USB Ports constant problems

[labecs]

I first thought it was my mouse that was malfunctioning, but after trying all kinds of things I have concluded that Win 7 is causing this: After a while, one by one, all of my USB ports stop working. First the ones in my monitor, I dosconnected them and then my 7 port usb hub stopped working. I disconnected that, and then the two in the front and finally the four in the back. When I disconnect and plug in again, or restart, it starts working fine for a while again. I installed Win 7 in another computer yesterday, and although it only happened once so far, it happened.
I'm really hoping someone has a solution or Microsoft fixes this bug. If it keeps happening, I'll have to go back to Vista since it really slows down my work flow, as you can imagine.
I want to tell you guys what kind of mobo I have to see if that's the problem, but where do I check that? I'm not such an expert.

 

[zigzag3143]

I first thought it was my mouse that was malfunctioning, but after trying all kinds of things I have concluded that Win 7 is causing this: After a while, one by one, all of my USB ports stop working. First the ones in my monitor, I dosconnected them and then my 7 port usb hub stopped working. I disconnected that, and then the two in the front and finally the four in the back. When I disconnect and plug in again, or restart, it starts working fine for a while again. I installed Win 7 in another computer yesterday, and although it only happened once so far, it happened.
I'm really hoping someone has a solution or Microsoft fixes this bug. If it keeps happening, I'll have to go back to Vista since it really slows down my work flow, as you can imagine.
I want to tell you guys what kind of mobo I have to see if that's the problem, but where do I check that? I'm not such an expert.

Labecs

One of your problems is that you USB +5 volts is set for the number of usb ports built in. If your computer comes with 6 thats it. use 10 and voltage goes down. the only way to prevent this is to use powered hubs etc.

You have 15 devices on a system built for 6. That being said you can easily check with a 2o dollar voltmeter.

Im assuming your drivers are in and working. they must be to work.

If you did a clean install of win 7 Im pretty sure the problem isn't win 7.

Ken

 

[labecs]

Both the monitor and the external hub are powered separately, and in the other computer, it was the computer usb port itself that stopped working. And like I said, I disconnected all the external USBs and sonn after the computer USB ports stopped working. I have had this setup for a couple of years with no problem at all.

 

[zigzag3143]

Both the monitor and the external hub are powered separately, and in the other computer, it was the computer usb port itself that stopped working. And like I said, I disconnected all the external USBs and sonn after the computer USB ports stopped working. I have had this setup for a couple of years with no problem at all.

you 64 bit?

 

[labecs]

Yes.

 

[jpxusked]

I doubt it's his power or devices. I recently installed 2 clean Win7 installations and I have had the EXACT same problems. Both on older laptops (IBM T43, DELL x300). On both systems the USB ports simply stop working (NEVER had problems before). Happens on External HD and multiple mice.

 

[labecs]

I just spent 3 hours trying to fix this same problem in my other computer. Obviously, Win 7 is having a problem, especially with USB powered Hubs... so I removed the hub, and the problem transferred to the USB ports. It took me 7 reboots to get them to work. They were working fine all morning, and suddenly... puff! It's frustrating cause it disables mice, keyboards, everything. I really hope Microsoft comes up with a fix soon, I'm going crazy.

 

[labecs]

I went and bought a new usb card to avoid using hubs. It's been a couple of hours.... we'll see. I'll keep you posted.

 

[labecs]

It's still happening, not as often, but after a day or so of use, I again got the "USB device malfunctioned" pop up. It's hard to tell which one it is, though. When I restart, it gets fixed. Also, even when the ports are working, they totally refuse to read any flash drives I plug in. I've tried with 3 different ones, and it just tells me the drive is empty.

