Hi, 

When was the last time did they work? Try doing a system restore??

To my knowledge the ports are not able to supply enough power to detect or read any storage devices. Does the Issue happens irrespective of charger connected or not?? 

Regards

They have always worked but stopped working a few days ago, no hardware additions and no new software has been made. Doesn't matter if the charger is connected or not. System restore makes no difference, although I don't have much choice of dates as I have a SSD. It seems to be a driver problem but if I try to reinstall this it fails. Not sure what you mean by the ports not having enough power, they will all charge devices such as mobile phones. I have just run the Dell diagnostic test and no problems were reported, although it did not mention the disabled Sandisk Cruzer pen drive which I left connected during the test.

As you mentioned the driver installatiion fails, do you mean it doesnt recognize the hardware , does it gives error during installation??

Regards

If I connect a USB flash drive, or portable HDD to any of the USB ports I get the connection sound. Then nothing happens. If I go to device manager I will see the drive with an error sign this shows error 10. If I search for drivers I get the message that the best driver is installed. I have tried to disable the drive, disconnect the device and reconnect again. This is when I get the error that the driver was not successfully installed. Same if I scan for hardware changes. None of the devices show in disk management either. My mouse works in all USB ports and my CD/DVD player is fine. I have tried connecting my mobile phone with a better lead and this is now working. The phone charges and I can see and copy the content.

Of the 4 USB pen drives I have, of different capacities, none of these work. They all used to and still work on my PC.

Suspecting possible hardware failure, Please PM us the system tag#. If the machine is under warranty, we will get the parts replaced.

I assume you mean the service tag, which is Service tag removed per privacy policy>

Hi, we see the machine is out of warranty, if you wish to go ahead with a chargeable repair do let us know.

Regards

In my original post I did mention that my laptop was 4 years old, so I didn't expect it to be in warranty. It depends on how much the repair would cost, how long it would take and if it could be done in the UK?

If it was just a matter of purchasing a part, perhaps I could fit this myself? I find it strange that the only ports which will no longer read USB flash drives or portable HDD's, are all the USB ports. These still charge my mobile and I can access files on there. All the other ports, including audio and network connector are fine. I don't use VGA, IEEE, card reader, or display port.

Hi ,

Though it might sound very hectic, but before going a head with repair, you can try formatting the system.

The right port is on a separate card and the left one is on motherboard. Motherboard replacement on any machine will be as costly as a new one.

Do let u know if you want to format the machine first.

Regards