None of my 3 USB ports work. Windows doesn’t recognize USB devices anymore.
My Toshiba P10 laptop computer was idle for about 10 hours. When I came back the screen was black and none of the buttons or mouse movements would prompt the computer to come out of screen save mode. I rebooted the computer manually (holding off button for 5 seconds). Upon the restart of the computer, none of my 3 USB ports worked. I have uninstalled them, checked for new hardware, the computer said new drivers have been installed and the device was ready to use. I also took the battery out for 30 seconds and rebooted. However, none of the various USB devices I tried work or get recognized by these ports. (Power does come out of these ports as it lights up LED’s on mouse, just no mouse movements) I don’t think Windows recognizes them anymore. Any suggestions short of having to clean my hard drive and clean install my Windows XP Media Edition I am using.
Just recently I had to repair a laptop with exactly the same problem. All USB ports stopped working without any reason. To troubleshoot the problem, I booted the laptop from a Linux CD but the Linux OS didn’t detect USB devices either. In my case I had to replace the main board (system board).
I would definitely try to reload the operating system, just do not forget to back up all important data before you run the restore CD. If after you restore the operating system the USB ports still not working properly, them I would suspect a bad USB controller on the main board. USB ports on Toshiba Satellite P10 are a part of the main board and if you want to fix the problem, you’ll have to replace the main board.
By the way, just in case try re-flashing/upgrading the BIOS on your laptop, it might help.
April 26th, 2009 at 4:38 pm
Hi, i have a Sony Vaio VGN-SZ4MN Currently running Windows 7 Beta Build 7000
the problem is until a week or two ago my USB ports were working fine, but suddenly when I plug in any USB Device it says this can run faster on a 2.0 USB Port
and i know that both my USB ports are 2.0, for somereason they have reverted back to 1.1 i think, i went to device manager, i tried to update driver its updated, v. 6.1.0.7000 i tried disabling and reabling it, same thing, i have a PCMIA USB cardreader and same thing with that also, and sony doesnt have usb drivers on site, and most of their drivers dont have an EXE, they have an .sys and 2-3 other files which i dont know how to install
please help me……my USB ports were working fine for last 2 yrs, dunno must of done something to screw them up
November 21st, 2008 at 10:21 am
Thanks for the quick reply! I would try reflashing the bios but I can’t find any version to download. I’ll have a look again at the LG site. If you have any link or support site, let me know.
Thanks again!
Regards from Argentina.
Fede.
November 20th, 2008 at 2:33 pm
Fede,
Apparently, there is a problem with the USB controller on the motherboard. I doubt that you can disable USB port detection on a laptop. I guess the only way to fix the problem would be replacing the whole motherboard.
You can try reflashing the motherboard with the same version of BIOS. Just in case.
November 20th, 2008 at 5:45 am
Hello! I enjoy your site and every time I have to repair a laptop I check out here for some tips.
Yesterday I received a laptop with an USB problem. The laptop is an LG F1.
The problem is that the USB ports sort of died. I did a clean installation of Windows XP just to be sure that the OS wasn’t the culprit. Everything went OK except the following: Every time I boot into windows it detects and tries to install the USB controller. And every time it hangs there. I can do another things but I can’t abort the detection nor disable the USB ports. (Device manager hangs trying to disable the device) The “System” process is taking all the CPU time too, making everything slow. I can’t install drivers for another device.
I think the controller is bad but I couldn’t find any BIOS to update. There is no option to disable the USB ports in BIOS. I wanted to disable it and use an external card but it seems impossible at the moment.
Sorry for the long read but I wanted to be as clear as possible. Any thoughts?
Thanks for everything and sorry for my english!
Regards from Argentina.
September 8th, 2008 at 4:30 am
Help!
I have a Satellite A200-1DY.
I have been using it for a year and fine. Yesterday I was trying to make an USB-Pendrive Bootable to install on it Gparted, to split my partitions. The process didn’t work, I got an error so I desisted trying to make the LiveUSB thing, I removed the Pendrive properly using the Eject windows function for that, and I removed it safely. But what I could imagine is that from that moment on, my USB ports wouldn’t work anymore.
When I power the laptop I get a BIOS error. My BIOS is version 1.20, I know it’s very old, one of you have even said it’s preproduction. But now I am not able to boot neither Windows Vista from the HD nor Ubuntu from a LiveCD because the computer freezes seconds later after trying the boot process.
I power up.
