Are my laptop's USB ports toast?

[nsafreak]

I have a Mythos Apollo laptop, basically a rebadged Clevo laptop (D47EV) that I've had this issue with but I just can't seem to fix. If I plug in any device into the USB ports Windows (XP SP3) comes up with the dialog of "USB Hardware Not Recognized" no matter what the device is if it's a mouse or a USB stick. There seems to be voltage coming off the ports as I can plug in a USB lamp and it lights up. I've tried going into safe mode and removing all of the USB devices along with the controller and hubs from the device manager and then rebooting into normal mode. It finds the AVermedia TV USB 2.0 that's built in to the laptop along with the webcam along with the controller but it still will not recognize any devices hooked into the USB ports. Any ideas?

 

[Matt1970]

USB ports can be tricky sometimes. You can try disabling them in the bios, boot Windows with them disabled, then enable them again and see what happens. Another trick is to disconnect the power to the PC, hold down the power button to for a good 30 seconds to discharge the PWR SUPPLY and see if that does the trick.

 

[nsafreak]

Well I tried the enable then disable them method and that didn't do anything. I tried removing the battery & making sure all power was drained and that didn't do anything either. I also tried booting from a Mint Linux DVD and interestingly enough while it was booting I had a USB optical mouse plugged into the USB port and it delivered an error message that there was an over-voltage condition on that port. I'm not sure if there are any fixes at this point since it does seem to be hardware related and I don't know if updating the BIOS will help at all. I thought of updating the BIOS actually but I can't find a download for the BIOS at all so I'm not sure if I have the latest BIOS for this laptop or not.

 

[nsafreak]

Any other suggestions?

 

[denis280]

Theys could be. But try a CMOS first wont hurt.

 

[RU482]

I have a Mythos Apollo laptop, basically a rebadged Clevo laptop (D47EV) that I've had this issue with but I just can't seem to fix. If I plug in any device into the USB ports Windows (XP SP3) comes up with the dialog of "USB Hardware Not Recognized" no matter what the device is if it's a mouse or a USB stick. There seems to be voltage coming off the ports as I can plug in a USB lamp and it lights up. I've tried going into safe mode and removing all of the USB devices along with the controller and hubs from the device manager and then rebooting into normal mode. It finds the AVermedia TV USB 2.0 that's built in to the laptop along with the webcam along with the controller but it still will not recognize any devices hooked into the USB ports. Any ideas?

interesting. A friend of mine running an older C2D dell laptop just encountered the same problem. wonder if a Windows update could be to blame?

 

[nsafreak]

Theys could be. But try a CMOS first wont hurt.

Looking through the manual for this laptop I don't see a clear CMOS jumper but there is a BIOS battery. I guess I'll try removing both the laptop battery and the CMOS battery, let it sit for around 30 minutes then put them back in and see what happens.

 

[nsafreak]

Well I pulled the main battery and the CMOS battery and let it sit for 30 minutes then I put them back in. That did reset the CMOS but it didn't fix the problem. Other ideas are welcome but I'm guessing at this point that the ports are toast.

 

[2canSAM]

The over voltage error is interesting. Do you have a voltmeter and a usb cable you can hack apart to verify voltage?

 

[nsafreak]

The over voltage error is interesting. Do you have a voltmeter and a usb cable you can hack apart to verify voltage?

I have a cable I can hack apart but I don't have a voltmeter sitting around. Still it wouldn't be a bad thing to have even if it doesn't help me fix this problem. Does it need to be a pretty accurate one or will a decent one do?

 

[Slammy1]

Are you getting functionality outside Windows (one example would be a bootable flash drive)?

Sorry to suggest it, I'm sure you've tried, but reinstall the chipset drivers to be thorough. I've seen that fix weird USB issues though this seems more extreme.

 

[nsafreak]

Are you getting functionality outside Windows (one example would be a bootable flash drive)?

Sorry to suggest it, I'm sure you've tried, but reinstall the chipset drivers to be thorough. I've seen that fix weird USB issues though this seems more extreme.

Nope, no functionality outside of Windows either which has me leaning towards the USB ports being toast although its interesting that other internal devices (the webcam & TV capture card) that use the USB bus are fine just not the ports. If I find a more recent BIOS for my laptop would it be worthwhile flashing it? Also I'd try installing newer chipset drivers but so far I haven't found anything newer or even the current ones so that I could re-install.

 

[nsafreak]

One last bump then I guess I'll just consider the ports toast.

 

[ericlp]

If you plug in a mouse and get the red led to light up, then you are getting power. Your controller is toast or something is shorted. Get a flashlight maybe something is jammed in the ports? Use some compressed air and blow em out really good.

Other wise looks like FUBAR!