I have Sony Vaio laptop and problems with my USB port will not read USB device, I keep getting the error no USB device available. I have tried to download new device, still not working.

If you have a problem with only one particular USB port, it’s definitely a hardware related issue. Most likely the USB port is damaged and has to be replaced. It means the entire laptop has to be disassembled, the damaged USB port has to be desoldered and replaced with a new one.

If you have the same problem with all USB ports, first of all check the USB device you are trying to use. Maybe the device itself is faulty. Test your laptop with another USB device.

If you experiencing he same problem with different USB devices, the problem is somewhere inside the laptop. It could be software or hardware related.

Here are some steps you can go through to find out what is wrong:
1. Go to the device manager and remove all USB related entries from the USB controllers. Restart the laptop and let it re-detect USB ports. Test USB ports. If it doesn’t help, go to the step 2.
2. Back up all personal files and reinstall the operating system from scratch. Test USB ports. If it doesn’t help, go to the step 3.
3. If reinstalling the operating system doesn’t fix your problem, it’s a hardware related failure. Most likely there is a problem with the motherboard and it has to be replaced.

If you don’t want to replace the motherboard, you can use a PCMCIA USB card instead. You plug this card into the PC slot and get two or four USB ports instead.

Have a Sony Vaio laptop that had two USB devices attached to it. The computer was hit and the USB ports are messed up one was bent inside and will not work and the other works but is slightly bent. Can these be replaced or not?

In a laptop computer USB ports are soldered directly to the motherboard or USB board. If one of the USB ports gets damaged, it has to be unsoldered and replaced with a new USB port.
Yes, it’s possible to fix the broken port but you have to find a techician who can do that for you.

As an alternative, you can use a PCMCIA card with USB ports. You plug this card into the available PC card slot in your laptop and get 2 or 4 USB ports instead.

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?

Apparently the USB controller (which is integrated into the motherboard) has failed. I think the only way to fix the problem will be replacing the whole motherboard.
Just in case, you can try reflashing the BIOS with the same version.

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.