USB Ports Not Working

Magpie2121

Magpie2121

Magpie2121

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Joined
13 Aug 2011
Posts
210
Recently purchased a used Vaio laptop and was told USB ports don't work so purchased it anyway as it cost peanuts.

Original hard drive was removed so I purchased a new drive and installed a legitimate copy of Windows 7.

All 3 USB ports still don't work. I've got a flash drive which should light up when plugging into any USB port but no light appears and nothing happens. Works fine on my PC

I've so far tried the following without success:

1) Device Manager - Right click Generic USB Hub - Uninstall. Then Scan for Harware Changes. It comes up as Device Driver Software Was Not Succesfully Installed and still no joy

2) Removed battery from laptop for half an hour and tried again, still no joy

3) Updated BIOS - no joy

4) Unable to locate USB drivers from manufacturer website although all other drivers were present. Also, chipset drivers not available so installed chipset drivers from a similar model which installed successfull but still no joy with USB ports

I've searched Google for hours for a solution but to no avail. Everything I have tried has failed. Funny thing is the rest of the laptop is absolutely perfect.

Was wondering if anybody can advise of any other solution or can it be a hardware problem?
 
Most likely a hardware problem. Seen it before on a couple of machines at work where someone has effectively shorted the port by being a numpty and blown a fuse/damaged the chipset in the process.

Quit trying to fix it, you won't get anywhere. Add a PCMCIA USB card or similar if you really need USB.
 
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MagicBoy said:
Most likely a hardware problem. Seen it before on a couple of machines at work where someone has effectively shorted the port by being a numpty and blown a fuse/damaged the chipset in the process.

Quit trying to fix it, you won't get anywhere. Add a PCMCIA USB card or similar if you really need USB.
Click to expand...

I thought it would be a hardware fault. Was looking for some sort of adaptor that I could possible use but couldn't find anything. You've pointed out the exact thing I need so thank you.

Sorry to sound a bit dim but this would connect to the ExpressCard slot on the side of my laptop right? As I don't have a PCMCIA slot (unless it's the same thing?)

Many thanks
 
Yeah. ExpressCard is the replacement for PCMCIA/CardBus. I'm sure someone will make a card. Try Belkin or StarTech.
 
Magpie2121 said:
Just been having a look around but it seems that these are all designed for 32 bit systems. For example:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/32bit-PCM...ptop_Port_Expansion_Cards&hash=item53f0b4ab16

Can't seem to find any for 64 bit systems. Any idea where I can get one for a 64 bit system? Cheers
Click to expand...

If you laptop has an ExpressCard port the card you've linked (breaking forum rules BTW) won't fit.

As suggested have a look at what StarTech make, it tends to be of decent quality, and OcUK sell at least some of their items. Their ECUSB3S1 looks like a neat solution if you can live with single USB3.0 port.
 
bremen1874 said:
If you laptop has an ExpressCard port the card you've linked (breaking forum rules BTW) won't fit.

As suggested have a look at what StarTech make, it tends to be of decent quality, and OcUK sell at least some of their items. Their ECUSB3S1 looks like a neat solution if you can live with single USB3.0 port.
Click to expand...

Oh crap, I've just gone ahead and purchased something similar to what I linked (I won't post the link if it breaks forum rules).

I would like to show you what I purchased as I would like to know if it will work. Is there any way I can provide you the link (PM perhaps?).

Can I purchase the ECUSB3S1 through Overclockers as I can't find it anywhere here. Do you have a link please? One USB port will be fine for me.

Also, will the ECUSB3S1 work on a Windows 64 bit operating system?

Many thanks
 
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OcUK have two ExpressCard USB adapters listed here and here.

There's something strange going on with their listing for the StartTech adapter. It's supposed to be a ECUSB3S2 two port adapter, but in the picture it's clearly a ECUSB3S1. Also the ECUSB3S2 isn't a flush mount adapter.

Before you order anything you need to be very clear about what sort of expansion slot the laptop has. Over the years there have been quite a few variations, some are compatible, some aren't.
 
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