# lost usb ports on Gateway Notebook



## wolftrax (Feb 3, 2007)

I have all of a sudden lost my usb ports on my Gateway Notebook. I tried several suggestion (i.e. power cycle by turning off notebook unplugging pwr cord and removing battery) this recovered two of the four usb ports. Any suggestions on recovering the other two?? I receive an error saying one of my usb devices failed.... could not recognize...


++ Lost without all of my usb ports ++


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## TheMatt (May 9, 2006)

Hi,

Do the devices in the nonworking USB ports light up to show they are receiving power? Also, what is the exact error message you receive, and when do you receive it?


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## wolftrax (Feb 3, 2007)

*lost usb ports*

Hi,

No, My jump drive does not indicate power and no LED illumination. The other usb port that is not functional does not display an error message or anything. The error message is as follows:

"*USB Device Not Recognized*

One of the USB devices attached to this computer has malfunctioned and windows does not recognize it.
For assistance in solving this problem, click this message"


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## TheMatt (May 9, 2006)

Does this message come on the ports you said you got working? The ones that don't light up are not receiving power, so they won't work.

Check in device manager to see if any devices have yellow !'s next to them. As for the ones that don't provide power, you should contact the manufacturer, as it will not be easy to fix that problem.


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## wolftrax (Feb 3, 2007)

*lost usb ports*

The two ports that I got to work, work fine now. They function as expected.

I shuld have posted all of the activity I did prior to posting here.

I had uninstalled all of the host ports and controllers. Upon reboot they all loaded and there were no warning or symbols indicating they were not functional in Device Manager. The only time I receive an error is when I plug a device in. Then it states the driver is not installed. When I did a driver update or even a driver roll back it stated the drivers loaded was the latest. Go figure. The notebook is 2+ years old so I will see what the manufacturer will do.

Thanks for your help.


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## TheMatt (May 9, 2006)

Does it pop up the Add New Hardware wizard? There is a trick I found that can point Windows to the correct drivers if for some reason it isn't aware of its own. 

I found this after a weird problem on my laptop. All my USB ports worked with all my flash drives, but only one USB port worked with my mouse. Every other port I plugged it into, Windows insisted it didn't have the drivers, but once I pointed it to them, it worked fine in the previously not working ports.

I will post the steps tomorrow, It is getting kind of late and I have to go to school tomorrow.


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## akkie (Feb 8, 2007)

This is exactly the same problem im having and I have eight ports all of which did work and now they dont ..same error as the thread started...anyone care to help Matt?? The soloution please that worked for you would be greatly accepted...


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## TheMatt (May 9, 2006)

Sorry. Here is what to do:

____________________

First, run Windows Update. Go to http://update.microsoft.com. Install all the updates it finds. It may ask to restart, but do not do so yet.

Reboot, and right before the XP screen is supposed to appear, press and hold F8 until you get a boot menu. Then, select Safe Mode with networking.

Once you log on, plug your device in. Hopefully, it will not recognize it, and it will pop up with the Add New Hardware Wizard. If it doesn't, go into the device manager and click Install.

When you get the add new hardware wizard, say you are connected to the internet (only if you are). Then, on the next screen, select Install the Driver from a specific location. 

On the next screen, un-check the box labeled Search Removable Media and put a check in the box labeled Include this Location in the Search. For the location, choose "C:\WINDOWS\inf\" (if the "inf" folder does not appear, go into Start > Settings > Control Panel > Folder Options > View > Show Hidden Files and Folders) Then, click next. It should find the driver.

If it doesn't, un-check the box labeled Include this Location in the Search, and put a check in the box labeled Search Removable Media. Now, pop in the CD that came with the device if there is one. Have it search that.

Once it has found the driver, reboot and go back in normally. If it boots up in safe mode by default, press F8 in the same way as before, and select Start Windows Normally. Now plug in your device and see if Windows recognizes it.
_______________

Now let it search, and it should copy some things, and then it should recognize the device. You may have to do this with all the other USB ports to get them to work.


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## wolftrax (Feb 3, 2007)

The Matt and akkie,

I finally broke down and performed a destructive disk restore from my partitioned D: drive and this didn't fix the problem to my surprise. I finally checked my Best Buy psp (extended warranty) and there was still warrantly time so I delivered my notebook to the Geek Squad and they had to replace the motherboard and usb board. THAT FIXED THE PROBLEM and let me tell you that the disk restore sure brought my notebook back to an efficient piece of hardware. I was not really that aware of how slow and sluggish it was operating until now.

The MATT .... :wave: Thanks for your continued support through this ( I actually learned a few things from our messaging) and keep up the good work.

Wolftrax


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## katemod (Feb 6, 2008)

hi there... I realize this is an old thread but I am getting the exact same error message on my gateway desktop- running vista... please help- it won't recognize my ipod or canon camera and the first time I got the error messgae my mouse broke and I had to get a new one... so frustrating... any advice? 
Thanks very much!!



TheMatt said:


> Sorry. Here is what to do:
> 
> ____________________
> 
> ...


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## wolftrax (Feb 3, 2007)

Thanks. I elected to go a better route. I purchased a MacBook Pro and dropped all interests in windows operating systems. I was fortunate enough to have purchased a PSP from BEst Buy and they gave me a full refund on what I paid for the Gateway. Cha Ching


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## bhahar84 (Jan 7, 2008)

Hi katemod!! :wave:

Welcome to TSF :wave:


Did you already tried to install all the drivers that came with your iPod and canon camera on your computer?


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## akkie (Feb 8, 2007)

OK I got round this by doing this...turn off pc..then unplug pc from wall..turn back on and voila my usb devices got recognised..thanks for the replys to my thread...when I get a good job I will donate to this site as its very much needed for a noob like me....hope this helps others to get there usb devices to work.

Thanks matt for the soloution you gave ive now saved that info to floppy for future use incase it fails again....you sure know your stuff man.

akkie


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## katemod (Feb 6, 2008)

:lol: off to try this!! thanks so much,
kate


akkie said:


> OK I got round this by doing this...turn off pc..then unplug pc from wall..turn back on and voila my usb devices got recognised..thanks for the replys to my thread...when I get a good job I will donate to this site as its very much needed for a noob like me....hope this helps others to get there usb devices to work.
> 
> Thanks matt for the soloution you gave ive now saved that info to floppy for future use incase it fails again....you sure know your stuff man.
> 
> akkie


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## katemod (Feb 6, 2008)

Akkie-
Thank you thank you thank you-

that seemd to have worked- to think I was getting aniety over having to either reload drivers etc or bring the tower some place and all I did was unplug!!

Thanks so much!!


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## Bestfuture (Jul 22, 2010)

After I updated from windows xp to windows 7 everything worked fine till I downloaded all the new drivers and when I had to reboot the notebook. I have lost all my usb ports,no sound and no network drivers on my Gateway Notebook LT20 Series . I tried several suggestion (i.e. power cycle by turning off notebook unplugging pwr cord and removing battery) still nothing.Any suggestions on getting my notebook back and running?? I can't even download drivers manually because my USB flash drive is not recognized from usb ports, Please help how I can fix this problem??????...


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