My USB ports wont work for certain USB device things, like it works for one of my USB’s and my webcam o and my iPod charger, but it doesn’t work for my other USB and some other stuff. It’s really annoying and i can’t fix it. I have a Compaq C300EA x

Some USB devices require a device driver. Windows (and any other operating system) doesn’t have drivers for all USB devices. For example, if the laptop cannot recognize your digital camera, you’ll have to visit the manufacturer’s website and search for the device driver for your camera. The camera will be recognizes as soon as you install the device driver.

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?

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.

I have Toshiba Satellite A105 laptop. I have never used any USB devices before and today I bought a new USB flash drive. For some reason, when I plug it into the laptop, it doesn’t work. I’ve tried all 4 USB ports without any luck. The drive works fine with my desktop computer. Do you know what is wrong with my laptop?

I think I know what is wrong with your laptop. Last Friday I fixed Toshiba Satellite A105-S1013 laptop with exactly the same problem. The laptop didn’t recognize my USB flash drive. Apparently the device was detected by Windows because as soon as I plugged it in, a balloon pooped up and it said “USB Device Not Recognized”. I tried to plug in three different devices and always got the same error. I found that this laptop is running BIOS v1.20 not even listed on Toshiba website for this model. I downloaded and installed the latest BIOS v1.90 and fortunately it fixed the problem. You can download the latest BIOS from Toshiba support website and install it right from the Windows environment.

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.

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.