USB Ports Not Working

I tried the steps in link above and the screwdriver won't work it's too big. Annoying.

Either way I was able to figure out that it's a power issue as my music software didn't give me error messages in regard to the keyboard(which it does if it's not plugged in). When I plugged it into phone charger USB thingy it lit up. Unfortunately none of my stuff has option for external power source.

I also disabled the USB suspend and all that in power settings, nothing worked.

reply to post by OrphanApology


You can buy an active usb hub, the ones that come with their own power source, then you connect the hub to one port of your PC and plug in all your USB devices into this hub. You may experience speed drop when you run two external hard drives on the same channel but your devices will work again if the data bus is not damaged.

Those active USB hubs cost around 20-40€. I myself use the "Etekcity Premium 10 Port/USB3.0", for example.
How old is the laptop, eventually a motherboard swap will be a cheap solution, if you can do it yourself or know someone that can. I would go for the hub first because its nice to have one either way. If it does not work, then I would swap the mainboard after I made sure the 5V rail from the power supply of the laptop still works.

If you give us the model name, we can estimate what´s better. However, it´s also a money question.

reply to post by verschickter


It's an AMD HP Pavilion.

But at this point the laptop is getting old and I'm probably just going to wait until I can get/build another computer. I am probably just going to go with a desktop next time once I get some more dough(for gaming purposes). I might try and pick up a hub anyway, but that's because I tend to use a lot of music equipment that's pretty power intensive, it's probably better to have external power source either way.

Thanks for your help, I will keep my eye out for that hub you suggested.

Edit: Actually today, now it's not picking up the midi keyboard even. Oh well. The computer's old so I don't feel too bad but still.

verschickter
reply to post by OrphanApology
Plug the cable in and measure in direct current mode, there should be around 5V on those two. Now you know there is still voltage on the bus.

STOP!!!
Hi verschickter. Good advice up until this point. Direct current mode would short the supply! I think you meant DC voltage mode

reply to post by VoidHawk

Of course, good catch
it´s meant to be direct current voltage mode, thought voltage mode is obvious but you are right. I wrote it so she does not use AC (voltage) mode

reply to post by OrphanApology

Your could still plug in a USB card (PCIexpress/PCMCIA) into you lap, but if you think about buying a new PC soon, I would spare it

verschickter
reply to post by VoidHawk

 

Of course, good catch

it´s meant to be direct current voltage mode, thought voltage mode is obvious but you are right. I wrote it so she does not use AC (voltage) mode

reply to post by OrphanApology

 

Your could still plug in a USB card (PCIexpress/PCMCIA) into you lap, but if you think about buying a new PC soon, I would spare it

edit on 26-1-2014 by verschickter because: (no reason given)

I knew what you meant Just thought someone not familiar might link dc current with amps.

I believe your USB ports shouldn't have broken anything when it sparked because they are only given 5V. Try different Keyboards or mouse. I think it was only a coincidence when that happened. First unplug your computer completely and then hold the power button for 10 sec. and try it again. Now if nothing worked, check your motherboard for any burn marks and examine any wires leading to the USB ports. Don't see anything? It's probably a software problem.

Find some way to
1. Go to 'Control panel' (Windows key, use arrows to go to control panel) (May have to switch to large icons)
2. Go to 'System' (using the TAB key, when selected press ENTER)
3. Go to 'Device manager' (using the TAB key)
4. Now use the arrow keys to navigate to 'Universal Serial Bus controllers'

IF there is a USB controller displayed with awarning sign (or something else) you might have to turn it off and on again.

5. In the dropdown menu, hit enter when you select 'Disable', and 'Enable' the USB controller afterwards.

I'm sorry if we haven't helped you but all we know is there was a spark and they're not working. There could be 100s of things wrong. I'm sorry for your trouble.