USB port stopped working

[spud]

One of the 2 USB at the front of my PB desktop has stopped working.
I uninstalled all the ports but this one is still not working.My friend
suggested a clean install but I am reluctant as I have 300gig on this drive
that will need to be backedup beforehand.Anything else I can try or is it
likely to be a motherboard fault.
I was using these 2 ports to backup some laptop drives before one stopped
working..Thanks in advance

 

[Quaoar]

One of the 2 USB at the front of my PB desktop has stopped working.
I uninstalled all the ports but this one is still not working.My friend
suggested a clean install but I am reluctant as I have 300gig on this
drive that will need to be backedup beforehand.Anything else I can try
or is it likely to be a motherboard fault.
I was using these 2 ports to backup some laptop drives before one
stopped working..Thanks in advance

Try any other simple USB device, like a mouse, in that port. If that
fails, the port has likely failed. One of the continuing problems with
USB is that, depending on the mainboard, the port might not have much
overpower protection. External disks, powered only by the USB port
(rather than using an external power source), place a huge burden on the
USB power availability. IMO, external USB disks should have a external
power supply, leaving the USB port protected from overload.

Q