USB Ports Not Working

None of the USB ports work anymore on my HP EliteBook 2540p laptop which is running Windows 7 Pro SP1. By "not working," I mean if I try plugging in a thumbdrive or external HDD it does nothing whereas they work perfectly on other machines. I've tried just about everything and no luck. It gets stuck and doesn't complete the process if I try from the device-manager to uninstall, update, or scan for changes concerning the drivers. I've also tried to use the MicrosoftFixIt tool which just hangs there and does nothing as well. I've left things running overnight with each of these attempts and it just hangs there endlessly. The properties for each port claim the device is working properly. Please, help me figure out how to get my USB ports working again!

Edit #1 - I have tried booting off my Fedora LiveCD and the USB ports work fine which indicates that it doesn't seem to be a hardware issue. I need to get the ports working again in Windows though.

Edit #2 - I tried using the Microsoft USB View tool, but don't know how to interpret the output. Anyhow, when I plug in my thumbdrive a yellow circle with an exclamation mark comes up for that USB port and it says "DeviceConnected." Here is the full output in case anyone can make sense of it and determine what problem(s) may exist:

Device Descriptor:
bcdUSB:             0x0200
bDeviceClass:         0x00
bDeviceSubClass:      0x00
bDeviceProtocol:      0x00
bMaxPacketSize0:      0x40 (64)
idVendor:           0x8564
idProduct:          0x1000
bcdDevice:          0x0100
iManufacturer:        0x01
0x0409: "JetFlash"
iProduct:             0x02
0x0409: "Mass Storage Device"
iSerialNumber:        0x03
0x0409: "VYWCFQTO"
bNumConfigurations:   0x01

ConnectionStatus: DeviceConnected
Current Config Value: 0x00
Device Bus Speed:     High
Device Address:       0x05
Open Pipes:              0

Configuration Descriptor:
wTotalLength:       0x0020
bNumInterfaces:       0x01
bConfigurationValue:  0x01
iConfiguration:       0x00
bmAttributes:         0x80 (Bus Powered )
MaxPower:             0x32 (100 Ma)

Interface Descriptor:
bInterfaceNumber:     0x00
bAlternateSetting:    0x00
bNumEndpoints:        0x02
bInterfaceClass:      0x08
bInterfaceSubClass:   0x06
bInterfaceProtocol:   0x50
iInterface:           0x00

Endpoint Descriptor:
bEndpointAddress:     0x01  OUT
Transfer Type:        Bulk
wMaxPacketSize:     0x0200 (512)
bInterval:            0x00

Endpoint Descriptor:
bEndpointAddress:     0x82  IN
Transfer Type:        Bulk
wMaxPacketSize:     0x0200 (512)
bInterval:            0x00

Edit #3 - I used the ServiWin tool and discovered that the USBSTOR service is stopped and I am unable to manually start it. It states the error message: "Error 1058: The service cannot be started, either because it is disabled or because it has no enabled devices associated with it."

Here are my registry settings for it:

Edit #4 - I used the USB Oblivion tool which erases all traces of USB devices from the Windows registry. I figured it might help flush out any corrupted data that might be causing problems.

THE DOCTOR

Posted 2013-12-19T18:22:52.597

Reputation: 191

Check to see if your system is allowed to install drivers perhaps: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2500967

– Jeff F. – 2013-12-23T17:11:46.600

@Jeff F. - It is set to automatically install drivers. – THE DOCTOR – 2013-12-23T18:09:18.810

I mean if I try plugging in a thumbdrive or external HDD it does nothing Define “nothing”. Does it make the bing-bong sound? Have you tried other USB devices like keyboards, mice, USB lamps, etc.? Do the LEDs on the flash-drives or other devices turn on when you plug them in? – Synetech – 2013-12-23T19:08:39.983

If I plug in a thumbdrive for example - it lights up, makes no sound whatsoever, and the drive doesn't show in Windows Explorer nor is it accessible from the command prompt. Same happens with other thumbdrives and my external hdd. I tried plugging in the receiver for my wireless mouse and it didn't work at all. – THE DOCTOR – 2013-12-23T19:37:08.890

I tried plugging in the receiver for my wireless mouse and it didn't work at all. Then you can ignore the premature answers that mention fiddling with USBSTOR since that is obviously not the problem. It seems like Windows is somehow ignoring your USB ports. You used a device-manager tag, yet said nothing about what you see in it. Are there any warnings or errors? – Synetech – 2013-12-23T19:46:42.800

