Why Have My USB Ports Stopped Responding??

Right now my PC does not recognize either USB port, and that means my memory card reader and printer cannot be used.

I went into start>settings>control panel>system and saw no error messages.

A few days ago I ran a disk cleanup program, and it MAY have caused this; I am not certain when they were last working.

I made no changes in the devices and their conections were and are secure.

Any idea as to a solution?? Thanks to those who can help.

 

>> remove the usbs from the device manager & restart windows, <<

Done - removed, both of them. Restarted. No change. Nothing.

Tried "Add New Hardware Wizard". Nothing. Tried adding manually, with no success.

Memory card reader is getting power as it lights when inserted.

I still do not know why this suddenly occured (see above speculation).

Ideas?

 

The printer disc (a Canon), and the memory card reader (Zio!) disc, I assume. I can find them both. . . and we shall see, later.

Sigh.

 

Exactly how do I unistall the old ones, assuming that is needed?

I saw a techy. More consultations later. Techy said to first try to install USB drivers.

I tried a lot of things including going into the Add New Hardware Wizard and manual trying to add drivers for the USB stuff. I tried them all. Nope. Everything seems to be working according to what it says, but the stuff connected to the USB ports is not recognized by the PC.

Next up? Trying to reinstall the software, and or drivers, from the manufacturers' disc (if I can find it); or, I can usually download drivers from their sites. I will do that and consult back with the techy.

It might also be a screwup in the registry which will have to be altered manually. According to the techy. Maybe. I don't know. But formating the HD and reinstalling Windows is NEVER going to happen as it will WIPE the HD. I do not need the USB ports that bad, and I can find options to deal with my photo memory cards, such as having prints made ar convenience stores or going to a photo place and having a disc made. Temporary options, as this is not a new PC and I will have to get a new one in several months.

Anyway, that is where I stand right now.

Any clarifications from you would be welcome, before I procede. I will get back to you as time permits.

Thanks for any help.

 

Lots of advice often confuses. So I thought I'd add my pennies worth - as I am a techie.

OK

1. Does the USB device you are using actually work on another PC.

2. You haven't played with the Bios as on some PCs you can turn off the USB in the Bios.

3. In the Device Manager Uninstally all of the USB hubs - basically everything in the USB hub section. You right click on the device and unistall.

4. Restart Windows - it will then discover all of the relevant hubs and reload the relevant drivers automatically. Win 9x you may need the OS disk - of course NT doesn't support USB.

5. Finally, if that still doesn't work, check the motherboard connections, depending on the type of USB depends whether it is integrated, or has wires to the motherboard.

6. If still a problem, then I guess it is more serious, though to test, try a DOS product which supports a USB mouse, such as GHOST to eliminate Windows.

7. you could always buy/borrow a PCI USB card - £10 and plug it into a spare slot.

 

I thought you all might like to know I found a far simpler solution: I took it to a techy and paid him $40.

He said some file had somehow been corrupted preventing the PC from recognizing the USB ports, which have worked normally for weeks. He corrected or replaced the file.

I should have done that in the first place and saved myself over three hours of aggravation.

Thanks anyway.