There are USB ports that become the source of very strange errors. Others don't even bother to recognize a connected device. This interface has been adopted massively thanks to its convenience and low cost, but it is not indestructible. A USB port can stop working due to dirt, software conflicts, hardware failures, power management issues, and more. If your computer is in full rebellion and you want to know how to fix your USB port, keep reading.
Unknown device, the drive has errors, or in many cases, absolute silence. USB port errors don't give you much data to start working with, but that hasn't stopped us before. Let's put some questions on the table: Is the unresponsive port part of the motherboard or the case? Is the error random or recurring? Does the same behavior repeat with all devices? Have you recently connected something high-powered (lights, fans)? Did Windows update and problems started after that? If you want to know how to fix your USB port and confirm if it really can be fixed, it's best to start with the basics:
Visual inspection
Is there anything inside the port? Dust, hair, plastic, bits of paper? Little ones manage to embed things in incredible places, and a USB port can be very tempting. If the port is very dirty, a combination of compressed air, a brush (don't leave bristles trapped!) and a little contact cleaner or isopropanol (both evaporate quickly) should be enough. If you find a gift in the port, use a thin, hard object to remove it. Of course, do all this with the computer turned off. If the port looks good and secure (that is, the port doesn't dance) but still doesn't register devices, wait. There are other things we need to check.
What does Windows tell us?
More than once, the port is not the culprit. A driver pack for the chipset of the motherboard can be improperly installed, or it's Windows itself that ruins everything by adding new drivers via Windows Update. Either way, our fate is the same: The Hardware Device Manager in System Properties, within the Control Panel. Open the Universal Serial Bus controllers section and look at the entries there. If you notice something with a yellow alert, then there's a problem.
The first step is the most obvious: Turn the device off and on. If a USB driver was recently installed, perhaps it needs that extra reboot, and things are not always so Plug & Play as we would like. If the error persists, try uninstalling the host drivers in the list (uninstall, not disable), and click the icon to scan for hardware changes. Windows will reinstall the drivers, and the errors should disappear. If it doesn't cooperate, we have one more thing to try.
Disable USB selective suspend
Windows power management is not perfect. In fact, Windows power management makes quite a few mistakes. USB ports are not entirely immune to its whims, and when it activates suspend, ports may go... and not come back. The solution is to disable selective suspend. In Windows 10, go back to the Control Panel, open Power Options, click Change plan settings, then enter Change advanced power settings, expand the USB settings menu, and set the selective suspend to Disabled.
This should be complemented with a second visit to the Device Manager. Go to the properties of each entry marked as USB Root Hub, click on the Power Management tab, and uncheck the option "Allow the computer to turn off...". Turn the computer off and on to apply the changes.
Nothing worked. What now?
If there are no obvious obstructions, the drivers show no errors, the power settings didn't help, and the device you want to connect works fine on another computer, there are two possibilities: There is a problem with the integrity of the port (or its connection), or the integrated USB controller threw in the towel.
If your case is very inexpensive, don't be surprised if the manufacturer sacrificed robustness in the front USB ports. Lower-quality ports sometimes end up with their plastic support broken and/or pins bent with minimal use, or eaten by rust. I've seen some ports give up in just 20 or 30 removals. With a bit of luck, you may find the entire set of ports and replace them completely, which also applies to several laptop models.
Now, if the affected port is soldered to the motherboard, the difficulties multiply. Technically it is possible to replace soldered ports, but that's not something the average user can do. It requires a full disassembly of the computer, a very good soldering iron, and a vacuum desoldering tool (optional, but extremely recommended), plus getting the exact part for replacement. A variant of this conflict is when the port detaches from the PCB, which is quite common in laptops (their power pins also suffer this) and in mobile devices. The video you'll see below is from 2011, but essentially it shares the entire process on a netbook:
The worst scenario is a hardware problem in the integrated USB controller. This usually manifests as a general failure in all ports of the same type (for example, only USB 2.0). If you think that's what happened, game over. The most cost-effective move is to disable the faulty USB controller in the BIOS, and add more ports to the computer with an external PCI Express controller. A simple model with two USB 3.0 ports costs less than 12 euros. If the controller is on a laptop's PCB, you'll have to be very creative with any available internal expansion port, but they'll likely offer to replace the entire motherboard. I hope this text helps you. Good luck!
