USB Stopped Working

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My USB devices stopped working. No power coming out of the port. What does this mean as far as repairs go. I have an older notebook and I don’t want to get into expensive repairs. Any suggestions short of buying a new notebook???

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If you have one port that is working buy USB hub. You can get a 4 port hub online starting around $15 USD.

Joe

--Joe

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If you have a PCMCIA slot you can buy a card with USB 2.0-firewire and or SATA connectors. Here is one of many available http://www.byterunner.com/cgi-bin/cart.cgi…t_name=USBFWPCM%5B/url%5D

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Both ports stopped working. Must have burned something out. Didn’t receive and error or anything-just stopped responding. I’ll try the PCMCIA option. thanks for the reply

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Have you checked in Device Manager to see if it’s software related ???

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I don’t know how to do that. thanks for the reply though

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Right click on My Computer and select Properties from the dropdown menu. In the resulting window, select the Hardware tab and then click on the Device Manager button. Scroll down the list to Universal Serial Bus controlers and click on the + sign next to that entry. Are there any yellow exclaimation marks there ??? If so, right click on the offending one and select Properties from the drop down menu and review the status of the device. If you see nothing wrong then click the Troubleshoot button and see if that turns up any problems. Post back with any questions.

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This is what I have-No gflags

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It sounds like something might have burned out. from here…..

“When testing USB ports here, I like to use a USB mouse that has a nice bright red LED inside it. I use that LED to determine if the mouse is getting power. The motherboard has the ability to switch the power on and off, and something related to the switch is one possible source of a loss of power. (The “root” entry in the Device Manager, manages power for the USB port.)

The second thing, is USB ports usually are protected by a Polyfuse. That is a fuse that opens when it gets hot from too much current. Once it is given a chance to cool off, it conducts electricity again. Polyfuses seem to be pretty reliable, but occasionally there might be a failure of the fuse.

A more likely cause of a USB power loss, is the USBPWxx power header. That is a header on the motherboard that allows the user to select +5V or +5VSB to run the USB ports. The purpose of +5VSB, is to allow a USB device to remain powered while the computer sleeps – such a USB device can then be used to wake the computer. So, if the motherboard supports waking from USB keyboard, you set the USBPWxx header to +5VSB, so the keyboard gets power while the computer sleeps.

If the jumper that fits the USBPWxx header is removed completely, then neither +5V nor +5VSB flows to the two USB ports controlled by that header. You might check and see if the jumper is present – then reseat it, to make sure it is making good contact.

Finally, there are the registry and the CMOS to consider. By deleting the entries in Device Manager, you’ve already refreshed the registry and the Device Manager.

That leaves clearing the CMOS. I’m not aware of any great store of documentation over exactly what info is stored in the CMOS. But when a user has obscure problems that defy logic, clearing the CMOS is something you can try, perhaps as the last step before pulling the motherboard and returning it under RMA. Clearing the CMOS usually requires access to the CLRTC header, and if you look in section 2.7 “Jumpers” in the manual, you’ll see a procedure listed there. The most important step in clearing the CMOS, is _unplug_ the computer. That prevents +5VSB from damaging the CMOS power circuitry when you use the CLRTC jumper.

Before clearing the CMOS, make notes on paper, of any custom BIOS settings you are using. You will need to re-enter the values after the CMOS clearing procedure is completed.”

Your best option might be the PCMCIA slot sinjin suggested in post 632,577.

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I purchased the card and it works perfect. Thanks for all the help and advice.

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