# USB ports stopped working on windows 8.1



## sioneds (Aug 29, 2014)

I updated to 8.1 a few months ago and everythings been fine until now, I haven't downloaded anything at all lately except borderlands 2 from steam which i was playing w/ a wireless USB mouse, until my laptop gave me a low battery warning so i closed it without turning it off and put it to a side.


Later I put the laptop on charge and opened it w/ my ipod charger and USB mouse attached and the ports just weren't working.
I booted the laptop into diagnostic mode and the ports worked, i could use the mouse and my iPod was charging. I ran tests on all 3 ports to and all 3 passed, but when i boot the pc into normal mode they don't work at all
I've turned off the USB selective suspend setting
I've tried updating all the drivers for the USB ports (but im not sure how successfully)
I've done a system restore to 2 days ago but still no change

I think the ports are all USB 2.0 but i'm not 100% sure, here are some screenshots of my device manager


























Yeah this is a really annoying problem and i've been googling ways to fix it for hours but nothing is seeming to work. I know the ports are all fine because they worked perfectly in diagnostic mode, but i just can figure out why they're not working in normal mode. I've seen people complain about having the same problem after updating to 8.1 but i havent updated at all, this problem has just come out of no where. Any help would be much appreciated.


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## Old Rich (May 31, 2007)

and welcome to the Forum

What Brand and Model is this laptop?


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## sioneds (Aug 29, 2014)

HP 250 G1 Notebook PC


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## Old Rich (May 31, 2007)

Go to the HP support site and reinstall the Chipset driver . . 

HP Drivers and Downloads for Printers, Scanners and More | HP ® Support


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## sioneds (Aug 29, 2014)

also later on my pc cam up w this message:









I installed the drivers its on about and restarted my computer but still no change


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## Old Rich (May 31, 2007)

Are you connected to the modem via USB ??


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## sioneds (Aug 29, 2014)

Downloaded both Intel Chipset Installation Utility and Driver & Intel Management Engine Interface (MEI) Driver and installed + restarted but no change


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## sioneds (Aug 29, 2014)

Do u mean directly to the wireless modem? no, i use wifi


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## Old Rich (May 31, 2007)

Is the wifi card USB?


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## sioneds (Aug 29, 2014)

I'm not sure?? My wifi is still working while the USB ports arent so i'm assuming not.. but idk enough about the subject to answer definately??


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## Old Rich (May 31, 2007)

Back to the USB issue . . right click on each of the problematic devices and select uninstall . . then reboot to let Windows "discover" the devices and load the drivers


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## sioneds (Aug 29, 2014)

did it, only change is that rather than 'USB Root Hub' they're both coming up as unknown device:


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## Old Rich (May 31, 2007)

Did the HP drivers include anything related to USB??


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## sioneds (Aug 29, 2014)

Not that i can see, there was a section that mentioned Input devices or something but i think they were just drivers for the touchpad and keyboard


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## sioneds (Aug 29, 2014)

Update: i've just realised my inbuilt webcam isnt working either (not showing up in device mgr at all)


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## Rich-M (May 2, 2007)

I think this issue is all due to Windows 8 (or 8.1) not totally shutting down. I just had this exact issue with a client on the phone 2 days ago. Shutdown the pc then after you do that hold the power button down for more than 4 seconds. Wait 5 minutes then restart and I bet issue is all gone.


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## sioneds (Aug 29, 2014)

Still not working, but now my 'unknown' section in device manager looks like this:


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## Rich-M (May 2, 2007)

Did you shut down totally?


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## sioneds (Aug 29, 2014)

I shut down using the option on the start screen, waited until all lights went off, turned back on by holdin the button down over 4 seconds (it booted up while i was pushing the button down) waited 5 mins then restarted?


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## Rich-M (May 2, 2007)

No not exactly. I want you to shut down by the screen and then hold the button in for more than 4 seconds and let it go to make sure it is totally down. If it tries to startup while you are holding the button down it should not while the button is down if you keep holding it. I just want to be sure it is completely off for 5 minutes which I don't think happens simply by the Start screen shutting it down.


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## sioneds (Aug 29, 2014)

Still no change


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## Rich-M (May 2, 2007)

OK time to go to mfgr website and update to newest bios. This sounds like hardware issue and I would bet there is a bios flash that fixes it as I have had a few Gigabyte motherboards do the same thing and there were bios flashes that fixed it.


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## pjmoy (Jul 26, 2015)

sioneds, did you follow Rich-M's instructions, and what happened?

Cheers,
Peter


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## pjmoy (Jul 26, 2015)

nvm, the 5 second, 5 min. power down described earlier worked for me, tg, as I was not looking forward to flashing a bios that was only 6 months old.

Rich-M: thanks!


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## Rich-M (May 2, 2007)

That is good news as bios flashes I only suggest when you have a newer bios that mentions resolving an issue you currently have, otherwise I never suggest doing so as one false move and you have a brick for a motherboard.


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