USB Ports not working on T61

[purewhitelight]

Hi and thanks -

My USB ports are not working properly.  While I have a cooling pad and a wired mouse that work okay, I am unable to get a wireless mouse to function.  More importantly, I cannot get performance from flash drives.  When I plug in a flash drive, the computer often (but not always) recognizes it (the hardware manager says, "This device is working properly"), but will not issue a drive letter, so I have no access. 

I have moved all of the objects around all of the ports, and the wired mouse and cooling pad work on any port, while the flash drives and wireless mouse do not work on any ports.  I have plugged all of the flash drives and the wireless mouse into 2 other computers (one WXP, one W7) and they work just fine.

I have gone in to the device manager and uninstalled (with automatic re-install) all of the USB controllers and USB roots to allow them to reset, but that doesn't help either.

I appreciate your help!

Joseph

I appreciate your help

[lead_org Microsoft MVP Contributor]

http://support.lenovo.com/en_US/downloads/detail.page?DocID=DS014954

use the above software to check your usb ports. 

[purewhitelight]

Hi and thanks -

I followed the link, but it is a download to make a DOS boot disk.  I don't have any booting problems, I have dicey USB ports.  Can you tell me what I would do with this software relative to my USB port problem?  Thanks.

[PoPSiCLe]

The software runs a hardware test on all parts of the computer, including USB-ports. It will tell you if there is something wrong with the computer.

[lead_org Microsoft MVP Contributor]

so what is wrong with your computer?

[purewhitelight]

Hi and thanks -

I'm still trying to figure out what's wrong with the computer myself!  I bought it used, and it wordrked fine until a few weeks ago.  Long story short, I have just restored it to the factory settings and re-loeaded it - a royal pain in the butt, but no data loss, as I had everything I needed backed up.  (None of the Lenovo "Rescue and Restore" backups worked unfortunately, so I had to start all over.)

But with respect to USB ports, they are just finicky all of the sudden.  All of them (there are 3) work fine with certain things, but not with others.  Everything that works (a cooling pad, a wired mouse, some flash drives, etc.) work on all three ports.  The things that don't work (a wireless mouse, a few flash drives) don't work on any port, but they work on the other two computers in my house.

The restored reloaded computer seems to be working fine now, but it has other quirks - I can't tell if it hardware or software related.  I am running all of the diagnostics I can think of, and I am bug/spyware free; the hard disk is healthy and defragmented, etc. 

I'm not really sure if I have answered the question, but that's the best answer I can come up with as of now.  I really appreciate your help.

Peace

Joseph

[PoPSiCLe]

So, have you run the PC Doctor test yet? It should tell you if there is anything wrong with any hardware, at least...

[pajoma]

My wireless mouse (Logitech M505) also stopped working a few days ago, both on Win7 and Ubuntu. It runs fine on another laptop. I'll check the PC Doctor test later.

[purewhitelight]

Hi and thanks - all of the hardware checks out fine.  The diagnoistics approve it all.  I have found another wireless mouse that works with the laptop, and have discovered that some other flash drives work, but the previously mentioned mouse and flash drive still do not, even though they work fine on the two other computers in my house, and even though they used to work on this laptop.  (It's a shame - this particular flash drive was the one that had the backup data - fortunately I could copy if to another flah drive using another computer.)

I am prepared to conclude that the usb ports on this laptop are just persnickity and sub-standard - something I have to live with.  But of course, I am still open for any suggestions you may have.

Thanks so much!

[goretsky Community Moderator]

Hello,

Given that the unit was purchased used as is, assumedly, several years old now, could previous owner have loosened the USB connectors over time so that they only make intermittent contact with devices plugged into them?

Regards,

Aryeh Goretsky