USB ports stopped working

[Benoit Martin]

I have WinXP Pro SP1 on a fairly new machine (less than a year old)
I haven't used my USB ports for a little while and I tried to use it again
today but it doesn't work anymore (I remember using those ports before). I
don't get any error message, I don't see anything in the events log, I have
no conflicts or other anomalies in the Device Manager.
I tried with different types of USB devices on all the USB ports I have on
my computer.

Since I don't get any complaints from Windows, anybody would have any idea
on how I could start troubleshooting my USB ports?
Is it a problem which sounds familiar to anybody?

Any help greatly appreciated

Thank you

 

[Nathan McNulty]

Perhaps installing your chipset drivers may help. What motherboard do
you have or what is the make and model of your computer?

 

[Mark Dobbs]

Benoit, I have had the same problem, and I've been unable
to find a solution yet. Updating the system drivers (in
my case, Intel Chipset on a Dell Dimension 4550) DID NOT
work. I have updated the bios as well. I remember
having this problem after installing SP1, and after
uninstalling the patch, the USB ports came back. It's
happened again with SP2, only this time, I cannot
unistall the patch because Office XP now won't work
without it! The printer won't run on that machine.

I'll keep an eye on this forum and let you know if I come
up with anything.

God Bless,
Mark

 

[Mak Dobbs]

Fixed my USB port problem!

With no help from Dell, I went to the Intel website and
downloaded a hardware chipset patch for the 820 chipset,
and that did the trick. After a reboot, the USB ports
were back up and running. The chipset patch available
through Dell's website DID NOT fix the problem, so go to
Intel. Anyone having hardware access problems after
installing XP SP2 should check for hardware chipset
driver updates. Be sure you know the correct chipset.

As with most problems, the fix took very little time.
Researching the fix took much longer. Hope this helps
some other. I have seen no Knowledge Base articles on
this problem. BTW, my Dell is only a year old!

Safe Computing,
Mark