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    right 2 usb ports... working?

    Discussion in 'Alienware M11x' started by headphones989, Jan 22, 2011.

  1. headphones989

    headphones989 Notebook Consultant

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    my left usb port works fine with everything, great. but my right 2 usb ports (the passive ones i think?)... not so much. i can't seem to hook my laptop up on the right side and print via usb (not a long cord), can't seem to use my microreceiver for my mouse with them (works fine with the left side)... it DOES power my laptop cooler (2 fans) on all 3 ports... haven't tried much else but i didn't notice this until recently (not sure if i ever bothered to use it as i have a desktop and didn't need to use my laptop much).... is this normal and i'm making a fuss over nothing or something that needs fixing? i tried running a search but nothing useful has come up thus far... thx :D!
     
    headphones989, Jan 22, 2011
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  2. aggiekevin

    aggiekevin Notebook Consultant

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    The right side should be just as functional as the left.
     
    aggiekevin, Jan 22, 2011
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  3. headphones989

    headphones989 Notebook Consultant

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    that's what i thought... i'm almost 100% sure i had used the right side usb ports for the other stuff that i mentioned on my last m11x (sold it)... i had opened my laptop today because my laptop was having weird random shutdowns while unplugged and was going to pull out my mobo and fiddle with it but i didn't have all the tools necessary (and i felt like i was prying the casing off and i didn't want to break it by accident haha). gotta watch a video or something on taking the little laptop apart and building it back up :) (my battery problem seems to be fixed btw... i also reseated the ram and pulled out the hdd while i was in there just in case lols... they were easily accessible).
     
    headphones989, Jan 22, 2011
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  4. Bily42

    Bily42 Notebook Consultant

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    I think the right two usb ports only work when the laptop is plugged in.
    There's a setting in the BIOS to provide power to the left usb port at all times - has to be set to "enabled". I guess this is to save battery life.
    (Correct me if I'm wrong.)
     
    Bily42, Jan 22, 2011
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  5. headphones989

    headphones989 Notebook Consultant

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    they seem to supply power to my laptop cooling pad's fans while plugged in or not, but not to anything else (i could power on my dvd reader/burner that took up both 2 right usb ports but i don't think it was reading the disc that was within... but it seemed to have power - the light came on and the disc opener worked)... i'll check on the power settings you're talking about (maybe it applies somehow to the right side usb ports as well? left isn't really a concern as it's doing everything i want it to for the moment)
     
    headphones989, Jan 22, 2011
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  6. aggiekevin

    aggiekevin Notebook Consultant

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    My right and left USB ports work at all times independent of each other so according to Billy42 you might to check your BIOS.
     
    aggiekevin, Jan 22, 2011
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  7. SolidMcGee

    SolidMcGee Notebook Enthusiast

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    Check it's drivers on Device Manager, see if it's not working properly or if it has some driver error. If nothing works maybe getting the Dell CD with the computer drivers and repairing will do
     
    SolidMcGee, Jan 22, 2011
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  8. headphones989

    headphones989 Notebook Consultant

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    kk i'll try all 3 suggestions, i'll let ya know :D
     
    headphones989, Jan 22, 2011
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  9. headphones989

    headphones989 Notebook Consultant

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    tried everything and more with the exception of the cd drivers... my external dvd/cd disc drive requires the use of 2 usb ports to work... and the set of 2 that i would usually use is currently crippled haha... so when i get my usb flash drive i'll try it out then (or maybe upload to another computer and then get it from there)... but i have a feeling that it won't fix my problem bleh... i want to take out the mobo and get a nice look at it maybe reattach some stuff but that's probably not going to happen any time soon (rather have CS do it for me since it's not the easiest to get to)... bleh
     
    headphones989, Jan 23, 2011
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