USB ports dont work

S

Smurfatefrog

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I'm trying to sort out my mother's PC, it got sent to some guy to sort out "some programs that were hanging" and it came back with the USB ports not working

I've looked around and the 2 common fixes I've come across are:
1) USB has been disabled in the BIOS.
I cant find a setting for it in there?

2) Delete the USBs from the device manager & reboot so windows re-installs them
They dont show at all in the device manager

I also did a fresh instal of Windows without any luck

What else can i try?

System: XP Pro>SP2, Phoenix bios V6.00PG
 
You're all assuming that the problem lays with software and not with a blown USB controller or something similar.
 
Any easy ways to find out the motherboard version? Its not on the actual board & i got a program to do it but it needs the internet which is impossible seeing as I'm on VC & need the USB ports to connect.
I'm taking it back to my mother this afternoon though, so hopefully she has the original disc with drivers and can try update there via dial up
 
I once managed to get unresponsive USB ports up and running by doing the following…..

In Device manager, expand Universal Serial Bus controllers.
Open properties for USB Root Hub entries.
On the Power Management tab, deselect Allow the computer to turn off this device to save power.
 
Thanks, but this is the "progress"

I got the motherboard disc that came with the PC & the "Install USB drivers" just gave a text file telling you to go to device manager, then i found some installation files on the disc which referred to USB, installed those but nothing

The device manager still doesnt show Universal Serial Bus Controllers at all :(

Can it be anything other then a hardware problem or that they not connected to the board somehow. Cant understand how its the front & back ports though :confused:
 
Did you manage to find out the make/model of the motherboard - if it's a Gigabyte, try going onto the BIOS and hit CTRL + F1 - this will give you the hidden "advanced features" - try and find the USB options from there and see if they are enabled. Is the USB memory set to "base 640K"?

Alternatively, turn everything off, unplug, remove the BIOS battery, if your board has a CLEAR CMOS bridge then bridge it, leave for 5 mins, remove the bridge, replace the BIOS battery, plug in the power and power up - you should get a CMOS error, go into the BIOS and re-enable your settings as needed. Save settings and reboot into the O/S
 
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Its a Foxconn, cant remember the model but its on the disc (left everything at my mothers now though)

Your 2nd paragraph is over my head Howard

Think I'm just going to phone the guy who stuffed it up & tell him to sort it out
 
howardb said:
Did you manage to find out the make/model of the motherboard - if it's a Gigabyte, try going onto the BIOS and hit CTRL + F1 - this will give you the hidden "advanced features" - try and find the USB options from there and see if they are enabled. Is the USB memory set to "base 640K"?

Alternatively, turn everything off, unplug, remove the BIOS battery, if your board has a CLEAR CMOS bridge then bridge it, leave for 5 mins, remove the bridge, replace the BIOS battery, plug in the power and power up - you should get a CMOS error, go into the BIOS and re-enable your settings as needed. Save settings and reboot into the O/S
Click to expand...

good advice ther .I think taking the cell out is the fastest option
 
ok, a continuation of this....
I ended up giving it back to my mother with a PS2 mouse. Now its back here but doesnt boot up, it gets the the motherboard screen which is all garbled & just stays there

Does this mean the board is toast, or what else can i check?
 
When you boot up press Pause/Break, that will give you time to see what model the board is.
You won't find or need drivers for USB with XP, it will already have them in the OS, so it sounds like the ports are blown, and most likely why the PC was BSOD in the first place with the southbridge starting to give in.
 
Maybe the capacitors on your mobo are dead (sometimes they leak). Alternatively maybe some smarta$$ short-circuited a USB port.
 
Smurfatefrog said:
ok, a continuation of this....
I ended up giving it back to my mother with a PS2 mouse. Now its back here but doesnt boot up, it gets the the motherboard screen which is all garbled & just stays there

Does this mean the board is toast, or what else can i check?
Click to expand...

What if any POST beeps does it give. Does it have onboard VGA? You can test further by swopping out a working CPU.
Not that it would really matter anyway that board sounds like its had it.
 
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