USB port connection problems, mouse and keyboard not found

[ty3]

for some reason my computer isn't read from any of my usb ports i contect my mouse and external dvd drive but it doesn't automatically read them i even tried add them as new hardware but still won't even read them so if some can give me some advice i would really appriciate it because i can't even do any more burning until i get this issue fixed

[lordsmurf]

Part of motherboard, or on separate card?

[ty3]

well i'm talking about all the usb connections in the back of my laptop

[kpmedia]

In situations like these, there's several potential problems:

1. Just reboot. The computer can sometimes get confused, especially if the BIOS or OS power safe functions are buggy interacting with the specific hardware. It may also requires a "hard" or "cold" boot, meaning you'll want to shutdown (turn power off) of the computer. Then turn it back on.

2. Find correct drivers, and try again. The drivers that were reinstalled were not correct, thus obfuscating the underlying problem pre-reinstall.

3. The ports have died. That simply happens sometimes. Computer hardware does age and give out.

This was an unanswered question found during a site audit. It's hard to have an FAQ when the answers are missing. At The Digital FAQ support forum, questions are never intentionally ignored. This question was simply missed due to oversight and human error. More details on the audit. (In some cases, threads have been edited/updated with newer information.)