Page 1 of My USB Ports Not Working Properly?

I have a strange USB Port problem! I have a 5 year old home built machine running Windows 7 32bit. Lately the USB ports on the front and back of the machine are not working properly with external hard drives? USB powered or mains powered. They are recognised but the folders are either empty or if I click on a file to view it, it freezes the drive?

The ports are working fine for USB sticks though?

I have removed the USB controllers and let the system re-install them again, but its no better?

I would format the drive and re-install windows but I have not backed-up all my videos I want and my system restore has been disabled?

Can anyone recommend anything to try before I start removing stuff!

Any help appreciated

This item was edited on Sunday, 19th May 2013, 09:42

When this happens in the past I've fixed it by opening device manager and uninstalling all the USB devices then redetecting them. But you have to be careful if your keyboard or mouse is USB to not leave yourself stuck with no control. :)

You can usually just unplug no replug the keyb/mouse when that happens tho.

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Thanks for the tip but I`ve already done that. I did loose my mouse and keyboard controls and had to re-start the PC!!
Still the same though :(

This item was edited on Monday, 20th May 2013, 19:21

Hmm, from re-reading your post it sounds less like a USB specific problem.

If the drives are actually showing up in Explorer, but empty, I'd try booting up to a Linux LiveCD and seeing if they have data on them then. If they do, then you know it's likely to be a Windows specific issue, otherwise your problem may be the actual hardware.


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All the external drives work fine on my windows 7 laptop though?

Well that's a good sign, is it possible the files on them are marked as hidden/system and you have view hidden files enabled on the desktop and not laptop?

Also might be worth seeing if you have any AV software on one that isn't on the other which might be interfering somehow.


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