It takes very long for USB devices to get recognized, and some don't work at all

[Zhnigo]

Hello! I noticed that it started to take a long time for my PC to recognize USB peripherals when I plug them in. Storage devices take about 45 seconds, and my gamepad doesn't get recognized at all, even though it was working fine before, and still works fine on the console. Windows also takes an exceptionally long time to load, about 5 minutes, even though it's on an SSD. When starting in safe mode it's somewhat faster, but I noticed that it takes an extra minute or so for the mouse and keyboard to start working after the system is booted. All devices are plugged directly into the mobo, no extension cords, no hubs. My setup has still worked fine a month or so ago.
Could there be a problem with my motherboard's USB controller? I know for a fact that one of SATA slots on my mobo is already busted.

I'm running windows 7 x64.
Thanks in advance!

 

[smorizio]

with that bad usb port make sure none of the pins are shorted together use a flashlight to check. if you have an intel mb download the intel chipset drivers see if one of them was damaged. also try uninstalling your anti virus and video drivers and reinstalling them. also check under start up tab in msconfig turn off stuff that not needed. also run malware bytes and hitman pro scan for any malware.

 

[Zhnigo]

with that bad usb port make sure none of the pins are shorted together use a flashlight to check. if you have an intel mb download the intel chipset drivers see if one of them was damaged. also try uninstalling your anti virus and video drivers and reinstalling them. also check under start up tab in msconfig turn off stuff that not needed. also run malware bytes and hitman pro scan for any malware.

Thanks for the advice. I did everything you suggested (drivers, malware scan, autorun cleanup) and this didn't seem to solve the problem. The problem is also not limited to one USB slot, but manifests with every one. I also noticed that it takes very long to start windows, even though it's on an SSD. This persists in safe mode as well.
Can this be a hardware problem related to the USB controller?

 

[smorizio]

might be.. if you can try booting from a windows usb iso usb see if it still takes a long time.if it does it may be hardware. if there a lot of usb device on at post it can cause the usb chipset to lock up try just the mouse and keyboard. unplug and turn everything else off. in the bios make sure usb handoff is on and set to full.

 

[Zhnigo]

might be.. if you can try booting from a windows usb iso usb see if it still takes a long time.if it does it may be hardware. if there a lot of usb device on at post it can cause the usb chipset to lock up try just the mouse and keyboard. unplug and turn everything else off. in the bios make sure usb handoff is on and set to full.

In the end I managed to solve the problem by disabling the busted SATA slot in BIOS. Thanks! However, BEFORE I did that, a weird new problem arose. My system now freezes from 5 seconds up to a minute when opening some programs, from media player, to games, but not others. I'll make another thread.