Black screen saying:
————————————–
Phoenix Trustedcore …
Copyright 1985-2006 …
All rights …
ISKAA BIOS Version 1.20
Mouse Initalized
(Then I get 2 beeps)
ERROR
Resource Conflict – PCI on Motherboard
Bus:08, Device:04, Function: 00
ERROR
Resource Conflict – PCI Serial Bus Controller on Motherboard
Bus:08, Device:04, Function: 01
ERROR
Resource Conflict – PCI Mass Storage Controller on Motherboard
Bus:08, Device:04, Function: 02
ERROR
Resource Conflict – PCI on Motherboard
Bus:08, Device:04, Function: 03
to Resume>, to setup
—————————————————-
Look that is always the same Bus08, Device04
In windows I only reach that black screen that tells you to select boot in normal or safe mode. Then freezes without letting me choose.
In Ubuntu LiveCD I reach the screen where I should select boot from the LiveCD or Check the memory, or the CD for defects … and the freezes without letting me choose.
no F8, This option, (recover factory settings) doesn’t even work, I get 4 beep instead of 2 if I push the F8 key when powering up the laptop but then I get the same error messages typed earlier.
F12, I select the media to boot from, and either option freezes seconds later, in windows safe mode window, or in LiveCD Ubuntu 1st menu (as commeted).
Now I’m not able to update the bios, I can’t get to windows vista again to update the BIOS form it, and the other way the FAQ BIOS page says is with a Floppy disk, which my laptop lacks.
I even disabled the USB ports in the BIOS’ options window, but keeps freezing the computer seconds after any operating system has started to load.
¿How do I update my BIOS now?
My laptop is a brick right now. HELP!!
August 11th, 2008 at 10:44 am
Hello Guys,
I have installed XP in my Notebook.But after installing the window USB ports are not working.
System Model:Toshiba Satellite A200-1CC.
please give me sugestion to solve this problem.
thanks
April 22nd, 2008 at 8:00 am
Please also make sure that “Plug and Play ” in the MSconfig\Service is activated.
Good Luck
April 8th, 2008 at 3:35 am
Hi asklaptopfreak,
I have a toshiba m65-s9092 and i am experiencing problems with my USB ports (3 of them). When i turn on the computer my mouse and usb headset work for about 2 mins or so and than they both become inactive, when this happens anything that makes sound on the computer lags (like aol instant messenger messages, or in world of warcraft fps drops from 60 to 8 or less). I have tried reinstalling windows and got no luck with that. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
~Thomas
December 24th, 2007 at 1:08 am
HI,
I have posted on a couple of sites but no one has been able to provide any info on this amnd i’m hoping someone here has some tips.
First the Laptop with the issues.
Toshiba Satellite Pro 4300
Memory 192MB
P3
600 or 700 MHZ (can’t remember)
Ok, i received this with windows 98 on it and decided to upgrade the hard drive to a 30gig and install windows XP.
Since the install i have had the following issues.
1)
USB Hub refuses to react with almost everything with one exception that it recognised my USB modem stick
I have tried
usb mouse
usb cd player
usb external hard drive.
I thought this may just be the age of the computer and it having only USB1 meant that any USB device would have to have independent power but that was scuppered when the normal mouse refused to work.
2)
When i slide a pcmcia card into the slot the computer fails to react in anyway.
3)
Floppy drive is refusing to work.
The light comes on but any attemp to access a disk returns the “no identification address found on disk”
Here are the efforts i have tried.
Flashed bios using a CD (a job in itself)
checked Bios settings but there are no references to APCI settings to alter as suggested by a few people.
BIOS
I have tried all sorts of combinations within the bios but nothing seems to make a difference,
I have tried with usb keyboard enabled and disabled
select by OS/autoselect/
Device Manager
There are no visible errors in Device manager and i have used Driver Genuis to check for any new drivers needed all seems fine.
Floppy disk verify file used from Toshiba which i have no idea what it does but i have used it as advised from the Toshiba web site, where they advise using it for xp upgrades. (problems were all there before this so this had no effect.)
Tried formatting floppies slowly as opposed to quick format (no effect) also tried numerous other floppies which work fine on other laptop.
Used USBready file to check USB, everything comes back clean.
PCMCIA card works fine in other computers but not on the Tosh. Tried other modem cards and lan cards, nothing reacts.
Finally, i have reinstalled xp and tried installing it as “Standard PC”
I am going to try to reinstall xp yet again this weekend and will try another option as opposed to “Standard PC”
I am not sure what the first xp install set it up as but i’ll try the APCI enabled one this time but i read somewhere that ths could be risky.
I’m starting to lose confidence with this one and would appreciate anyones advice on things i could try to resolve any of these.
The only advice i have received from other forums is to update the chipset drivers which i will be trying this evening although XP installs these and drivergen says i have the latest already installed.
