USB ports not working all of a sudden

[Chelly]

Hey guys, did a quick search and didn't find anything about this so made a thread.

My USB ports stopped working on me all of a sudden. They were working perfectly a couple days ago but now they aren't recognizing any devices.

I tried uninstalling them and reinstalling them via device manager but still no good.

Can anyone offer any help? Whatever information about my computer you need I will try to be as specific as I can.

Thanks again

[Komm Suesser Tod]

Something similar happened to me. I took it into Best Buy after I had similar results with fixing it myself. They couldn't find anything wrong with them, but they just didn't work, no matter what I did.

[Kriz]

I had a case similar to this where a machine stopped mounting USB devices plugged in- I don't recall if devices plugged in lit up or not, but in the end it turned out that the Power Supply was almost dead, and when I replaced it, they worked. Maybe that is the case here.

[Kryssan]

Plugged in any new devices lately? A USB hub on a computer is generally only capable of 500mA shared ~ you exceed that on current overdraw and they will shut themselves down. Most newer motherboards will shut the whole computer down to prevent damage from occurring. In Device Manager under the properties for the USB hubs you'll find a tab called Power check to make sure they are not drawing too much for a particular device.

[Mafai]

check the power settings on the USB controllers in Device manager, dont allow them to be turned off to save power (its the power management tab of each USB controller/hub)

[Chelly]

Hmmm, well I went into device manager and made sure that they wouldn't power down in order to save power but still no dice.

I'm thinking about taking it in to geek squad or another place called InfoTech near here.
This is really frustrating lol

hopefully I can find some kind of solution before I have to shell out any money for repairs.

[Effluo]

I'm thinking about taking it in to geek squad or another place called InfoTech near here.
This is really frustrating lol

DO NOT UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES LET GEEK SQUAD TOUCH YOUR COMPUTER!! Now that that's out of the way...

It could be a sign of a dying power supply as mentioned earlier, or it could be the USB ports on the board are dead, which means it's time for a new systemboard. If you have a custom built machine, systemboards aren't too expensive. But, if you have say an older HP or Gateway or other consumer PC, it could a little on the pricey side to replace the board.

The USB ports you're trying to use, are they the ones on the back of the board, near the ethernet port?

[Chelly]

Yea I have a custom built machine

As for the USB ports, its all 4 of them that are not functioning. I have 2 in the back near the ethernet port and 2 that are on the right side of my case

Apevia Blue X-Cruiser Case ATX Mid-Tower Case with Clear Side, Front USB, Audio and Firewire Ports XCRUISERBL at TigerDirect.com
this is the one I'm using, sans the color

[calinz]

My flatmate had the same problem several weeks ago. He called his parents to come pick up his computer for repairs and the day they came everything started working again.

I've had the same problem before too. I don't remember how or if I've fixed it or whether it was at a moment when I was changing computers so I didn't care as much.

Regardless, if you do find a working solution please post it so I know what to do myself if the problem arises ever again.

[Chelly]

Well, I went to InfoTech and spoke with their people

They told me that my power supply is probably dying as well, so I gotta look into getting a new motherboard.

Anyone have any knowledge over what motherboard I should look into?
I currently use an ASUS P5NSLI AI Lifestyle Series - motherboard - ATX - nForce 570 SLI Intel - LGA775 Socket

I'm not very knowledgeable with motherboards

[Ikith]

Well, I went to InfoTech and spoke with their people

They told me that my power supply is probably dying as well, so I gotta look into getting a new motherboard.

Anyone have any knowledge over what motherboard I should look into?
I currently use an ASUS P5NSLI AI Lifestyle Series - motherboard - ATX - nForce 570 SLI Intel - LGA775 Socket

I'm not very knowledgeable with motherboards

You shouldn't need a motherboard you should just need a power supply. If you replace the board and not the PSU the same problem will most likely replicate itself on the new board.

[Effluo]

Well, I went to InfoTech and spoke with their people

They told me that my power supply is probably dying as well, so I gotta look into getting a new motherboard.

Anyone have any knowledge over what motherboard I should look into?
I currently use an ASUS P5NSLI AI Lifestyle Series - motherboard - ATX - nForce 570 SLI Intel - LGA775 Socket

I'm not very knowledgeable with motherboards

Honestly, if you're happy with the current speed of your PC, this isn't a bad board. But, I would recommend trying a new Power Supply first. If you're not running something like a 600w+ SLI ready gaming PSU, it shouldn't cost much to replace. As Ikith said, if you replace the board, and not the PSU, you'll likely encounter the same problem, and now have two working boards, but no working Power Supply.

[Chelly]

Ahh I see then, in that case power supply shopping I go

or before that, gonna see if I can take my computer in somewhere and have them try out my pc with a different power supply to see if that helps.

thanks again for all your guys' help I appreciate it

[Chelly]

mini bump, so it turns out my problem was the motherboard after all and I need to have it replaced

however I have been told that replacing a motherboard means wiping your hard drive

another thing I have been told though is that if I replace my current motherboard with the exact same model/type then wiping the hard drive is unnecessary

is this true?

[Kaisha]

Only issue I'd see swapping a harddrive onto a new motherboard is ensuring the motherboard can take the kind (IDE/SATA, etc), and whether or not Windows is going to bitch to you about a 'major hardware change' and request you to revalidate your copy, as well as updating your drivers to reflect the new hardware.

Never heard anything about having to wipe a hard drive before. ;/

[Effluo]

mini bump, so it turns out my problem was the motherboard after all and I need to have it replaced

however I have been told that replacing a motherboard means wiping your hard drive

another thing I have been told though is that if I replace my current motherboard with the exact same model/type then wiping the hard drive is unnecessary

is this true?

You should never have to wipe your hard drive just because you are swapping boards. Yes, you may have some trouble getting it to boot because of missing drivers, and the occasional bad registry entry, but their are ways around it. You may be able to do an "In Place Upgrade" aka Repair Install and get it booting properly.

Another option is to buy a new hard drive, load your OS on it, and slave the old hard drive and use it primarily for storage. Also, if you get the same board you had, everything should work fine, barring a few strange things.