Usb Port Suddenly Stopped Working?

[vjmca]

HI
can anyone please give me some advice as to how to fix a usb drive that suddenly stopped working on my home pc? I was able to use my digital camera etc before but now it only reads my memory stick/key drive! this indicates the ports still working it just wont pick up my camera, my usb photo frame and other hardware i hve tried it out on! any advice greatly appreciated!
Thanks

[JohnnyReb51]

Hi vjmca.

Welcome to The Scream!

Have you checked Device Manager, to see if there are any conflicts in there, under the USB controllers. Sometimes a driver will go haywire and will show it as not installed in D/Manager, usually accompanied by a Yellow Question ? mark.

[vjmca]

EMM how can i access the device manager?? the problem now seems to be more to do with the hardware i am plugging in. my camera is not recognised on my computer but i plug it in a friends laptop and it works fine! the same with the scanner?? and its not the usb socket cos i borrowed a friends camera and at worked perfectly on my computer!!!
serious help needed!!

[JohnnyReb51]

Hiya.

You can access Device Manager by right clicking on your My Computer icon on the desktop and selecting Properties from the menu, then click on the Hardware tab > Device Manager. Or press the Windows key + Pause/Break key together, on your Keyboard to open it.

I had a similar problem a couple of weeks ago and spent 4 days trying to solve it, nothing worked for me until I found this simple fix....

Close down the PC completely and unplug the Mains lead from the wall socket, unplug any USB devices connected to the PC.

When you have done that, press in the Power button on the front of the PC and hold it in for a minimum of 1 minute.

After you have done that, leave the PC alone for about 45 minutes.

When the 45 minutes is up, reconnect the mains lead, connect the USB devices and turn the PC on.

You may laugh, but it fixed my problem and I was surprised after 4 days of trashing my Registry, trying different Drivers, different Fixs, of which none worked.

[jzt]

Wow...several years later but it still works in fixing the suddenly non-working usb ports. After 2 days of going crazy (i'm leaving the country in 2 days and really need my notebook in top form) and trying everything I could think of or find online to try on my vista notebook I came across this and thought what the heck....I didn't think it made any sense but I held the button down for a minute then went an put up christmas decorations for a couple of hours and when I came back it was all fixed and working fine....it's crazy but it worked.

[JohnnyReb51]

Hi jzt.

Welcome to The Scream!.

Its good to know it helped someone.

[Daniel_crazy]

It´s unbelievable but the JohnnyReb51´s solution worked for me too! I´m still astonished!
Good luck for the next
Regards

[JohnnyReb51]

Hi Daniel_crazy.

Welcome to The Scream!

Glad the solution helped.

[libitina]

Thanks for this fix, its just saved me a fortune and made my little girls very happy, this happened to the laptop, and despite everything i couldnt get it too work so i left it hoping for inspiration and it came in the form of the above fix. Thanks

[Jim N]

And yet again -thanks for this. All the other help from the Net for similar problems seemed really complex and this seemed like snake medicine, but for someone who knows little about computers I couldn't see that it could do any harm. And it worked for me as well. Is this some form of mysterious reset?
For no reason at all, except that I had just plugged in a scanner to a USB port, all the ports stopped working except for the scanner and the printer - just the message "unknown device", and following the help menu got me "recommend that you change your device" (!). Thanks again.

[JohnnyReb51]

A belated Hi to libitina / Hi to Jim N.

Glad it helped out.

I think what it does, is drains the system of electricity that is stored on the Motherboard and probably resets the USB controller. Thats my theory anyway, if it works, then thats all that really matters, lol.

[jeeptec]

JohnnyReb, Your my HERO! My rear usb ports became inactive but my front ports still worked. I thought this was kinda weird but whatever. I tried everything, Uninstalling and reinstalling drivers, disabled the usb controllers and let windows config them. I was just about to do a windows clean install which has fixed this before but is just too darn time consuming. and came across your post. I DID laugh at first but I had to try.
Unpluggged all usb devices- unplugged power to computer- held pwr button for just over a minute- went and ate dinner and showered.
Plugged in usb stuff and powered puter up and OMG it works.
THANK YOU 1000000000 times. All other techies should ask JohnnyReb 1st.

[JohnnyReb51]

Hi jeeptec.

Welcome to The-Scream!.

Glad it solved your problem.

absolue legend! how did you think of that, was trying everything and couldnt work out why it has stopped and how to fix. But followed your instructions and 'bobs your uncle' my computer is not back online and accepting all usb's again!! woohoo cheers again Stuart