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Laptop's USB port getting squirrelly

Bobbo
Explorer II
Explorer II
I have a Dell laptop that is 4 years old. The USB ports have always responded quickly in the past, but for the past month, it has taken up to 3 or 4 minutes to recognize a USB drive. I thought, at first, the USB drive had gone bad, so I replaced it. It does the same thing with my new USB drive. It also does it with my Garmin GPS. I have 3 USB ports on the computer, and they all seem to do it.

I went to the DEVICE DRIVER page in SETTINGS and opened the link with the USB ports. I clicked on every one of them and told it to update the driver, but they all said that the drivers were up to date.

Any suggestions?
Bobbo and Lin
2017 F-150 XLT 4x4 SuperCab w/Max Tow Package 3.5l EcoBoost V6
2017 Airstream Flying Cloud 23FB
11 REPLIES 11

Bobbo
Explorer II
Explorer II
APT wrote:
AVG is good. Check out Malware bytes as well.

I run MalwareBytes about every year or so. I am about due.
Bobbo and Lin
2017 F-150 XLT 4x4 SuperCab w/Max Tow Package 3.5l EcoBoost V6
2017 Airstream Flying Cloud 23FB

APT
Explorer
Explorer
AVG is good. Check out Malware bytes as well.
A & A parents of DD 2005, DS1 2007, DS2 2009
2011 Suburban 2500 6.0L 3.73 pulling 2011 Heartland North Trail 28BRS
2017 Subaru Outback 3.6R
2x 2023 Chevrolet Bolt EUV (Gray and Black Twins)

RedRocket204
Explorer
Explorer
Personally, I would take this opportunity to back-up all your documents, make note of which programs you use that you installed and then wipe the laptop and do a fresh install of Windows 7... assuming you have Windows 7 install. Of course this will take a bit of time to complete but it is almost always worth it.

It is always wise to do a fresh install every couple of years or so, especially with Windows.
I love me some land yachting

shastagary
Explorer
Explorer
go to dells website in the support section enter your model number of your laptop and go to the driver page for it and download the usb driver and reinstall it.
the driver on your laptop may be corrupted evan though it says there is not a update.

Bobbo
Explorer II
Explorer II
Windows 7 running AVG Free that scans the computer every Friday.
Bobbo and Lin
2017 F-150 XLT 4x4 SuperCab w/Max Tow Package 3.5l EcoBoost V6
2017 Airstream Flying Cloud 23FB

APT
Explorer
Explorer
I think it is some kind of software that is scanning the drives and not an hardware problem. What operating system are you using? If Windows, what version? When was the last time you scanned for viruses and malware?
A & A parents of DD 2005, DS1 2007, DS2 2009
2011 Suburban 2500 6.0L 3.73 pulling 2011 Heartland North Trail 28BRS
2017 Subaru Outback 3.6R
2x 2023 Chevrolet Bolt EUV (Gray and Black Twins)

Bobbo
Explorer II
Explorer II
Jim@HiTek wrote:
The OTHER, more likely reason, is that the Laptop hasn't been thoroughly cleaned in quite a while and it's choked with dust. This causes heat to build up and many custom chips have auto shutdown due to overheating. The USB management chip could be one of them that's overheating, sending a 'paused' signal to the CPU.

So open the case and clean out all the dust, pay particular attention to the heat sinks and fan.

Leaving the first thing in the morning for a weekend camping trip. I will open the case Sunday evening or Monday. (Who loves Mondays? RETIRED PEOPLE!)
Bobbo and Lin
2017 F-150 XLT 4x4 SuperCab w/Max Tow Package 3.5l EcoBoost V6
2017 Airstream Flying Cloud 23FB

Chris_Bryant
Explorer
Explorer
Do all ports act the same?- Ah, never mind, I see they do.
I would bet hardware issue. You could boot an Ubuntu or Linux Mint CD and see if they work better on that- eliminate a software/driver/OS issue.
-- Chris Bryant

RJsfishin
Explorer
Explorer
Mite be the usb port socket itself. One of mine is completely unusable, just plain wore out,.....along w/ the headphone socket is junk too,....not to mention the broken hinge, and broken corners of the screen,....a Dell LT that has never been dropped,....or abused,....7 yrs old, but is the worst LT I ever had.
Rich

'01 31' Rexall Vision, Generac 5.5k, 1000 watt Honda, PD 9245 conv, 300 watts Solar, 150 watt inv, 2 Cos 6v batts, ammeters, led voltmeters all over the place, KD/sat, 2 Oly Cat heaters w/ ox, and towing a 2012 Liberty, Lowe bass boat, or a Kawi Mule.

Jim
Explorer
Explorer
The chips that run the USB ports do go bad. And the way they go bad causes an error bit to be sent to the CPU. The CPU recognizes that the fault isn't enough to cause a full system shutdown that was so popular in the past (blue screen of death) so it just shuts down the port, goes about it's business, comes back sometime (milliseconds) later and checks the port manager again. Keeps doing this forever.

The OTHER, more likely reason, is that the Laptop hasn't been thoroughly cleaned in quite a while and it's choked with dust. This causes heat to build up and many custom chips have auto shutdown due to overheating. The USB management chip could be one of them that's overheating, sending a 'paused' signal to the CPU.

So open the case and clean out all the dust, pay particular attention to the heat sinks and fan.

That's the likely hardware reasons. Software reasons occur as well.
Jim@HiTek
Have shop, will travel!
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enblethen
Nomad
Nomad
Sounds like a bug!
Might try un-installing the USB, then re-booting.

Bud
USAF Retired
Pace Arrow


2003 Chev Ice Road Tracker