Many thanks and Happy Chrsitmas
Kind regards
Dave
November 29th, 2007 at 12:11 pm
Everyone, beware. Microsoft released update KB941600 which was supposed to fix issues with USB core components in Vista. When I loaded it I lost all of my USB ports. Microsoft has been working on the issue for two weeks with no fix yet. This is a known problem. If you have auto update on, you might have loaded this update and suffered the same issue.
November 24th, 2007 at 6:26 pm
Hello everyone….
I too i’m going crazy trying to make this usb ports work on my laptop. I got it to work temporarily:( I’m putting this post in the hopes it sparks somebody else work and we can figure out what is really happening. I have tried everything i know including whatever info i found on the web. Installing windows xp pro (bare) then updating everything. installed and reinstalled usb drivers, turn off power management for the usb hubs. installed windows vista did the same thing. installed linux Ubunto still nothing worked. tried usbready software to check if the usb harware was working, it tells me it is. of couse when you plug anything it powers up but nothing gets recognized. till i did this. after taking the whole notebook apart hoping the physical ports can be looked at and found out they are attached to the motherboard. i put it back together and guess what… it worked. it initially thought that something was loose. BUt what is really happens is if i turn off the notebook taking the battery out and of course disconnecting the power. the usb somehow resets itself. you can disconnect it and you loose the ability for things to get recognized. I hope this sheds some light into you guys problem.
November 8th, 2007 at 9:54 pm
Cee,
It’s possible that you have to download and install the device driver for non-working devices. I’ve published your question here:
USB ports on my laptop work only for certain USB devices
November 8th, 2007 at 7:44 am
Heyy, my USB ports wont work for certain USB device thingys, like it works for one of my usb’s and my webcam o and my ipod charger, but it doesnt work for my other usb and some other stuff. its really annoying and i can’t fix it i have a Compaq C300EA x
November 7th, 2007 at 12:14 am
Michael,
Is it Windows XP? Try this. Access the device manager and remove all entries related to USB. Restart the laptop. If there is nothing wrong with the hardware, Windows will detect USBs and reinstall them automatically.
See if it will recognize the flash drive after that.
November 6th, 2007 at 10:44 am
Hi,
I have a Toshiba Satellite 2595 X DVD. My usb flash drive is being reconized as unknown but its not working,the computer also cant find a driver for it
please help
November 5th, 2007 at 6:05 pm
My computer detects my mp3 device but there is a problem once it detectes it the only way u can transfer music is threw windows media player and that still doesent work good, I cant drag drop files from my PC to my mp3. The only thing my PC detects is my Sony Psp that works fine but other than that nothing HELP!!!
October 24th, 2007 at 5:15 pm
usb not recognised,,and what was needed was a bios update,,depending on mother board manufacture,,you may get a live update utility that updates your bios automatically,,, use a program called PC WIZARD freeware,, that will tell you your motherboqard details..gl hf
July 21st, 2007 at 11:47 am
I’m having a similar problem with my laptop, which is a Tiny 3200S Powerlite. All 4 usb ports stopped working suddenly a few weeks back. I was able to recharge my mp3 player through them, but they don’t pick up any usb devices i plug in. I had been planning on re-installing xp for a while and did it yesterday, but still no good, same problem as before, I went into device manager but it doesn’t show any Universal Serial Bus. I also installed PC wizard 2007, and its reporting that ther is no USB Bus. Everything else is working fine no problems at all. I’d really appreciate any help you could give, as this is cracking me up!
One other thing, in pc wizard, under mainboard, all it says is “To be filled by O.E.M” I presume this is something Tiny just didnt bother doing?
thanks!
July 12th, 2007 at 8:36 pm
Shaun,
You don’t need any special drivers for USB ports. When you install Windows XP, all USB ports should be detected and all drivers should be loaded automatically.
You can try this.
1. Go to the device manager and remove(uninstall) all entries related to USB ports. Restart the laptop and see if Windows can fix the problem.
2. Enter the BIOS setup menu by pressing Esc or F2 key on startup and set the BIOS to default. I don’t remember witch key sets the BIOS to default settings, you should see instruction on the bottom of the BIOS setup page.
3. Try updating BIOS to the latest version.
4. As a last resort, you can try using a PCMCIA USB card. You plug this card into the available PC slot on the side of your laptop and get one or two (depends on the card model) USB ports.
