USB ports not working

Zombiemambo

This has been a long-time issue but I haven't really felt like tackling it until now. Basically, all the USB ports on my PC don't seem to work. I checked the BIOS (it's an ASUS motherboard, if that helps), and they're all on...as well as legacy and USB 2.0. Not really sure what to do now.

I'm running Windows XP, Core 2 Duo 3.0 Ghz, 2gb of RAM.

MoSiAc

Does any thing show up in device manager when you plug it into the usb ports? Have you make sure to intsall all the drivers for your motherboard in windows?

bowen

Are the ports you're using specifically USB 1.0/1.1 format? Some PCs have the front ports set up as 1.0/1.1. If they're on the back, they should definitely be 2.0

Zombiemambo

I'm using only the back ports, and at one point they accepted USB 2.0. Not really sure what happened.

MoSiAc: I actually haven't checked that recently, but if I recall correctly they show up as a question mark. I'll try it tomorrow and see what happens.

Zombiemambo

Sorry to raise this from the dead.

I played around with my USB mouse. Currently it's attached through a USB converter, which works, but if I put it directly into a USB port it doesn't. The mouse still shows up in the device manager (and also shows up when it isn't installed). I tried uninstalling the drivers and rebooting to see what would happen, but nothing changed.

SiliconStew

Assuming you don't have any USB Root Hubs or Host Controllers showing up with that yellow question mark indicating no drivers, you can try disabling the power management on them.

Go to Device Manager -> USB Controllers and open the properties for each USB Root Hub device. Go to the Power Management tab and uncheck the option to Allow the Computer to Turn Off the Device.

chasm

What do you do if your USB root hub is showing the yellow question mark? Is my 4 1/2 year-old Acer finally experiencing a hardware failure? It recognizes my mouse and one of my external HDDs, but not the other.

ransim

I actually had three of four USB ports on my old machine that had an Abit board go dead on me, as in, broken.

I solved that by just getting a hub, though I never did actually figure out why they died.

But don't discount that they may have just finally bit the dust.

Zombiemambo

"Finally" is not the right word, as this PC is about 2 years old.

I tried disabling power management, which was on, but the devices still don't work.

chasm

I think ransim was addressing me.