@Synetech - I mentioned in my first paragraph how I attempted to uninstall, update, and scan for changes concerning the drivers. I updated this to clarify that it was from the device-manager that I tried that. No warnings or errors. Just a window with a progress bar that stayed there for 24+ hrs with each of those attempts. – THE DOCTOR – 2013-12-23T20:32:38.963

No warnings or errors So nothing like this? Just a window with a progress bar that stayed there What window, this one? Take a screenshot and add it to the question. – Synetech – 2013-12-23T20:56:45.497

@Synetech - I just attempted to uninstall the drivers from the device-manager again and this time it allowed me to do it. When I rebooted, Windows automatically reinstalled the drivers and my USB ports work once again!!! When I tried to do this before, it wouldn't uninstall (even after rebooting). I guess that one of the other troubleshooting steps I took may have fixed whatever it was that wouldn't let me uninstall the drivers before. – THE DOCTOR – 2013-12-23T21:13:11.113

So the external drives and mice and such are being picked up and installed correctly? Did you have any devices plugged in while it wasn’t working? It won’t let you uninstall them if they are plugged in/in use. Instead, it will just mark them for removal on the next reboot. This means you also won’t be abel to (re-)install them because they are still present. – Synetech – 2013-12-23T21:21:24.730

I should mention my wireless mouse and keyboard are connected via USB ports on a KVM switch and would therefore not be affected by the issues I was having. I moved the mouse receiver to a port on the laptop to test it when you suggested it. It is possible that I had something plugged in when I tried to uninstall the drivers before...I can't recall at this point. The important thing is that it's fixed at long last. – THE DOCTOR – 2013-12-23T21:28:53.900

Answers

On several of our older Dell desktop machines, we have had this same problem. My solution was to go into Device Manager and delete all the USB controllers and hubs. Reboot to allow Windows to re-discover the hardware and reload the drivers. This problem occurs maybe twice a year and this procedure fixes it each time.

user76732

Posted 2013-12-19T18:22:52.597

Reputation: 573

I've tried this, but unfortunately it doesn't allow me to delete any of them and instead the progress window just hung there for over a day when I tried to. – THE DOCTOR – 2013-12-23T20:47:48.813

@THEDOCTOR, had you rebooted though? It sounds like you had missed that step which was critical. If un-intalling the USB devices from the Device Manager and letting Windows re-install and re-initialize them was the key, then this guy should get the credit (and bounty). 76732 was the first one to say it; their answer was 20 minutes even before my comment. (harrymc just copied what others said about the Device Manager into his own answer after you had confirmed it helped; his actual response was just an unrelated guess.)

– Synetech – 2013-12-23T22:31:58.357

@Synetech - I did reboot before once or twice before today and it was still getting stuck when I tried to uninstall the drivers. Right you are about credit for the answer. My bad. Thanks for tracking that down. – THE DOCTOR – 2013-12-23T23:05:35.237

Out of curiosity, what was the dialog that kept hanging? Was it this one? It’s good when a problem gets fixed, but if it happened “on its own”, then it leaves you vulnerable to it happening again. If you can identify the dialog that was hanging, then maybe the reason can still be explained and the information prove useful for the next time you run into it. ;-)

– Synetech – 2013-12-23T23:08:36.170

@Synetech: I had copied nothing - I had not read the other answers. Please don't insult. – harrymc – 2013-12-24T09:54:16.797

@harymc If you say so. I guess it was just a coincidence that you had originally posted a random guess which was incorrect, and suddenly added a mention of the device-manager at the last minute, after others had mentioned it, and only after the OP confirmed that it worked. Sorry I drew the wrong conclusion from such strong evidence. Also sorry for saying that the right person should get credit. – Synetech – 2013-12-24T15:20:28.513

@Synetech - I can't see the image unfortunately since our stupid web-filter here at work blocks it. I don't think the stuck dialog box was relevant to the solution, but that the drivers or a setting associated with them became corrupted. I can't recall what may have caused this issue, but I intend to be careful so it doesn't happen again. I'm going to edit my question with an additional step I took while troubleshooting that I seem to have left out involving use of a tool called USB Oblivion. I'm thinking it cleaned up whatever was causing things to get stuck with uninstalling the drivers. – THE DOCTOR – 2013-12-24T18:22:21.347

Look in c:\windows\inf (ensure you can see hidden and system files) and see if you can find the two files named usbstor.inf and usbstor.pnf.

If they are missing, you need to restore/replace them.

