My USB ports have stopped working

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They started acting up yesterday and just stopped working today.
When I connect a usb stick or my mobile internet modem, it just says that it's not functioning properly or that there is no drive installed. I've tried uninstalling them and then rebooting but that didn't work.
I don't know much about computers so I would really appreciate some help!

Ok so now I have done a recovery. Didn't help.
Also even before I did the recovery the sound of video was far too fast. Even when I played something on VLC. I have no idea what is going on.

Last edited by Salome on 20 Nov 2012, 8:14 pm, edited 1 time in total.

I'm assuming that you're using windows. Right click on 'My Computer', then click the device manager button. Look up "USB Host" or "USB Controllers". if there is a small yellow triangle with an exclamation point next to the icon for this, it means you need to uninstall the driver for it, and reinstall from your Windows Disc.

Nope no triangle.

Sounds like a hardware problem to me. Unless of course you're using Windows 8 which seems to be unable to communicate with quite a few device drivers. You really might want to go to a PC repair shop and have them do a physical(electronic) test of your USB interface. If there's no yellow warning triangle then the driver is installed but your operating system is not detecting any devices attached to your USB drive.

What happens if you take it out, wait 5 sec, then put the gadget into a DIFFERENT USB port?

If you have Windows I recommend looking up Microsoft fix it and testing out any possible troubleshooters that apply to you. This is usually not a permanent fix, you may have to reuse it multiple times, until you are able to find a permanent solution.

Call up Rent-a-Geek and get it fixed.

ruveyn

I like you so I'm biting my tongue!

I do have a friend who works with computers. He is going to help me but I was hoping to fix it myself.
I think I'm screwed though! Sometimes the screen goes mad and acts sort of like you would think a fax would look like if you see what I mean.

replace the card and replace the ports. It is cheap enough to do. This way you don't have to find out why your hardware has failed you. You just get rid of the hardware.

ruveyn

I know it may seem trivial, but using a different port makes the PC have to "think" about it a touch more... especially if it's on a different set. USB ports on a desktop are done in pairs, one on top of the other. Choosing a different "pair" like from the front of the machine to the back causes it to go through USB1,2,3 on the mainboard. If one is blown, the others may still be working.

Worst case, if it's a desktop you can get a cheap USB card and install that yourself for less money than paying a technician to do anything.


Of course, it could be those USB gadgets themselves that are dead. IF your keyboard/mouse are USB and still working that's likely the case.

You have a secondary computer to experiment with? Or a friend/work computer?

No this one is it It's a mini computer with 2 GB ram and 120 memory so it's not exactly a power machine

I have tried all the different ports it's the first thing I do. I think there is something very wrong with my computer. As I said before the screen is acting up as well.

A friend of mine has offered to build me a computer from some spare parts that he has laying around but I have no idea how long that would take.

Again - what are your keyboard and mouse plugs? Round green & purple PS/2 plugs or USB?

Don't have any. It's a laptop and I use the keyboard on the computer and the touch pad.

Well, you have the option of either,

a) Fixing any software conflicts if that's the case,
b) purchase a PC Card which will give you 2 or 3 USB ports,
c) Reinstalling the operating system or using the factory refresh and hope it's a software problem not hardware.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16839158032
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16839150035
^^ Just a couple examples of cards you can get. With or without things sticking out, USB2 or even the newer, faster USB3.

When you plug something into the USB port, does it do ANYTHING? Like try searching but failing, the ding-dong noise of Windows recognizing you've plugged something in?

WTF! Not you BlueMax, my computer! I just tried plugging in the modem again and now all the sudden it works! I guess some of the software I downloaded of Samsung yesterday worked.