Test for USB(2.0) slot status?

[ubuysa]

Now on my spare Netbook. Main pc is currently inaccessible.

Tonight I repeated your suggestion of uninstalling the usb controllers from the start of the list. I skipped the first two (which I believe from the first attempt we discovered were the mouse and keyboard. And I unplugged my headphones beforehand this time around to see what would happen).

And...

Reached uninstalling the second last on the list and it disabled the mouse. So I had to do a forced switch off.

Switched on after and...

No mouse control or keyboard control --- even after an hour of disk activity.

The disk light is flickering indicating the pc is 'doing something' but... not looking good. Eeek!

What to try if the mouse control does not return???

Forgive my butting in but if this were mine I'd have backup-up my data and done a clean re-install of Windows long ago. It seems from reading through this thread that a lot of good and sensible remedial work has been attempted but this still seems to be an unhappy system. I think the only way to be sure whether this is a hardware or software issue is to do a clean re-install of Windows and PCS supplied drivers and see whether the USB port issues are resolved. If not then it's probably hardware, but if this does resolve the issues you'll have a stable system again onto which you can re-install your user programs and data.

"When you find yourself in a hole, stop digging" Will Rogers

 

[CMStorm]

Hi guys. I was thinking of contacting PCS as the very last resort. I do actually have the full 3 year warranty, but this is for hardware, not software.

I found My Computer > Manage > Computer Management > Storage > Disk Management and.... no usb stick shows up. Good tip though, something else I wasn't aware of and can watch for changes if I dare to try the other right click options in the usb controller list. I reluctant to try much now though having lost my mouse twice.

I might make a separate post for why my Windows 7 System Restores disappear. Remember I had one ready from last week, before this usb problem, but it was getting late and I had decided to try it the very next morning. The next morning it had disappeared!

 

[Boozad]

I'm inclined to agree with ubuysa here, there are a couple of little niggly problems here that don't seem to want to go away. My last piece of advice would be to run Malwarebytes (Link) as this may be something doing the dirty work in the background, it certainly won't hurt prior to a fresh install of Windows.

If you need help with the backup and reinstall just give us a shout.

 

[steaky360]

Hi guys. I was thinking of contacting PCS as the very last resort. I do actually have the full 3 year warranty, but this is for hardware, not software.

Assuming its not specifc to certain items I'd still think PCS will cover you. IMO it won't hurt to give them a call, at the very worst they wont be able to help, but they might just know the answer straight away

 

[CMStorm]

I do still have the very first System Restore (interesting that this has never disappeared) made when the machine was all good back in November 2011. I am tempted to click that (since my data is all backed up*).

Not tried uninstalling the last Windows updates from the 15th. That's a soft option I think.

I do at least have system image back ups and disks too. Made way back when I had help from the PCS installer guy.

I have run the free version of Malwarebytes (but maybe that's not covering everything).

 

[Boozad]

One last thing to try would be to ask here, either in the Drivers or Hardware & Devices section. If the problem is fixable then the members there will sort it.

 

[CMStorm]

Headphones moved to the usb slot that failed with the usb stick last Monday...

Windows found and installed drivers. Does this give us any more ideas?

Headphones now working!

 

[CMStorm]

Another clue?

Windows knew the exact model of usb stick when I plugged it into the slot the headphones came from originally.

Control Panel > Hardware and Sound > Devices and Printers. Troubleshoot...
"A problem is preventing the troubleshooter from starting"
0x800705B4

 

[CMStorm]

Thank you for the guidance everyone. Not fixed the usb storage recognition problem yet. I still might email PCS but I want to gather all the info first (which I have been doing today).

I've been doing some more web reading with the tips from Boozad. Surprised to discover how common this problem is! Offering solutions as varied as simply unlugging your pc and hitting the start button, to editing the registry HKEY control class. Many describing what we have tried here. Leading me to...

System Restore, or a full Windows Image restore? PCS might recommend another alternative, if i list what we've tried for them. It seems I have the necessary back-ups to do any of these things (throwing me back to November 2011). But it's a big step. Obviously I would love to keep my programs and settings, if I can. But I guess it's the drivers we are concerned about.

Anyone else considering this I would recommend:
Print a screengrab of your desktop and your list of installed programs as a reminder Control Panel > Programs and Features (list of all installations with dates and versions - can see the updates too).

 

[CMStorm]

Top tip:
When you make a System Image Backup, put it on disk (if you can) as well as any usb storage device. In case your usb slots are not recognised........

 

[CMStorm]

***FIXED***

Clean reinstall of Windows7 as suggested and the usb slots started working again. :yes:

Furthermore, I did put my two year old image over the top and it worked! Even Norton Anti-Virus found my account and updated automatically!! :wub:

I counted fourteen software updates (140 for Windows!) but this was all done in one day. All data returned using my backups.

One thing left. Seeing my second spare d:drive again. Perhaps you can help?

I unplugged it you see, at the beginning so I wouldn't get confused (I had been warned about deleting drives). I plugged it back in again afterwards but can't see it as yet. How do I get to see it again in My Computer? Oh and I was a bit surprised to see it only had one plug. I thought they had two (for data and power)?

 

[vanthus]

***FIXED***

How do I get to see it again in My Computer? Oh and I was a bit surprised to see it only had one plug. I thought they had two (for data and power)?

I would have thought the hard drive would have both power and data connections.
Check in disk management to see if the drive is showing there,
To open disk management in windows 8,
http://pcsupport.about.com/od/windows-8/a/disk-management-windows-8.htm
For windows 7,click "Start"/right click"computer"/Manage/under "Storage"select "Disk Management",
or click "start" and type diskmgmt.msc in search box.
It's possible you only need to assign a Drive letter,If no letter is assigned for the drive,
right click on the bar of the drive in the lower half of the screen,
select "change drive letter and paths"
click on the Add button in the next menu to select a drive letter.
Click ok to assign selected drive letter or choose your own letter from the drop down menu.
If the drive is showing as unallocated,
right click on the black bar of the "unallocated drive",
click on "new simple volume"then follow the wizard.(this will delete all data)
check in "computer" to confirm missing drive is showing.

 

[CMStorm]

Second ssd drive not seen after Windows7 clean install and full System Image Restor

Hey, thank you for your reply.

I looked where you suggested in my Windows7. No drive to allocate. Just shows my healthy disk 0 and my cd-rom.

Ah, can this be as simple as a plug?! I swear I didn't see a second plug (longer)when I opened the machine up yesterday (just the short one).

Note that this 'd' drive was functioning perfectly before I did this op, so I know it's me

Hmmm, do I need to pull my pc out from under the desk again and open it up? Looks like I have made one error doing this already.

 

[vanthus]

Hey, thank you for your reply.

I looked where you suggested in my Windows7. No drive to allocate. Just shows my healthy disk 0 and my cd-rom.

Ah, can this be as simple as a plug?! I swear I didn't see a second plug (longer)when I opened the machine up yesterday (just the short one).

Note that this 'd' drive was functioning perfectly before I did this op, so I know it's me

Hmmm, do I need to pull my pc out from under the desk again and open it up? Looks like I have made one error doing this already.

Pretty sure there should be both data (sata) and power plug connected.