July 12th, 2007 at 2:50 am
OMG somebody help me please before i smash my god damn laptop i have a toshiba tecra a3 i uninstalled and reinstalled windows xp pro and now my usb ports dont work the computer doesnt even recognise them i’ve tried plugging in everything keyboard , mouse , external harddrive nuthing comes up when plugged in the thing is as im not really an expert with computers (not my specialty) i stupidly erased the hardrive and reiinstalled windows completely forgetting about the drivers and the fact that no driver cd’s or anything of the kind came with the computer so far i’ve managed to get a few things working again such as audio drivers and so on i’ve been to the toshiba website and downloaded everything there is for a toshiba tecra a3 and tried to install it all some things worked some wouldnt even install wich i didnt understand because i was getting errors such as the drivers for blah blah are not installed setup will now exit wich is funny coz thats wat i thought i was trying to install anyway in device manager the usb controllers show up and all seems to be working fine although it did say there are no drivers installed its now saying there is drivers installed but still nuthing i plug in shows up at all i dont get the little bubble saying hardware connected or watever it sez nuthing shows up in iexplore im going crazy here as i am a dj and need my computer for editing however with no working usb ports for midi controllers etc. its completely useless please somebody anybody help me any sugestions ideas or help in any way would be greatly apreciated.
February 20th, 2007 at 10:28 pm
Amie Stuart,
What exactly is happening with your laptop? You cannot boot it or what?
Do you still get the same black screen with two choices? I believe you get this screen when the computer wasn’t able to boot up successfully after it was hibernated. Try selecting the choice A, nothing horrible is going to happen.
February 20th, 2007 at 10:19 pm
Cindy,
Did you purchase this Satellite M35X in the United States? If yes, then Toshiba will repair this laptop at no charge even though the laptop is not under warranty anymore. You’ll find more information in Toshiba warranty extencion post. Just bring the laptop to a local authorized repair center or ship it to Toshiba.
February 19th, 2007 at 7:21 am
I moved my laptop (desk and all) Friday night and when i turned it on, I got a message asking me if I wanted to a) delete some files and reboot or b) just reboot. I chose B. I wasn’t paying attention so I’m not 100% sure exactly what it said. It’s a Toshiba M35X-S1142. I was wondering about goin to the PCMCIA card route also.
I’ve tried everything including flashing the bios and nothing works.
February 17th, 2007 at 5:40 am
Hi,
My Toshiba M35X S149 laptop was just zapped with static electricity last night from my fingers. Now none of the USB ports are working. Was wondering if I purchase a PCMCIA Laptop Card for more usb ports if that would take care of my problem of not being able to use an external keyboard, mouse or my printer. Nothing else seems to be wrong with the laptop. Any advice?
January 22nd, 2007 at 10:44 pm
Try updating to sp2
January 11th, 2007 at 5:14 pm
Cunar Xavier,
The latest BIOS should fix USB issues on your Satellite A105 laptop. I’ve seen this problem before, here’s a post that covers it in more details.
Updating BIOS is not really a scary procedure. You just download the latest BIOS version from Toshiba website, run the file and choose “Install from Windows”. It will update automatically.
Make sure the laptop runs on AC power, not just off the battery. Do not interrupt the process. Do not work on the laptop while it’s upgrading. After the update is done, the laptop will shut down itself or ask you to reboot. Just follow the instructions on the screen and you’ll be fine.
I’ve updated BIOS on hundreds (may be thousands) laptops and never screwed up a single one.
The BIOS might get corrupted if you interrupt the process, for example shut down the laptop during the upgrade process.
January 11th, 2007 at 8:53 am
I have a Satellite laptop a105. My problem is that my usb cannot detect my devices when i plugged it in.it has a bios v 1.20,i already downloaded the bios upgrade, but im afraid to install it because i’ve read from other forums that sometimes flashing/upgrading the bios can damage the laptop and render it unusuable.Is it safe for me to install the upgrade?as per your experience,does it really pose a threat to my laptop?Thank you for your reply.God bless you.
October 26th, 2006 at 10:54 pm
Luke,
It could be just a software issue. I would probably back up all personal data from the harddrive and then reimaged the drive back to original factory defaults using a recovery DVD or CDs.
October 26th, 2006 at 1:36 pm
Hi, My computer had a viruse but we have three running spysweepers and the viruse was takin care of we rebotted the computer just to be safe but we noticed that our USB ports were not working, We went to the My Computer link and went to Device Manager and tried to follow to make it so the computer would notice the USB devices but its still not working so if you could give us any tips please email me back thanks.
August 10th, 2006 at 2:19 pm
Here’s an update guys. It might be not necessary to replace the board on Satellite A105 if USB ports do not work. I just fixed one of them simply by updating the BIOS. The laptop had BIOS v1.20 installed and this version is not even listed on Toshiba support website for this unit. Apparently, it’s a pre-production version. I wasn’t able to boot the laptop from a USB floppy drive. A USB flash drive was detected in Windows but it wasn’t recognized. After I updated BIOS it was fixed.
So, try to update the BIOS first and if it doesn’t help then you might have a hardware problem.