USB problem on laptop

[Gav]

Hi all, Just wondered if anyone could offer me a little help or advice please.

My laptop (specs if it helps) randomly lost all usb ports the other day, at first I thought it was the batteries in my mouse (only thing using the usb ports) but changed over to a spare wired one and no joy, now there is a light on the mouse and this is flickering on and off but no movement on the cursor or button functions, the same if I plug an xbox 360 pad in, it will light the ring around the xbox logo on it but no functions.

Checked the device manager (win 7) no conflicts and reported as working fine and all up to date. So I removed, reinstalled the chipset drivers anyway and rebooted it, hey presto all working.. Next day same thing usb stops working. Again remove and reinstall drivers and they work perfectly although this time only for a few hours. I get no warnings or anything changing, mouse works fine then suddenly it stops until you reinstall the drivers. It has now just happened for the third time in two days.

Any ideas on anything I could have missed or is it just the usb ports starting to fail?

Thanks in advance.

[TeaLeaf]

Have you tried reinstalling the chipset driver?  If not that then to my mind it sounds like something more fatal on the motherboard if all the USB ports have stopped working.   Not sure what else to suggest.

[maz]

Id guess it might be a hardware problem, perhaps there's a loose connection somewhere, causing a disconnect with USB ports and then making them unusable until you reinstall the drivers. USB ports are usually on one board with a power cable to motherboard, might be worth opening up and just seeing if there's anything obvious.

[maz]

Just a thought next time you reinstall and then the usb ports stop working if you find the usb ports in device manager, look in properties then look under events and see if it says anything.

[Twyst]

Easy way to work out if it's a hardware problem - install a modern linux with a GUI onto a USB flash drive, boot it and use it for few moments.
If it works then it's a software problem in Windows. If it fails, then it's likely hardware.

This should at least save a trip to a laptop repair shop just to find out it's a software problem and getting stung in the wallet for it.

[Vargen]

Try removing all USB devices, power down the laptop and remove the battery and charger. Let it sit for a few minutes.

Power it back up, and try 1 USB device at a time. Preferably one that you know works from another system or something. If you are lucky, it is one of your devices that has a short, and your motherboard has a safety built in.

I think this is the same model as you have in the picture. As you can see there is a USB board on the right side of it, connected to the motherboard with a cable. Could be a bad connection here as well, or damage to the cable. If the machine is out of warranty, you could check this, or have someone do it for you if you are not confident yourself.

[ATTACH=CONFIG]3613[/ATTACH]

[Gav]

Thanks for the suggestions all, Twisted your suggestion makes a lot of sense as it would rule out windows errors but I'm afraid I have zero knowledge of Linux. Vargen ty, I never thought about a short in one of the leads/peripherals shutting them down as a safety feature, makes sense now you have mentioned it. I have removed the old mouse and pad and taken the newish one from my main PC that I know is fine, will see how that goes before I try anything else, it is indeed well out of warranty but I don't mind taking things apart if need be. Hopefully it is just the mouse or pad that is faulty.

[Vargen]

Thanks for the suggestions all, Twisted your suggestion makes a lot of sense as it would rule out windows errors but I'm afraid I have zero knowledge of Linux. Vargen ty, I never thought about a short in one of the leads/peripherals shutting them down as a safety feature, makes sense now you have mentioned it. I have removed the old mouse and pad and taken the newish one from my main PC that I know is fine, will see how that goes before I try anything else, it is indeed well out of warranty but I don't mind taking things apart if need be. Hopefully it is just the mouse or pad that is faulty.

Happy to help!

If you do end up taking it apart, you may as well try disconnecting other built in devices such as touch pad or kb, if they are not working as well. You can pretty much get away with running the motherboard on it's own with just an external screen and the power adapter, for testing purposes. Just give me a shout if you need any spesific technical advice

Edit: Just to clarify, the minimum required to run configuration includes the heat sink and fan. You probably know, but I'll leave it here to cover my behind

[Gav]

Well left laptop powered up while I was at work with just the new mouse in and the usb ports have died again so I guess that rules out faulty peripherals.

Thanks again Vargen, the touchpad, keyboard and everything else work absolutely fine. It is purely the usb shutting down. As said there must still be some connection/voltage going through when they shut down as it will flicker the lights on anything I plug in it is just unresponsive to any actions. Looks like tomorrow could involve small screwdrivers and swearing lol.

[sulky_uk]

have you tried power managemant, i had this a couple of years ago on my laptop, even when plugged in it turmed off usb ports to save power



In the Device Manager dialog box, expand Universal Serial Bus controllers, right-click USB Root Hub, and then click Properties. In the USB Root Hub Properties dialog box, click the Power Management tab. This allows the computer to turn off this device to save power check box is displayed. Turn off the Allow the computer to turn off this device to save power by unchecking the box then click the OK button: Repeat the step on each USB root hub or do it only for USB ports that you want to be permanently powered on.

hope this helps

[Gav]

Thanks Sulky, you know that could well be it, I've just checked and it was set to allow the computer to turn them off, it would explain why it is shutting them down after a few hours.
 
All I can think is for some reason something has changed my power saving settings? To my knowledge I haven't changed anything plus 90% of the time it is plugged in to the mains when in use and it's never done this in the time I've had it. Anyway thanks again, certainly worth a try before I go any further.

ETA - Well thanks Sulky (touchwood) that has sorted it, still not sure why it suddenly started doing it but thanks for all the help guys, cheers Gav

[sulky_uk]

how did you get on with the usb problem?

[Gav]

It seems fine now thanks Sulky, as said not sure why it suddenly started happening but after changing those power saving options it's cured it, thanks again