Sorry if this has been asked before, but Search is not too fond of three-letter words.
I have WinXP Pro, SP2 on a fairly new desktop PC (built January 05). Yesterday I noticed that none of my USB ports are working anymore. I have the following devices that I connect using either the front or back USB ports:
(1) Printer - back port
(2) Zen Micro - synchs using front port
(3) 4-in-1 card reader
Now, everything was fine until yesterday. Things were printing, I could upload music to the Zen Micro, and download pictures to the PC using the card reader. Yesterday I tried charging the Zen Micro via the USB port and…nothing. It told me it was charging, but in reality, it wasn’t (I left it charging for 4 hours and it never went beyond one bar). Also, even if it’s plugged in, neither the Zen Media Explorer nor WMP 10 could see it.
I also tried downloading pictures off my CF card via the card reader–the PC can’t even see the CF card. I also tried a USB flash drive–nothing.
To be sure, I charged the Zen Micro on my laptop and it worked. I checked my CF card on my camera, and it worked as well.
I haven’t added anything recently–everything’s been status quo. But it just looks like the USB ports died. Firewire still seems okay (it recognizes my camcorder).
I’ve tried going into Device Manager and Uninstalling the USB devices (and then running “Detect New Hardware”) to force a bus reset, but nothing happened.
It may be that the USB controller is knackered, but it’s worth checking that something hasn’t just come loose inside the machine - if the back ports you’re talking about are in a ‘slot’, rather than near the keyboard connectors, then it could be that both front and back ports are connected to a single bus; open the case and have a look - if the USB ports are on a PCI card, try reseating it (turning off and unplugging the PC first, plus taking care to follow antistatic precuations etc).
Failing that, it could still be a device driver problem; two possible ways to diagnose this:
Try what you did in the device manager, but uninstall everything in the USB devices category, in fact do this first:
Click Start>Run and type **cmd ** <enter>
Type SET_DEVMGR_SHOW_NONPRESENT_DEVICES=1 <enter> (don’t put any spaces in that, even around the = sign or it just won’t work)
Type start devmgmt.msc <enter> - the device manager applet will open
Click View>Show Hidden Devices
Uninstall everything in the USB devices category (which now might include some greyed-out entries that aren’t plugged in right now)
Reboot
The other possibility is to do a system restore back to last week; if this works, then we’re almost certainly not looking at a physical hardware problem.
Manduck, yes, unfortunately, all too often. I’m about to tear my hair out (what’s left of it, at least), doing the reboot/Safe Mode/Standard Mode/Check BIOS Settings shuffle.
Mangetout, I did perform the System Restore to a point that was two weeks ago, back when the PC and I were still friends. I’ll try the device driver and the hardware thing when I get back from work. I have a sinking feeling something got fried, maybe by a power surge or something. No burnt smells from inside, though.
Well, I tried that–didn’t seem to work. I plugged in another MP3 player, and the screen is insisting that it’s connected, but Explorer doesn’t show my device. It’s like it’s drawing power, but it’s not communicating itself to the machine.
Looks like the USB controller got fried? I’ll keep trying…
Just to be sure you did the same thing as I, you opened up your computer and moved a little jumper next to the battery, left it there for a few seconds, then moved it back, right?
I plugged in another MP3 player, and the screen is insisting that it’s connected, but Explorer doesn’t show my device. It’s like it’s drawing power, but it’s not communicating itself to the machine.