How to Fix USB Port

Level of difficulty: Intermediate

USB port or Universal Serial Bus connector is the socket to connect other devices to the computer. Some of these devices are printers, mouse, and storage drives. The device will not function unless the computer recognizes the attached device. The problem may not be on the device but on the USB port.

Materials Needed:
- PC with Windows 98 or newer Operating System
- motherboard with a USB ports
Step 1
Look for the Device Manager and access it. The location of the Device Manager is in the Control Panel.
Step 2
Locate the 'Universal Bus Controller' option from the list. Remove all the items in the Universal Serial Bus controller’s option. This will reset the USB device preference of the computer. Click on an item twice to remove it from the list. This will display a window containing the properties of the selected item.
Step 3
Locate and go to the Driver tab menu. There will be several command buttons in this menu. Look for the 'uninstall' button and click it. The computer will prompt you with a window. The displayed window is a warning message. The warning message will inform you that you are about to delete a device from the computer. Click the 'OK' button to continue deleting the device.
Step 4
Repeat the process for the other items under the Universal Serial Bus controllers. Reboot the computer after clearing the list. Windows will now detect and reinstall the attached drivers in the computer.
Step 5
Upgrade the bios of the computer if the USB is still not working. This process will involve flashing the BIOS. This will update the set instruction in it. You need to download some files for this.
Step 6
Go to the computer’s manufacturer site and look for information about what to download. This is for the reason that there are several Operating Systems. Updating the BIOS of an Operating System requires a different file for different Operating System.
Step 7
Extract the downloaded file into a floppy disk and reboot from it. The disk will launch its programs. Reboot the computer once the running programs have stopped.
Step 8
Go back to the Device Manager. Open the Universal Bus Controller. Remove the listed items and devices in it. Reboot the computer once the Universal Bus Controller has no more items. This should make the USB port usable again.