Copies of these files may be found in C:\Windows\System32\DriverStore\FileRepository inside a folder named usbstor.inf_xxxxxxxx. If more than one such folder exists, use the folder with the latest (newest) date.

Create a System Restore point first and reboot afterwards. If the above doesn't work and the problem is recent enough, you could rollback Windows to a time that the USB ports did work.

You could also verify using regedit that the key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\USBSTOR has an entry named Start whose value is 3.

See also if there is anything useful in the Event Viewer.

You could also try the oldest remedy of them all : Uninstall all the USB hubs from the Device Manager and then reboot.

harrymc

Posted 2013-12-19T18:22:52.597

Reputation: 306 093

1Both of those files exist in the folder you mentioned and were last modified in 2011, so it doesn't look like they were corrupted or anything. As shown in the above screenshot of my registry, the Start value is already set to 3. – THE DOCTOR – 2013-12-23T19:32:01.727

Not to mention the USB mouse doesn’t work, so it is obviously NOT the USBSTOR service that’s the problem. – Synetech – 2013-12-23T19:44:43.370

Anything useful in the Event Viewer? Have you tried to uninstall all the USB hubs in device manager then reboot? – harrymc – 2013-12-23T20:03:14.037

@harrymc - The event viewer doesn't tell me anything new. It just says that "The USB Mass Storage Driver service failed to start due to the following error: The service cannot be started, either because it is disabled or because it has no enabled devices associated with it." I have tried uninstalling the USB hubs from the device-manager as mentioned in the 1st paragraph of my question and it just hangs there with a progress bar for 24+ hours. After that, I figured it wasn't doing any good and I killed it from the task manager. – THE DOCTOR – 2013-12-23T20:44:57.497

@THEDOCTOR, it’s not starting the service because as it says, it has no associated devices to load it for, and that’s because your USB ports are off. – Synetech – 2013-12-23T20:52:07.807

I see from the comment above that the device manager trick finally did the job. – harrymc – 2013-12-23T21:16:33.493

Thanks! I've been struggling with this for about 2 weeks and it's a huge relief to have it fixed. Also, interesting to note that now the USBSTOR service shows as "Started." – THE DOCTOR – 2013-12-23T21:24:53.320

@THEDOCTOR, that’s not really a surprise; like I said, it won’t start the service if there’s no associated devices. – Synetech – 2013-12-23T22:22:25.667

Windows tends to slowly resolve problems with peripherals across reboots. Maybe the delete in Device Manager worked just because you have rebooted a few times. – harrymc – 2013-12-24T08:14:15.923

Assuming the BIOS does not provide a way to disable USB, and you have checked to ensure they've not been disabled in the BIOS...

Boot to a 3rd-party OS (a current Linux LiveCD of some kind should do it) -- Do the USB ports work? If not, then you have a hardware issue and you need to get your notebook repaired.

Also, the BIOS should detect, and will most likely show you (bootable) USB drives in the boot-order menu. If they don't show up there then, again, it signifies dead USB ports -- a hardware issue -- time to take it in for repair.

If these ways can detect the USB drives, and they work, then your Windows is messed up and it's probably best/easiest to back it up and try a fresh install.

Ƭᴇcʜιᴇ007

Posted 2013-12-19T18:22:52.597

Reputation: 103 763

I've determined it's not a hardware issue. A fresh install isn't a very good option for me given that this is a work laptop with a lot set up on it which would be a royal pain to reinstall/reconfigure. Isn't there some other way I can attempt to fix my USB ports without having to reinstall Windows? – THE DOCTOR – 2013-12-23T16:41:37.017

How did you determine is not a hardware problem? Did you check/try any of the things I've suggested here? – Ƭᴇcʜιᴇ007 – 2013-12-23T16:50:45.443

Yes, the ports work just fine when I boot off my Fedora LiveCD. – THE DOCTOR – 2013-12-23T16:55:54.837

You should edit your original question to include that information, as well as anything else you've already tried, and what the results were. – Ƭᴇcʜιᴇ007 – 2013-12-23T16:56:54.967

We've had this issue for some time in our enterprise.

The best method thus far has been to...

C:\windows\system32\drivers (you may need to show hidden files) take ownership of all USB.sys files.

Rename them to .old in Device manager, uninstall the failing USB devices and delete driver software if presented with that option.

While still in Device Manager, go to "Action" and then click on "Scan for hardware changes". After the system installs clean drivers, you may have to manually install the USB 3.0 Extensible Host Controller on Dell laptops.

