The Notebook Review forums were hosted by TechTarget, who shut down them down on January 31, 2022. This static read-only archive was pulled by NBR forum users between January 20 and January 31, 2022, in an effort to make sure that the valuable technical information that had been posted on the forums is preserved. For current discussions, many NBR forum users moved over to NotebookTalk.net after the shutdown.
Problems? See this thread at archive.org.

    Inconsistent USB ports

    Discussion in 'Hardware Components and Aftermarket Upgrades' started by fred2028, Jan 20, 2009.

  1. fred2028

    fred2028 Sexy member

    Reputations:
    196
    Messages:
    2,205
    Likes Received:
    1
    Trophy Points:
    56
    My laptop has 4 USB ports. 1 on the left side and 3 on the right. I also have a Logitech MX Revolution mouse.

    The USB adapter for the mouse fits all ports, but the mouse will not work if I plug it into a certain port on the right side. All 3 other ports work fine. Why is this?
     
    fred2028, Jan 20, 2009
    #1
  2. Commander Wolf

    Commander Wolf can i haz broadwell?

    Reputations:
    2,962
    Messages:
    8,231
    Likes Received:
    63
    Trophy Points:
    216
    Could be a broken port... do other USB devices work in that port?
     
    Commander Wolf, Jan 20, 2009
    #2
  3. fred2028

    fred2028 Sexy member

    Reputations:
    196
    Messages:
    2,205
    Likes Received:
    1
    Trophy Points:
    56
    Yes. I have just plugged my USB Dell keyboard into that port and am typing this message with it.
     
    fred2028, Jan 20, 2009
    #3
  4. K-TRON

    K-TRON Hi, I'm Jimmy Diesel ^_^

    Reputations:
    4,412
    Messages:
    8,077
    Likes Received:
    2
    Trophy Points:
    205
    plug the mouse adaptor into the port which is "broken"
    than go to control panel, and go to the "add new hardware" tool
    That should hopefully find and replace the driver at that port. If it still does not work, you may want to check device manager to see if the port works or not.

    K-TRON
     
    K-TRON, Jan 20, 2009
    #4
  5. Althernai

    Althernai Notebook Virtuoso

    Reputations:
    919
    Messages:
    2,233
    Likes Received:
    98
    Trophy Points:
    66
    If you have the same problem I had, then it's a driver a issue. My Vista hates older USB devices -- it refused to read my old flash card and the mouse exhibited the same behavior as yours does: it refused to work in one port. I knew that neither the port nor the mouse were broken because I dual-boot Linux on this laptop and the mouse worked perfectly fine in that port (just not in Windows).

    I went through a lot of trouble to fix this issue. Eventually, I downloaded some DriverMax program which found new drivers for both the mouse and the USB ports and now it seems to work fine.
     
    Althernai, Jan 20, 2009
    #5
  6. Michel.K

    Michel.K 167WAISIQ

    Reputations:
    353
    Messages:
    1,216
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    55
    Couldn't it be a USB-port that is shared with another one so it can't use the fully 500mAh that a USB-port should output or something like that?

    Just guessing :)
     
    Michel.K, Jan 20, 2009
    #6
  7. DetlevCM

    DetlevCM Notebook Nobel Laureate

    Reputations:
    4,843
    Messages:
    8,389
    Likes Received:
    1
    Trophy Points:
    205
    Yepp - it should be internal wiring - you've got an internal USB hub.

    I've got the same on an old laptop with 3 ports and an external USB hub - one port was slowe than the other.
     
    DetlevCM, Jan 20, 2009
    #7