USB Ports Stopped Working

[midget22]

I run a Dell Inspiron 1525 with Vista.

I have four USB ports, none of which are working.

I have tried device uninstall/install, updating drivers, etc...with no change.  Also, in my device manager,  I am showing 5 USB Universal Host controllers and another 2 USB2 Enhanced host controllers. Again I have only 4 USB ports.

Another interesting tidbit is that about 4 weeks ago I installed a recent Windows update.  The next day when I came in to work the keyboard and mouse (both plugged into USB ports) weren't working and the message "Device not Recognized" appeared.

Any suggestions other than going "Office Space" on this thing?

[The Bubba]

You could do a system restore to a date when they were working or maybe clicking on F8 when booting up and selecting last know configuration that worked may help.

[midget22]

Thanks for the quick follow up.

You reminded me of the other step I took which didn't work.  I restored the computer to a date before I downloaded the Microsoft update to no avail.

Thanks for the suggestion.

[Allan]

You could just as easily have uninstalled the update.

Other than the update, what is different since the last time the ports worked (new hw, sw, virus, error, etc)?

[midget22]

No changes that I am aware of.  If there is a virus or something malicious, it is well hidden and doesn't seem to be affecting anything else on the computer.

It was literally an overnight issue after the updates were installed.  Nothing else on the computer is malfunctioning or even running slowly.

The USBs are even producing power (charging a phone) but isn't transferring information when it comes to the keyboard and mouse.

I haven't added any new devices to the ports, the just don't work.

And I did uninstall the update too. 

[Allan]

Device Manager shows no errors, is that correct?

Have you tried a usb drive to see if that works?

What happens in safe mode?

[Geek-9pm]

Dell Inspiron 1525.
Does not have perfect hardware.  Failure rate is right up there with other average laptops. And a hardware failure may happen with no warning, no rattles, no jerks. Just stops dead.
A used motherboard is about $150 for the Dell 1525.

[midget22]

Device manager sees no issues, but it does list an "unknown device".

USB memory stick is not recognized.

Seems like it is a hardware issue as one poster noted.

[KyFrogger]

I'm having the same problem. Device Manager shows "Unknown Device" when I insert any of my Flash Drives into any of my USB ports, but my Flash Drives work in my computer at work. The operating system is Windows XP Pro w/ (sp3). The Device Manager shoes all the ports (7) as "working properly" and "no conflicts". If any one has any suggestions I'm all ears. Thanks