# Front usb ports have stopped working.



## Theguitarguy (Mar 1, 2006)

So my front usb devices (there are two) have stopped functioning properly. On the front of my case there is a usb/audio panel (audio part is fine since its connected elsewhere), and a flash card reader which also has an extra usb port. Each device is connected to a seperate USB header on the motherboard (MSI-RS480 if it helps).

My flash card reader used to appear as 5 different drives in explorer, now they are missing. I first noticed the problem when i inserted a flash drive and got a "usb device has malfunctioned" pop up in XP

The ports will sometimes give me a device has malfunctioned error, and sometimes they do nothing at all. They still seem to be supplying power though, flash drives will light up, as will my optical mouse. All ports on the back of the computer and my pci card work perfectly.

So what I've done so far is uninstall all my "usb root hub" entries in device manager and reboot allowing windows to reinstall them, i got back where i started, all but the front ones work fine. I also dual boot vista, so I booted into vista and have the same problem, so that leads me to believe this is just a hardware problem. I disconnected and reconnected the two devices from the jusb headers on the motherboard and rebooted and again, back where I started. I've made no significant hardware changes or even opened the case recently to have caused this, so I'm rather puzzled.

Any Ideas what I should do?


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## Theguitarguy (Mar 1, 2006)

I think i've actually solved this one myself. I googled and found someone with a similar problem, and they suggested this...

Unplug all usb devices and uninstall all usb root hubs and controllers in device manager.

Shut down, then unplug power to the computer for a while

boot and allow windows to install all drivers.

So what i did... unplugged all devices and unplugged the two front panels from the usb headers on the motherboard.

shut down and unplugged power for an hour or so

Now since I've booted the card reader shows up, and all front usb ports work, the only hitch is that one of them(the one attached to the card reader) keeps saying its only 1.1. The other two ports on the front work fine though. Oh well i can deal with the one being 1.1 for now. Unless anyone has a suggestion?

__________________


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## TheMatt (May 9, 2006)

Is the card reader USB 2.0 compatible? Does it operate in USB 1.1 mode in any other ports?


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## Theguitarguy (Mar 1, 2006)

Yea the card reader is 2.0, before it started crapping out it worked fine. I can't try it in any other ports since its internal and uses a 9 pin usb header on the motherboard.


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## TheMatt (May 9, 2006)

You might want to reinstall your chipset drivers and see if that fixes it.


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## Theguitarguy (Mar 1, 2006)

I did that since the original post. Msi-rs480 ATI chipset drivers. done that. MSI's site also has a new Bios for download, Could that help?


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