Front USB Port not working

[johnbarry]

On the front  of my Lenovo E50-00 I have 2 USB ports.

The one on the right has stopped working, there are no conflicts.

Any ideas to what I can try and get it working again.

Cheers
John

[Alan Wood]

Check that the plug to the motherboard is seated properly.

Go into device manager and look in the USB section at the very end and look for any little yellow triangles. If so delete that usb entry, reboot and allow the drivers to install themselves again automatically during the boot process.

[Ed P]

I’d go one stage further than suggested by Alan. Show all USB Devices, (including old redundant ones). Delete the redundant/disconnected ones then do as Alan suggests.

If you change a USB device sometimes Windows will not correctly pick up the change and contention results. (normally replacement mice/keyboards from same manufacturer cause issues)

When a port fails it MAY be because its software fuse has ‘blown’ the cure is a fuse reset. link

Blown usb fuses are usually due to a carp device that draws too much power for example PV sticks often run very close to the limits of a usb2 port.

[Richard]

One that caught me out sometime ago was a lose plug on the front panel end. While the motherboard end was fine, the front panel end caused the problem and it was only found when I ‘pulled*’ the panel off to clean out the fluff.

*Warning, some fronts are spring clip mounted others are screwed in place.

[johnbarry]

Thanks Alan

No little triangles, I checked the plugs (pushed them in (if they were out) tried the USB, still the same.

Thanks Ed

I followed your (1st) link best I could (it talks 7 not 10) there were no extra devices after showing hidden.

Link 2

There is no bad parts of the port, I followed the reset procedure, the tongue isn’t damages, nor the pins and still the same.

Thanks Richard

I took the front panel off, sadly the ports are housed in another box so you can’t get at the wires. Although I can’t see any fluff I used a brush in the port, still the same.

It seems to be another Toyah Wilcox.

Cheers
John

[johnbarry]

Well I dunno, I just plugged a USB drive in the faulty port (after a restart) and it’s working??

Cheers
John

[Ed P]

It was definitely the software fuse!

All you need do now is think what you plug into that port and not overload it. For example plugging in a hub with PV stick and external HDD are certain to make it fail. Use a powered hub if you have to do anything like that.

[johnbarry]

Thanks Ed

It’s been some time since it stopped working, not sure what I plugged in, but will make sure what I don’t plug in.

Cheers
John

[Ed P]

Plug it in where you like, but if you plug in an external usb hub do not overload it, better to use a powered hub in that case.

[Richard]

My wife’s PC lost some USB ports a while ago but it was not overloading though the ports were used. It was a slightly odd combination of hibernation, power cuts and system updates that appeared to have been related to the ‘holiday’. There was no obvious reason for their failure and there was still power going to them, they just failed to respond correctly. After I installed a USB port card and played about with several other steps all was sweetness and light once more and all the ports worked again. It is just as well really as it is a pig to get the machine in and out for access.

[johnbarry]

I should have stopped stum (I spoke too soon), not used but it’s not working again

Cheers
John

[Ed P]

I suspect that the last thing you plugged in is the culprit, especially if it was an hdd

[johnbarry]

Ed

I only plugged in, a Kingston DT101 G2 / 8GB Data Traveler and it didn’t work.

I use USB 3.0 for HDDs.

I just tried the same Kingston  in the dead port and it worked?

 

Cheers
John

[Wheels-Of-Fire]

All very odd. It sounds a lot like what a soft fuse would do though, these are real physical devices. Look up polyfuse on google if you like.

[johnbarry]

Thanks Graham

I looked it up (interesting) much like a circuit breaker.

Cheers
John

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