USB suddenly stops working

[ASXL41]

About a month ago, all six USB ports on our computer (Compaq Presario S3100NX) suddenly stopped recognizing anything we would plug in. We only use a few of them for our printer, MP3 player and memory drive. There is still power going to all of them. I can charge my MP3 player, but can't get it to work so I can transfer files to it. We've run virus and spyware programs and ever tried to do a system restore, but everything we try doesn't seem to get them working any better. Any suggestions on what might help?

[mattglop]

Hello, I seem to be having the same problem as you...here's my story:

So, two days ago I was rendering a video on an editing program, and a notice came up saying I was out of memory. My external HD was in the computer at the time, because I put clips from there into the videos that I render.

Since then, USB devices that previously worked are working anymore (external HD; printer), besides my mouse. Whenever I plug one into the USB port, it comes up with a yellow triangle with an exclamation mark on the bottom right of my screen saying, "One of the USB devices attached to this computer has malfunctioned, and Windows does not recognize it."

Does anyone know how I should go about fixing this?

I googled it a bit, and some people got it fixed by unplugging the laptop or taking out the battery and leaving it out for a while, then plugging it back in and putting the battery back and starting up again. I tried that, and it did not fix the problem.

I have a Dell Inspiron E1705 laptop.

Thanks,
Matt

[Matt2000]

Not recognising devices sounds like an error with drivers, either device drivers or the USB controller card drivers.

Installing the latest BIOS firmware onto the motherboard is a possible fix.

Matt