Hard to find USB problem on Dell Vostro 1710

None of the USB ports of my Dell Vostro 1710 are working anymore. Also the wireless Lan card isn’t working, but this does not really matter to me.

It can’t be a driver or Windows problem because I restored the entire disk c from an (working) image made with Paragon Drive Backup. Usually this solves all software problems.

Thus it should be a hardware problem. All the USB hardware is contained in the south bridge. A laptop repair centre has replaced the south bridge, nothing improved however. Everything works fine, except the USB ports. The laptop repair centre can’t find the problem; it would cost too much time. The power supplies seems OK too.

The Windows XP USB hardware configuration menu shows that the USB ports are not working correctly and that the USB drivers are not installed or not correct. Reinstalling the USB drivers is not possible because the USB ports are not recognized properly.

However when I use BartPE (bootable windows CD) I can still use the USB mouse.

I try to solve the problem myself, has someone an idea? (capacitors, Bios…?)

 

Long Shot - but have you tried downloading and installing the chipset drivers from dells site ?

I take it your USB mouse does not work in Windows ?

 

Can you use a USB KB or USB mouse (don't know if 1710 has the EFI BIOS) in BIOS? If BartPE works what about a *nix live CD? Those should probably indicate whether or not you have a hardware issue...

 

Also try running dell Diagnostics

 

The image of the c drive which I have restored was working well (inclusive USB), it contained the Dell drivers.
No, it don’t work with Windows XP, how can I try DOS?

 

I did so, also other diagnostic software. The USB error is not recognised.

 

Thanks, I will try the nix live CD!
But when it is no hardware issue, the restored (working) image should work always?, I suppose.

 

did your image backup have all the XP updates installed ?

I still think you should try downloading the Intel Chipset Drivers and see what happens.

Drivers and Downloads | Dell [Canada]

I suspect that you may have a lack of power on the USB circuit, but the data side may still be working. One thing you can try here is use a powered USB hub and see what happens.