USB Ports Ramdomly stop working

TimJ111,

What PC model? What operating system? What USB devices?

Hi Chris,  The PC is an Inspinon 530 purchased Nov 08.  It is running Visita.  The USB devices are a Web Camera, USB Memory sticks. 

DeLL-Chris M -

Do you know if the issue TimJ111 was having got resolved.  I am having a similiar problem with my Inspiron 530S running vista.  All USB ports simultaneously disconnect.  Rebooting is the only way to have then reconnect.

Hi, No I still have the problem.  I have up-dated the BIOS and Intel Chip as per the latest Dell up-dates, no effect.  I have changed the BIOS USB settings for the USB ports, no effect.  I have checked the USB hardware settings and all are set to 'remain on'.  I have to reboot to get them to work again.  The only USB ports that have not failed are the Keyboard and mouse - these always wrok!  I have raised the issue with Dell, but after running their hardware checks they say it is not there problem!!!!!  Let me know if you find a fix. 

I  know its a long time since the last post but I'm having the same issue with a vostro 1400 running windows xp with an intel core2duo.   My mouse and all 6 us b ports just stop. I reboot and its ok for a while.   I've updated both bios and chipset drivers.    I've checked that the device manager doesn't allow hibernation.  The device manager says the usb are functioning properly which they obviously aren't.  Starting to sound like a power mgt issue on the motherboard.

Anybody find a solution or get some help. ????

rftttt  - Have you checked USB port settings in Device Manager?

Disconnect all USB devices except mouse and keyboard. Then open Device Manager and expand the list under USB. Double-click on each Root Hub, one at a time, and click the Power Management tab. Make sure the box "All PC to turn off this device..." is NOT checked. When you're done reboot.

Ron

I checked all usb port settings in Device manager.    All the root hubs are set to Not hibernate under the power management tab.   I also tried reinstalling them all and that didn't seem to make a difference.   Its strange,  when the usb ports shut off,    the device manager continues to show they are operaating properly.

Thanks for suggestion.   Any more ?

Do you have a lot of power hungry USB devices connected to this PC? Open each USB root hub in Device Manager and click on Power tab. See how many mA are being used on each hub. If any are at, or close to, the limit of 500 mA, try moving some of the device cables to different USB ports to even out the load on the root hubs.

Power hungry USB devices like printers, cameras, scanners, should always be connected to rear USB ports which provide more power than front ports.

You can also try disconnecting as many USB devices as possible, and see if the problems disappears. If it does, then you may need an externallly powered USB hub with its own power brick to support some of your power hungry gadgets. Plug the hub into the wall and then connect it to a rear USB port. Plug the power hungry printer etc into the hub instead of directly into the PC.

Ron

THANK YOU SO MUCH! I have a toshiba satellite that had the same problem. By disabling "allow computer ... to save energy" and restarting now the usb ports all work. Thanks.

By the way, my computer was plugged in and all that, why did the computer still disabled the usb ports?