Solved! USB only partially working

[steinein]

I have an Acer Aspire E 15 (E-576-392H). It is about two years old.

A few days ago two of the three USB ports stopped working. I've gone into Device Manager, deleted them, refreshed, rebooted, etc. Device Manager says I have the most recent drivers and that the ports are operating properly.

I had let Win10 do an update so I reversed it, still no change.

What I've since discovered is that items that get power from the port (mouse, keyboard) don't work, but one that runs on external power (SATA to USB dock) is recognized and will operate as designed.

I have tested the mouse and keyboard independently and they are operational.

Would the cause be something that I can easily fix within Windows or will I need to open it up and check cables etc.? If the latter, what should I be looking for?

If it helps in diagnosis, just prior to finding the ports having issues I had noticed that the left front side where two of the three ports are had been running a little hot (and it isn't now so I wonder if something burned out). But one of the working ports is there and the other malfunctioning one is on the right front.

Thanks!

 

[AlHuneke]

Usually, the USB connectors are soldered directly to the motherboard so there are no cables involved. I would not advise opening up the machine as your won't be able to change any components yourself and can end up just damaging something else.

I would check the Acer web site for updates to your machine (such as the BIOS). It likely won't help, but try a clean Windows install (if you send the machine off for service they will likely reformat you disk and you will lose everything anyway so you need to back up.

You probably need to send the machine into Acer for service. Another option is to get a USB hub and use that with your single working USB port. That would be simplest!

 

[steinein]

Usually, the USB connectors are soldered directly to the motherboard so there are no cables involved. I would not advise opening up the machine as your won't be able to change any components yourself and can end up just damaging something else.

I would check the Acer web site for updates to your machine (such as the BIOS). It likely won't help, but try a clean Windows install (if you send the machine off for service they will likely reformat you disk and you will lose everything anyway so you need to back up.

You probably need to send the machine into Acer for service. Another option is to get a USB hub and use that with your single working USB port. That would be simplest!

Ugh. That is not what I wanted to hear, but thanks for the reply.