Question Laptop's USB 3.0 ports not working, USB 2.0 port partially working (with some weird issues) ?

[blair49]

Hi,

I have a Dell Inspiron 5567 running on Windows 10 Home (21H2 19044.1645). It has two USB 3.0 ports on the motherboard and one USB 2.0 port attached to the motherboard using a flat ribbon cable. Last week on Monday I powered a small DC motor using a spare USB cable and one of the USB 3.0 ports. It worked fine and after playing around with it for a bit, I shutdown the laptop and called it a day. Next day in the morning when I connected my Android phone to one of the USB 3.0 ports it was not detected also it didn't start charging. So I tried the other USB 3.0 port and it didn't work either. Then I tried it on the USB 2.0 port and it worked there. I thought I might have damaged the USB 3.0 ports but there are no physical signs of damage on the board. To rule out any software issue I booted into Ubuntu by connecting a bootable USB pendrive into the USB 2.0 port. In Ubuntu also those USB 3.0 ports didn't work. Also resetting BIOS, updating drivers didn't fix it. So that confirmed that its a hardware issue.

I thought repairing/replacing the ports would be costly and it would be cheaper to use a USB Hub with the USB 2.0 port. So I bought a Zebronics 4 port USB hub (ZEB-100HB). When I connected the USB hub to the USB 2.0 port it was detected. But when I connected a USB keyboard and mouse to the hub they were not detected. The USB mouse lights up but it doesn't work. It works when I connect it directly to the USB 2.0 port without the hub. So I thought the USB hub might be faulty.

But when I connected the hub to my other laptop it works fine, I am able to use the keyboard and mouse. It also works on my Android phone when connected using OTG connector. And here is the weird part: when I connect the pendrive (which I had used previously to live boot Ubuntu) to the USB 2.0 port it is not detected at all. It was working earlier and suddenly stopped working. But my friend's pendrive is working fine on that port. Its not that my pendrive is faulty because it works fine on my other laptop and also on my Android phone using OTG.

Please help me fix this USB port issue. What is causing the USB 2.0 port to behave so weirdly?

Thanks & Regards!

 

[Lutfij]

Welcome to the forums, newcomer!

Did you check and see if the laptop is pending any BIOS updates? USB hubs on laptops are pretty much hit or miss, they work or don't work, simple. I'd like to roll back to your previous line, DC motor, mind sharing what the specs to said motor are(and perhaps it's power draw)...?

You might want to try and reinstall your chipset drivers in an elevated command, i.e, Right click installer>Run as Administrator, and see if the issue persists.

 

[blair49]

Welcome to the forums, newcomer!

Did you check and see if the laptop is pending any BIOS updates? USB hubs on laptops are pretty much hit or miss, they work or don't work, simple. I'd like to roll back to your previous line, DC motor, mind sharing what the specs to said motor are(and perhaps it's power draw)...?

You might want to try and reinstall your chipset drivers in an elevated command, i.e, Right click installer>Run as Administrator, and see if the issue persists.

Hi thanks for your reply.

There are no pending BIOS updates. I used Dell SupportAssist tool and intel driver & support assistant to check for updates. Everything was working well till the end of the day on which I had connected the DC motor. The motor was also working fine. It is only on the next day morning that I found the ports are not working. The USB hub works fine on my other laptop (with keyboard mouse and pendrive attached) which is very old one running Windows XP.

I don't know the specs of the DC motor. I got it from a handheld sewing machine like this one.

Windows device manager shows latest drivers are already installed. How can I reinstall the chipset drivers?