None of my USB ports work

Hi there:

My wireless mouse wasn't working. I changed the battery but that wasn't the problem. Then I tried to plug in my printer, and it didn't work. I tried the mouse and the printer in all four of my USB ports and none of them worked.

I went into the Device Manager, went to the USB controllers, checked with all of the Properties, and they indicated that the drives are working fine. I tried to uninstall the drivers (as suggested in several other posts) but they wouldn't uninstall. Well, I let the uninstall run for a couple of minutes and it didn't do anything. Unless I'm not giving the uninstall enough time to do its thing, I'm kind of stuck as to what else to do.

I'm not sure if this has anything to do with it but I also can't do a shut down through the Start menu. It says that its preparing to shut down but it never does. I have to do a hard shutdown. When I noticed the USB ports weren't working, I did a (hard) shut down and then restarted. The port worked for a second then stopped.

I have a Gateway MX6960 laptop running on 2002 XP SP3.

And here's what's listed under the Universal Serial Bus controllers in my Device Manager:

Intel® 82801G (ICH7 Family) USB Universal Host Controller - 27C8
Intel® 82801G (ICH7 Family) USB Universal Host Controller - 27C9
Intel® 82801G (ICH7 Family) USB Universal Host Controller - 27CA
Intel® 82801G (ICH7 Family) USB Universal Host Controller - 27CB
Intel® 82801G (ICH7 Family) USB2 Enhanced Host Controller - 27CC
USB Root Hub
USB Root Hub
USB Root Hub
USB Root Hub
USB Root Hub

Thanks for any help you can pass my way.

Which drivers did you try to uninstall?

Try just uninstalling the 5 USB Root Hubs. Reboot and allow Windows to reinstall them. Then try your USB devices again one at a time.

Also, just a suggestion. Always try to plug the same USB device into the same port every time. Windows installs a driver for the same device every time it is plugged into a different port. After a while this can cause problems.

I would just uninstall the USB controllers...reboot and see what occurs.

Louis

Which drivers did you try to uninstall?

Try just uninstalling the 5 USB Root Hubs. Reboot and allow Windows to reinstall them. Then try your USB devices again one at a time.

Also, just a suggestion. Always try to plug the same USB device into the same port every time. Windows installs a driver for the same device every time it is plugged into a different port. After a while this can cause problems.

Thank you ThunderZ for responding.

I tried uninstalling both the controller and the root hubs. They wouldn't uninstall.

I always plug in my mouse in the same port and the printer into the same port which is a different one from the mouse.

I would just uninstall the USB controllers...reboot and see what occurs.

Louis

Thank Louis. I tried. I right clicked on the the controller name and chose "Uninstall" and it wouldn't do anything. Does it take a while to uninstall because I let it run for a couple of minutes.

I tried uninstalling both the controller and the root hubs. They wouldn't uninstall.

Have you unplugged all USB devices prior to attempting this?

This may be a bit difficult of course if all you have is a USB mouse. Do you have a PS2 mouse or one you can borrow?

Thanks so much for your feedback. I finally was able to uninstall the USB controllers. Still don't know why it wasn't letting me do it before. I didn't do anything different. I'm thinking whatever wasn't letting me shut down from the Start button was hanging up my laptop. When I finally did a normal shut down, it unlocked the USB controller uninstall. That cleared up the problem.

Thanks again. This topic can be closed.