I'm not sure if this is exactly where to put this, or if there's even anywhere on these forums for it, but just thought I'd ask. My USB ports have been shorting out as of late. My stick won't work anymore (or works very sporadically), and my mouse doesn't work anymore either. It had been working for awhile, but today it finally decided to laugh at me and just stop dead. I have a laptop and it has 4 USB ports. All are having the same problems. I've tried uninstalling all the ports and then restarting the computer, but that only works temporarily. Then we go through it all over again. I've even gone so far as to completely wipe and reinstall Windows on my computer, but this hasn't fixed the problem. As far as I can tell, I have all the latest drivers. So was just wondering if anybody had any ideas, cause I'm really at a loss. Thanks!

Hi Eagles's Wings:
The staff that are more pc savvy are on vacation...but someone should be around today or tomorrow...sorry about that.

Are you getting any error messages?

Please give us full specs of your pc...hope you have warranty...perhaps it should be taken to the dealer for an assessment.

That's okay. And no, I don't have warranty anymore. It expired last year...figures. Here are the specs:

Intel Pentium M Processor 1.73 GHz
.99 GB RAM
Windows XP Home Edition SP2
100 GB Hard drive

Or at least that's all I can think of. Let me know if there's anything else you need to know.

Make; Model?

Heh-heh. I knew that, really. :)

Laptop
HP Pavilion dv4170us

ah, Lappy; well our resident expert for laptops, TheSentinel is away presently.

Never experienced that problem even on old HP laptop so what I can find searching around is it is likely a hardware problem and you might want to get it tested out.

Sorry not to be of more help.

That's okay. Do you know when Sentinel's going to be back? And I was hoping it wasn't a hardware problem, but at the same time was afraid it was. :(

Guess I'll have to look into what to do if that is the case. Thanks for your help! :)

Soon

Hi Eagle's Wings


sorry for replying a bit late but I've been on vacation. I know about that problem cause one of my computers went the same way like yours. I could figure out that I'd used the USB device too much and the system couldn't handle such drives any longer. The following program did help me by removing all USB devices which had been used in the past. After I did remove all entries giving the system a new chance to find USB hardware new, the problem was solved:



More to be read here:
http://gladiator-antivirus.com/forum/index...showtopic=53248

Greetz
BU

Thanks so much, Sentinel! This is awesome. I'll be trying it as soon as I get home. Certainly haven't seen this solution anywhere else. Will be sure to hang onto it for future reference! :)

My ports stopped working again. I used that program you said, and they've been working great ever since. Which that was four days ago. But this morning they quit again. I uninstalled all the ports again and now they're working, again, but this is the same thing I'd been doing with Device Manager previously. I'm not sure how to use the program, really. Is there something specific I need to do with it? Thanks!

Hi Eagle's Wings

Well thats boring now. This trick did work in nearly all told situations like this one. Have a question. You mentioned 4 USB ports on your notebook. Do you use em all simultanously? My goal: What happens if using (=testing) each port one after another for one week? Does the problem show up again or what else does happen? Please tell us. Meanwhile I'll check similar problems at work and/or at Tech communities.

Regards
Bubba

Heh, sorry! It's working at the moment, as usually a restart solves the problem, but that could get extremely annoying, seeing as on bad days they can shut out about every ten minutes. Anyway...yeah, I have 4 ports. But I never use more than two at a time, and normally only one for my mouse. So what exactly do you want me to test? Try only one a day or something, and switch 'em around? I can try that. Oh, hey...what do you know? The mouse just cut out again. :| There, now I've switched ports, and it worked for about 30 seconds, now it's off again. Another port...no response. The last port...same. But if I had used any of those by themselves (without letting the original short out) it would have worked fine. At least until it decided to die. Not sure if that gives you any insight, but just let me know!

Ok Eagle'S Wings :)

had some discussions about your strange USB problem with my workmates. One of them suggested to blow out all USB ports with compressed air cause there must stuck somethin causing these short cuts. He also suggested to have a look at the USB connectors of your devices and USB sticks, if there's stucking something like smaller wool or textile balls.....

Replies from other Tech communities are still open.... but try this first

Regards
B. Udo

Okay, thanks. Will try that! Didn't even think about it before you mentioned it. :)

Okay, I just sprayed out the ports with compressed air (didn't get around to buying any until now). Guess will see if that does anything! Will let you know.

Well they quit working again. I just have no idea what it could be. I have two wireless mice. And it seems that if I switch between them (after uninstalling the ports), the computer lasts for awhile on each one, eventually rejecting them in turn. It happens with my travel drives, too. It's like it becomes immune to each item over and over again. Every time it recognizes an item, it starts rejecting it faster and faster each time I plug it in until it no longer recognizes it at all. And this cycles throughout the four ports. Like I can insert it in each one of them in turn, as it rejects it around the board, and each time I plug it into a different port, it rejects it faster as I rotate around.

If that makes any sense. But I thought just having some sort of idea of a pattern might help with the diagnosis. *shrugs* Just a thought!

Heya Eagle's Wings

Doesn't make me happy to read that all . Just to be sure that there aren't any kind of 'Badies' lets check our HJT experts (the best ones IMHO) your system, kay?

Please follow the instructions here:

READ THIS FIRST (HJT rules)

then post your HijackThis log in

HELP! Think you are Infected? forum and our experts will give you recommendations what to do.

Regards
B. Udo

PS: I'm not the one givin up soon

Okay, I'll run it by them. I've already reinstalled Windows, but will see what they say anyway. You never know. :)