USB ports Win 8.1

50Twuncle

Is there anything that I may have forgotten in getting the USB ports on a Win 8.1 laptop - "live" ?


My father has a problem with a Toshiba - running Windows 8.1 - the USB ports are dead - he has checked in the Device Manager and they have drivers installed - he has also checked that the drives are displayed....(by removing the tick from the "hide empty drives" and also that "show hidden drives" is ticked in the Folder Options) - he is planning on returning it to Currys today to get them to have a look !!


It appears to me to be a dodgy laptop - since the USB ports have never worked.....

OGR

Little bit of trouble shooting.

Step 1: If you have a Linux Live CD boot to that and then plug something into the USB port, if something pops up then it is working and Windows is the problem, if not try..

Step 2: Create a Linux boot USB stick, plug it into Laptop and tell it to boot from USB. If that doesn't work there is likely a hardware problem.

You can probably disable USB in the BIOS but you wouldn't see the ports in Windows if that was the case but you can always check if you want to be on the safe side.

By trying it in Windows, Linux and at boot you have proved the issue exists and you have all the ammo you need at Currys.

50Twuncle

Could it possibly be linked to "classic shell" ?
According to Currys - when my father took the laptop back to them - they blamed this add-on ....
I too have classic shell - running on my own Win 8.1 laptop and can't see any mention of USB ports in the program.

System

I assume that you have tried plugging in different usb sticks etc.

It's just that the impression I get from your initial post is that you expect them to be visible in Explorer at all times.

Jivesinger

Do the USB ports work with other things which aren't data storage - for example have you tried plugging in a mouse or keyboard?

50Twuncle

!!!!!! wrote: »

I assume that you have tried plugging in different usb sticks etc.

It's just that the impression I get from your initial post is that you expect them to be visible in Explorer at all times.

Yes - we have tried different memory sticks and have confirmed that they are OK in other PC's !!

50Twuncle

Jivesinger wrote: »

Do the USB ports work with other things which aren't data storage - for example have you tried plugging in a mouse or keyboard?

We tried a mouse - no luck !!

Oblivion

Have you tried updating the drivers for the USB controller via Device Manager?

50Twuncle

Oblivion wrote: »

Have you tried updating the drivers for the USB controller via Device Manager?

Yes - and they are the latest installed already !!

Big_Graeme

50Twuncle wrote: »

Could it possibly be linked to "classic shell" ?
According to Currys - when my father took the laptop back to them - they blamed this add-on ....
I too have classic shell - running on my own Win 8.1 laptop and can't see any mention of USB ports in the program.

Absolute cobblers, Currys are passing the buck by blaming anything they can find, Classic Shell can not interfere with USB ports.

If they have never worked tell them so.

50Twuncle

Big_Graeme wrote: »

Absolute cobblers, Currys are passing the buck by blaming anything they can find, Classic Shell can not interfere with USB ports.

If they have never worked tell them so.

That is what I assumed - there's no hidden option "disable USB" or similar is there ?
Is it possible for the drivers to be OK but the hardware dead ?
Wouldn't that show up in device manager as faulty hardware ?
And No - I haven't had a chance to try Ubuntu yet ....