2008 at 6:42 am
Hello, from reading alot of these I amhavign a similiar problem. I have a Toshiba satellite A105-s171 laptop and the usb drivers are not recognizing anyhting, from i phone, to ipod to usb flash . what can i do? this just started happening out fio the blue. once ina blue moon it will connect to itunes but not most of the time. Suggestions? is it shot?
December 18th, 2008 at 5:53 pm
if i plug anything into my usb port it doesnt work and it doesnt come up under my computer how can i fix this problem i dont have alot of money to spend on taking it in to be fixes. i have a toshiba lab top with 2 usb ports on the right and one on the left and none of them work. i also have windows vista on the computer if that matters. thank you for your time.
December 30th, 2008 at 4:48 am
I just bought a Lexmark 4-in-1 printer 5600-5700 series and I am trying to hook it up to my HP laptop. (Windows XP Media Center (SP3). Basically, I progress through the installation cd and I get to the step where I am required to connect the printer using a USB cable. Well, I do that and I hear the “ding, ding” sound that occurs when a USB device has been connected, but nothing happens. I have installed and connected the printer on my PC (XP-professional(SP3)) and it works perfectly.
I spent about 10 hours yesterday with techsupport from Microsoft, who indicated it was a problem with my USB drivers, so the agent updated them for me using TeamViewer, where I shared my laptop with him. After that, we went through the installation for the printer numerous times and apparently XP is detecting the printer, but it isn’t recognizing the software. This makes little sense to me because it recognized it on a different PC just fine.
This is very frustrating….any suggestions?
January 14th, 2009 at 9:01 am
Hey there…looking for a little help. Looks like alot of people have the same problem! Any chance the manuf’s. are “pre-wiring” these things to break after a while so we have to go spend some more money? But what do I know- I’m not very tech-saavy, so I’ll need a slightly dumbed-down answer too.
I have a Dell Inspiron 1150 Laptop, about 5 years old, and my 2 USB’s on the back aren’t being recognized or detected at all. I took it to a PC repair desk at Staples and they couldn’t fix it. They said they re-installed the Drivers to no avail and suggested it may be the “internal wiring” which they are not permitted to access. They offered to ship it off somewhere else for me…for about $350. I can’t afford that any more than I can afford to buy a brand new one.
I tried right-clicking on “My Computer” and “Properties” to see which Service Pack I am running- as you instructed Amanda to do above- but there was no reference to this in the window that opened. Where else can I look?
There has to be a way to fix this inexpensively. I have been without the ability to print, upload pictures from my digital camera, sync my Palm Pilot, access my Itunes Library, or access my external Hard Drive for about a year now. I will try anything- and am not too proud to ask stupid questions if it will help me get up and running again
Thanks in advance-
January 18th, 2009 at 7:27 pm
I see I’m not alone. have a Gateway ML3109 I bought in Oct 07. yesterday I checked it and it would not boot.. ran System Repair.. which it did and restored it to a previous date. and everything came up…
EXCEPT the 3 USB ports on the side, my SD card slot (and I’m not sure if the express slot would come up) not sure how to take the entire thing apart to see if it is on a separate USB/media reader sub board or all on the same mobo. I did add ram after i got it.. and I figure since I did pay $350 for the system.. it would not pay to fix it.. Everything else seems to work EXCEPT those I mentioned. I gather it wouldnt pay to fix it so guess gonna have to buy another system. Before this one.. most of my systems were mucho older/used etc… usually partialy rebuilt by me.. (if i had access to the proper manual)
anu suggestions?
January 19th, 2009 at 11:41 am
JUST A GUESS—If you had to run sys recover it’s possible you got a hidden nasty virus or you a conflict in your xp drive software updates,
You might reformat/reinstall, check usb 1st, and/or update/flash bios from GWay site.,
Alt.- if you have a internal wireless modem try a pcmcia usb2 card. Over my head,,, Good luck!
January 19th, 2009 at 11:43 am
Alt.- if you have a working internal wireless modem, try a pcmcia usb2 card. Over my head,,, Good luck!
January 20th, 2009 at 5:05 am
ended up getting a new laptop for $450.. btw thr gateway like a lot of new systems does NOT have a PCMCIA slot just an express card slot, SD, and the usb.
the new system came with a faster processor, more mem and a 250gb drive . every tech i talked to estimated about $350.. so it will be a net reader. still has a cdrw (dvd is only a rom (the new one has all ))
but thanks oh the usb did provide power.. just wouldnt recognise anything. all tests pointed to hardware. cie la vie
August 4th, 2009 at 6:35 am
Hi Guys. I’ve had much the same problem with my USBs, except that one single device (my USB wireless mouse) works in any of the USB sockets. I tried all the usual things, uninstalling drivers, plugging one device in at a time, etc., but to no avail. I’ve just come across this post at Microsoft – http://support.microsoft.com/kb/817900 – which I think could answer the problem, which might be to do with power consumption or how it is manipulated by the PC. Anyway, it’s worth reading by anyone who has a multi-USB device failure without warning. I haven’t tried the workaround remedy yet, but seems I’m gonna have to.
October 7th, 2009 at 1:21 pm
hello, i use ubuntu since it came out. sometimes i used windows vista for gaming so i have both installed on my acer aspire 5100.
some time ago i installed winxp and then all problems begun.
the usb ports dont work on any windows i install, i installed all the drivers given by acer.com on winxp, vista and now windows 7. on none of those systems usb doesnt seems to work, it doesnt recognize any usb device that i plug in.
on linux everything is working so the motherboard or any of its components are all working.
i tried on xp, vista, 7. usb ports dont work but on linux it does.
please help!
November 7th, 2009 at 10:01 am
my problem is any thing i plug into my usb drives my computer freezes up nothing works. the cursor will not move at all and seems like the hard drive stops. can any one help?
November 7th, 2009 at 11:12 am
greg,
Does it happen with all USB ports? Have you tried different USB devices?
Back up all personal files from the laptop and try reinstalling the operating system from scratch. It’s possible you have software related problem.
If reinstalling software doesn’t help, I think there could be a problem with the motherboard.
By the way, does it work fine if you don’t use USB ports?
November 18th, 2010 at 1:14 pm
Remove your battery… It’s like magic
December 13th, 2010 at 12:08 pm
My USB ports don’t work at all.
I plugged in my ipod charger into it and nothing happens,
my ipod charger cord works,its just this laptop!