Usb ports not working?

USB ports stopped working - wtf?

• I have a Dell laptop running XP (sp2) with two USB 2.0 ports that until yesterday were working fine. I made no system changes, but now the top one doesn't recognize anything and the bottom only works at USB1 speeds. Is this a hardware issue? This problem occurs among five or so different USB devices that I've tried, all of which work fine on other computers. The top port gives a "One of the USB devices attached to this computer has malfunctioned, and Windows does not recognize it." message whenever anything is attached - flash drive, iPod, printer, etc. The bottom port gives a "This device could perform faster" message and the devices will function only at USB1 speeds. The only thing I have that works properly in both ports is a PS2->USB converter hooked up to an old mouse. That works. I've tried removing all of the USB entries under Device Manager and letting the system re-detect them. No help. I also tried updating the drivers through device manager and applying every relevant driver/utility update I could find on Dell's site, including flashing the BIOS. No help. I booted into an Ubuntu live CD I had lying around and nothing seems to work there except the PS2->USB mouse, and then only in the lower port that gives USB1 speeds in Windows. Am I screwed? Have I ruled out software issues? Next steps? Am I going to have to carry around a stupid USB PCMCIA card for the rest of my life?

• Answer:

  Same problem, two different OSes? Yeah, it definitely sounds like hardware. Standard laptop checklist applies:Double-check the HW warranty to make sure you're not covered - Go to Dell's site, like, RIGHT now.Find the take-apart manual(Dell's website, or elsewhere).If the USB hardware is on a subboard, get Dell's Part number and see if you can get one from Dell, or off of eBay.If the USB is on the mainboard, see if you'd be comfortable doing a screen swap, and buying a broken-screen model off eBay.If you can afford it, find a similar laptop on eBay, buy it and sell yours for parts. If you don't qualify for the above, yeah. It's USB card time. I tried looking around for a USB PCMCIA card that was case flush, but didn't have any luck. Xircom made PCCard plugins like this, but is out of business.