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    Help!! T43 USB connectivity problems!

    Discussion in 'Lenovo' started by garlei, Jan 8, 2006.

  1. garlei

    garlei Notebook Enthusiast

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    please help!

    I have a t43 and I plug in a couple of USB devices regularly


    1. optical mouse
    2. external 120GB hard drive
    3. HP laserjet
    4. 8-in-1 card reader thing

    sometimes I use a USB hub to plug everything in together.
    I left my thinkpad on for a 5-day trip overseas and when I came back my USB started having problems. Windows keep telling me "cannot recognize device". At the moment, my hard drive, laserjet and card reader cannot be recognized....

    Please help! what could be the problem? I've tested all the devices on another desktop and they're working fine.

    [​IMG]
     
    garlei, Jan 8, 2006
    #1
  2. ZaZ

    ZaZ Super Model Super Moderator

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    Did you try Windows Update?
     
    ZaZ, Jan 8, 2006
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  3. thinkpadfan

    thinkpadfan Notebook Enthusiast

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    Two usb ports are broken down together?
     
    thinkpadfan, Jan 9, 2006
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  4. garlei

    garlei Notebook Enthusiast

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    I haven't tried windows update. perhaps I should do that later.

    both USB ports aren't working well. the only thing that works alright is the mouse.

    Printer, iPod, hard drive, all have problems.

    it'd recognize my iPod and then say it can't read the device after 10 mins even though it's plugged in.
     
    garlei, Jan 9, 2006
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  5. MP5

    MP5 Notebook Consultant

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    did u usually disconnect the hardware from safely remove hardware before u unplug physically? I am not sure such habit would prevent such problem, but i am sure sure habit is good
     
    MP5, Jan 9, 2006
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  6. garlei

    garlei Notebook Enthusiast

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    no...I had the bad habit of not using the "safely remove hardware" thing.

    sounds like a physical hardware problem to me. you guys think so?
     
    garlei, Jan 9, 2006
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  7. Jason986

    Jason986 Notebook Guru

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    Might be the system board. Are your USB devices that aren't working self-powered (power brick) or bus-powered (draws power soley from the USB connection). ThinkPad mainboards tend to be finicky about the 500 mA limit for USB, so try running each device individually as self-powered.

    Alternatively, you can uninstall all USB devices from Device Manager (just delete them all) and reboot to let Windows reinstall them. Good luck.
     
    Jason986, Jan 9, 2006
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  8. garlei

    garlei Notebook Enthusiast

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    all my USB devices are self-powered apart from the mouse. the printer has its own power source and so does the hard drive. problem is I used to plug it in a hub that needed a external source of power, but it still worked without it and I assumed everything would be fine.

    I'd ike to try the uninstall USB thing. I've turned off a lot of stuff with services.msc Would that affect in uninstallation?

    and if I were to uninstall the usb stuff, does that include all the root controller stuff?

    thanks in advance.
     
    garlei, Jan 9, 2006
    #8
  9. Jason986

    Jason986 Notebook Guru

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    Yes, delete anything and everything USB in device manager and restart. The system should then automatically reinstall the USB controllers, etc.
     
    Jason986, Jan 13, 2006
    #9