Hi, So I am putting a new PC together for my friend (Gigabyte GA-EP31-DS3L, E2180, 2GB RAM and a 9600GT) Everything thing works perfectly (Hard drives load up, monitor has a picture, all fans are running, CD drives work ect) Except for the USB ports. None of them, including the ones on the front of the case (plugged into the USB connector on the MB) and the USB ports that go directly into the motherboard on the back work. They will not power a basic mouse and keyboard. Basically, do you guys have any suggestions of things I could try? Thanks for all the help in advance!
does a USB keyboard work to get into the bios? If so, change USB keyboard support option from OS to BIOS, and that should be a start. Also what OS? If its XP you may need drivers (usually in with the chipset drivers) so you should have at least SP2 and the additional chipset drivers.
Only thing i can think of, would be to make sure you install the chipset drivers that came with your motherboard. I've had problems before when i forgot to install them.
My old mobo's usb slots stopped working when I plugged in the front usb's for some reason, but as soon as the front was unplugged, they worked fine. May be worth trying since it would only take a few minutes, but its really hit or miss with that. Drivers seem like the logical reason.
All the USB controllers should be enabled by default in the BIOS, but if there is a problem in wiring or a short somewhere, it might trigger over current protection and shut one or more controllers down. But I am assuming they don't worjk under BIOS and windows. If it is just an issue with Windows, check the BIOS for something like EHCI handoff. It is not a common question, but it sets up a mechanism where the OS asks the BIOS for control of the USB ports. Usually Windows just sets a bit in the host controller register though, and that is enough to take control of the host controllers.
Thanks for the replies guys. Just to clear things up, a old version of XP which was used on another computer is being booted by the HDD, and I do not have a PS/2 Keyboad / mouse at hand. This means I can't get into bios to change any of the settings. I will try playing around with the connectors into the motherboard to see if can get at least some of the connectors working and will try to enable them in bios aswell. The problem with installing drivers though is that I have no way of doing it. ( Can't click next ect) Thanks for all the help though, i'll report back to say if using a PS/2 keyboard works.