If it throws an error about incompatibility, you will have to extract the contents to a folder on the hard disk drive and point Device Manager to it.

Randy

Posted 2013-12-19T18:22:52.597

Reputation: 1

This duplicates the accepted answer and adds no new content. Please don't post an answer unless you actually have something new to contribute. – DavidPostill – 2016-05-24T23:06:54.170

I just battled a similar problem, and I like to take a note on this topic.

In my case, the two Safenet USB authentication keys stops working after a reboot, and further checks show that all USB ports have stopped working. In devmgmt.msc, both PCI USB Host Controllers have alert signs on them, and the Intel® USB 3.0 Extensible Host Controller also have warning signs. Keyboards, USB drives, etc... Nothing works.

What didn't work

Apparently this has nothing to do with a specific USB device driver. I tried uninstall, reinstall, update the USB host controllers drivers, and rebooted various times. I also updated the EMI driver out of despair. Nothing worked.

What worked:

Try to sort things out, starting from inspecting the drivers loaded.

Clicking on the Driver Details button on Host Controller's Driver tab, a list of all the driver files related to the current driver is displayed.

From there I noticed all the other files have been signed, and only one entry, USBPcap.sys, is not a signed driver. Someone installed a Wireshark USB sniffing driver onto the development server. After removing this driver in appwiz.cpl, a quick reboot solved everything.

What is not solved

I still don't know how Wireshark's driver survived all those uninstall reinstall cycles, and got loaded as usual. These software drivers don't have an device entry in devmgmt.msc, and it's very easy to neglect their existence.

If you have a malfunctioning USB Host Controller that doesn't work after driver update, etc., unlike me who went on a wild goose chase, one really should check the actually loaded drivers first.

Ben

Posted 2013-12-19T18:22:52.597

Reputation: 103

Have you found a solution yet? If not let's get down to basics...You need to run the System File Scan (SFC /SCANNOW) in case you have Windows 7 System file damage. If that doesn't fix the problem, and you'd lose too much with System Restore (which is usually the situation) to an earlier date/time, you really do need to reinstall Windows. But wait!

You don't need to do a fresh install.

It's a lengthy process (not as long as a fresh install) but, do what many call a 'REPAIR' install. This option will keep your programs & data without loss. Have your motherboard driver disk handy, or know where to locate the drivers in your download folder; you may need them. I've used it many times for this type of problem, which is usually system file or Registry damage with no apparent solution. It can be a tedious process, with several Microsoft gotchu's, so you need to Google 'Windows 7 repair installation' for detailed instructions, before you start and print it for reference during the process. The variations are almost endless and Microsoft doesn't make it easy! I checked this site for links for this process, but I couldn't find one!

Microsoft confuses most and call this option an 'UPDATE'. It's both in fact. It refreshes the Registry & scans ALL the hardware during the repair/update. The repair will ask for your Windows 'Key' and when done, 'Authentication' again.

Be sure to do a mirror of your system disk, and make a repair disk if you don't have one already, before you start, for recovery in case of problems. Making the Windows 7 mirror/backup is easy and fast.

You will need a second HDD already installed, for the mirror, since you can't connect a USB. Or use any offline backup software with an image capability. Don't bother trying to use DVDs for the mirror. You need way too many.

Also be sure to run a full anti virus (AV) scan using Windows Defender Offline, (it's actually MSE) AND the FREE OFFLINE Malwarebytes or Kaspersky's free full OFFLINE scan (with the Network connected for the latest updates) in case you've picked up a root kit which the online versions of most AVs won't find with Windows running.

Run TWO versions of an AV scan since very few will find all infections in one pass on their own! You can find all the software I've referenced, using Google or your preferred search engine. If a virus has infected the system, and you don't run an AV scan, the Windows 7 Repair will also be infected. It's also a good move to run a full chkdsk (all five passes), on the disk(s), to make sure there's no logic problems or sector damage after the AV scan & before the Windows 7 repair.

The Repair option will of course necessitate an SP re-installation and all Windows 7 patch updates again. During each of the above steps, before the Repair is started, check to see if the USB devices are working again. It's a long shot, but you never know!

You will need a fair bit of spare system HDD empty space. The repair creates a backup in a C:\windows.old folder to recover things that might have gone missing after the repair. If everything looks OK, you can delete this folder.

Huntsman

Posted 2013-12-19T18:22:52.597

Reputation: 21

Thanks for your answer. The problem has been resolved by user76732's suggestion to uninstall the USB drivers and reboot. – THE DOCTOR – 2013-12-26T16:49:09.323