USB ports stop working

[Rich T]

I am having continual problems with USB ports stopping working at random.
Sometimes it is the port itself, so swapping the accessory to another port
fixes the problem. But sometimes the accessory itself seems to stop as
whichever port it is plugged into it does not work. Usually the problem
randomly fixes itself a few days later.

But this afternoon, for no apparent reason, my mouse stopped working. Then
all other USB accessories stopped working, including the keyboard.

I have spent all day trying to fix the problem - not having a mouse makes
everything very difficult. After multiple hard resets (ie pull the plug
out!) and reboots, I managed to get the keyboard to work. After figuring out
how to navigate using just a keyboard I managed to use device manager to
uninstall various USB dirvers, and after rebooting endlessly (and why is
Vista so slow to boot?) I finally managed to get a mouse to work (not my
usual Microsoft optical mouse - but the original Dell Mouse). It only works
on one port - if I plug it into any other ports it will not work. I can't
get any other accessories to work. My Microsoft mouse does not work in the
port where the Dell mouse works.

How can I fix this? I wouild guess there is some major problem with the USB
drivers, but I can't identify in device manager which USB hub driver to
delete. And I don't want to delete the driver that is controlling the mouse
by accident as it took about five hours work this afternoon just to get
mouse back.

I have already googled and installed all the USB cumulative hot fix for
Vista USB problems, and this seemed to have fixed some of the earlier
problems I was having, but unfortunately my optimism proved false...

[Pete]

Really sounds like hardware.

Root Hubs have current draw limitations ( 500 mA ) and the controller
has a limited amount of bandwidth. Many USB devices can be called
"Heavy Demand" types and overloads may simply cause all devices on
the Root Hub to stop working. The OS is supposed to issue warnings
when overloads occur but this doesn't always happen. This problem is
more common on motherboards with a single Enhanced ( USB 2.0 )
controller. It doesn't take very many devices to overload in this setup.

[the wharf rat]

I had *exactly* the same problem. After a week of trying new
devices (including a midnight trip to walmart when I was convinced my
mouse had died...) and driver upgrades downgrades and rollbacks I found
a bios setting for USB 2.0 voltage: low med hi and maximum. I set it to
maximum and voila! no more problems...

Turn on legacy USB support in BIOS, reinstall your motherboard drivers.
Do it in that order to see if it fixes the problem.

[AlexB]

Make sure there are such files in this folder:

Directory of C:\Windows\Inf
angelusb.inf angelusb.PNF
irstusb.inf irstusb.PNF
stusb2ir.inf stusb2ir.PNF
usb.inf usb.PNF
usbccid.inf usbccid.PNF
usbcir.inf usbcir.PNF
usbport.inf usbport.PNF
usbprint.inf usbprint.PNF
usbstor.inf usbstor.PNF
usbvideo.inf usbvideo.PNF
wceusbsh.inf wceusbsh.PNF
wdma_usb.inf wdma_usb.PNF
winusb.inf winusb.PNF
26 File(s) 1,113,306 bytes
3 Dir(s) 53,645,410,304 bytes free
[usbhub]

Make sure there are such drivers:
Directory Windows\System32\drivers\
usb8023.sys USBAUDIO.sys
USBCAMD.sys USBCAMD2.sys
usbccgp.sys usbcir.sys
usbd.sys usbehci.sys
usbhub.sys usbohci.sys
usbport.sys usbprint.sys
USBSTOR.SYS usbuhci.sys
14 File(s) 857,472 bytes

In one of my Vistas 6 files were missing in the first directory and one
driver in second.

Although I fixed that it did not resolve the story completely. I had this
problem for many years in XP and then in Vista.

What I ended up doing after a person from another forum suggested me to do
was to purchase a Belkin Internal 5-Port USB PCI card. He purchased
Belkin's. I did not quite trust the maker but went for his pointer. It
resolved the eissue completely. I removed a firewire PCI card in the back
that I never used and plugged in Belkin. It isntalled itself and I've never
had any problems since.

This card and similar cards by other makers allow for the 5-th USB port to
be engaged. It is not exposed to the elements. It faces the internals of the
computer. However, if you have a floppy you do not need you can buy another
External USB card (not PCI) and mount it up front ripping off the floppy
drive. Thus you will have 8 fully functional USB ports and they will all
work.

I did it on 2 machines so far. I do not need to use the 5th, internal port.
I now have plenty.

[wasatchpowder]

I came back from vacation and all of my USB ports had quit working.
I had left my computer running the whole time.
I found a solution that worked for me.
It seems if the USB port gets a power spike it can cause the USB port
to quit working.

Shutdown your desktop and unplug the power cord for 5 minutes and then
restart.

[Chuck]

The same thing can occur on various P/Cs due to BIOS settings, or an
outmoded BIOS version.

laptop hp pavilion dv5-1110el, vista home premium (sp1, x86, ita), 4gb
ram ddr2 800mhz, geforce 9600m gt 512mb (forceware 175.86, 1280x800
desktop).

Something is fishy about display resolution.

For GeForce 512MB dedicated VDRAM, why is it only 1280x800?

I have an old HP with GeForceMobile 256MB and 17" display's native res is
1440x900 which is where it's been set by factory.
But you seem to be stting res too low. I would imagine you rdisplay is also
not too small based on HP part# and memory size.

[matsbjork]

Worked for me too.
Computer : Sony Vaio VGN FW21e

Problem;
My mouse among some other things stopped working but the external drives
still worked.

My solution;
* removed the power cord
* removed the battery
* drank some coffee
* "reassembled" the stuff
* started the computer
* stopped crying