Two USB ports not working

Wiegraf · 24 Jun 2013

Hello! I have a bit of a problem. I have an Acer Aspire 5733Z-4633 and upon receiving it, I reinstalled Windows 7 to get rid of all the bloatware and useless things that were taking up space on the hard drive. Upon doing this, two out of three of my USB ports stopped working for some reason. When I look at Device Manager, it says everything is up to date:

I didn't really care about this, considering I had the one that did work. By a stroke of horrible luck though, that USB stopped working too (completely a hardware problem though, no software involved with that breaking. I plugged something in and it literally ripped something out of the USB after I took the plug out). Now, I have these two USB ports that really should work, but they don't. I am almost certain that they worked fine before I reinstalled windows, so that rules out a problem with the hardware. But everything that I've read suggests that its a hardware problem, so I'm a bit confused with what could be going on.

Dom · 24 Jun 2013

Almost a coincidence that my previous laptop was an Aspire 5735Z. Unfortunately I never encountered this issue when I did a clean install of Windows 7.
My first thoughts are wondering if you have installed all the drivers for your laptop? Windows Update does not always find up to date drivers concerning your model of laptop.
For the drivers, click here and enter your model.
The most important drivers are the ones in the category AHCI, AMT and Chipset.
Install the drivers, restart your PC and tells us what happens. :)

Brooklyn67 · 24 Jun 2013

Agreed, reinstall your chipset drivers.

Have you done any of the windows updates?

Wiegraf · 25 Jun 2013

No good guys ):

As for windows update, that was one of the first things I checked, and there are no available updates. Thanks

indianacarnie · 25 Jun 2013

I hesitate to suggest this......... but have you considered reflashing your BIOS?

Dom · 25 Jun 2013

It seems you're not the only person to have experienced this problem on the 5733Z. I have Googled around a bit and other multiple users have the same issue

Someone did post a a troubleshooting method, and it was to determine whether you're experiencing hardware or software issues.
It was to download Linux, and install it to see if works on the OS. If it does not work for Linux, it is most likely a hardware issue.
And because other people have experienced the same issue, I would not be surprised if it was a hardware issue. It could be caused by a broken pin, or overheating, and the most likely solution is to have it repaired at your local computer repair shop. That is if it is of course a hardware problem, but I'm sure someone else may come up with an idea that I don't! :)

EDIT: Here's a helpful link if you want to keep Windows 7 installed.

macctech · 25 Jun 2013

if its intel based try and get the drivers from the intel website, try a linux live cd and see if the ports work, if non of that works its more than likely a short on the bored