 

[BorgVampire]

I am having problems with my front panel USB ports. It started after I set my computer to hibernate after 15 minutes. The front ports now refuse to work at all when I plug in my 2 flash ram sticks. I have tried rebooting with them out and reconnecting them after boot up. I have tried leaving them in whilst booting up in the hopes that windows will see them during boot up. I have gone into the bios and checked that usb is enabled. I went into Hardware Manager and told it to search for new devices, all to no avail. I have of course turned off the posibility that my computer can go into Hybernate Mode now too. Whilst typing this a friend has suggested I power down the computer and leave it off for at least 5 minutes to enable all the power to drain out of everything (my power supply has a system on it that it keeps going after shutdown to make sure the cpu is cool enough for it to stop fully) then reboot. I shall try this too in a minute and get back to this forum.

 

[BorgVampire]

Well blow me down with a feather, it worked. A simply power down for 5 minutes and the front usb ports are back up and running. Well I hope this helps someone else too and the above post that its a Hybernation thing. Good luck with yours.

 

[Darryl Licht]

Yes, there are many here with wake from hibernate issues!

My system was on all night and refused to completely wake up this morning... a reboot solved it.

If the USB issue is not connected to a wake from hibernate state, then I'd suggest looking to your mobo manufacturers for a Win7 USB controller driver(s)... that is if you havent already.

 

[BorgVampire]

Well even after taking out the possibility of my PC going into Hibernation Mode yesterday I left it able to go into Sleep Mode. Today I left the PC on whilst I ate a meal in another room and when I came back the front panel USB's were off again. Obviously even Sleep Mode is not working correctly but a 5 minute reboot will bring them back out of Sleep at least. So now I am having to put my machine into High Performance Mode to keep the front panel USB's alive and ready. There must be an update for this but Windows 7 has not offered me one for it yet. Ah well never mind life goes on.

 

[Darryl Licht]

...a 5 minute reboot will bring them back out of Sleep at least.

Your PC should boot much faster than 5 minutes with your specs and Win7... how long have you had Win7, and were reboot times this slow before Win7... with your other OS?

 

[labecs]

Update: I gave up and finally did a clean install. The problem with the USB ports is gone! Today I'm testing using the ports in the monitor which were immediately rejected in my last installation. So far so good. I am now having a different set of problems, this time related to Windows Explorer and the computer slowing down...

 

[Darryl Licht]

labecs:

Please keep us updated on your progress, but glad to hear that is seems you solved issue with a fresh clean install!

 

[BorgVampire]

...a 5 minute reboot will bring them back out of Sleep at least.

Your PC should boot much faster than 5 minutes with your specs and Win7... how long have you had Win7, and were reboot times this slow before Win7... with your other OS?

Daryl you didn't read the previous post that mentioned the need for the PC to be off for 5 minutes to enable any residual electricity to drain from the PC before the reboot, hence the 5 minutes. It actually takes about 2 minutes to reboot but the extra 3 minutes was for the power to drain out so no memory of the fact that the front panel usb ports being unpowered would remain.

 

[geezer49]

Same problem here with my external HD and a new iTouch. Worked great under Vista x64 but fails under Win7 x64. (Intel quad core 4g RAM) 6 USBs plus external powered hub. Tried various ports with no success. Makes it part way through a backup/sync and come up with a "unknown device" error. It doesn't see the device again until I reboot.

 

[labecs]

Well, I had to do another clean install of Win 7 and the USB problems are gone.
Thank you all for your input!

 

[bammaster]

I have the exact same problem. when i turn computer on i can get maybe 2 minutes of USB usage before i get the malfunction error. All my front USB ports worked great on vista but once i upgraded within a week they refused to work. This goes for all storage devices including my iPod touch(which is awaiting restore but cannot), and two of my flash drives, a U3 enabled and a SD USB Card adapter. However my USB keyboard, Bluetooth adapter, and USB printer work fine in the back ports. IF anyone finds a fix please post it here it is so annoying and makes transferring files to work on at home impossible. It seems to be a problem with MASS STORAGE DEVICES, not all USB devices, except with those few having problems with mice and keyboards. If you are using a desktop try moving them around. IF they are plugged into front USB ports move to back to the COM ports, i believe they are called. However that is all i know that seems to work.