I'm using a Toshiba Satellite L875-S7308, running Windows 8 64 bit. This particular laptop has 2 USB 3.0 ports and one USB 2.0 port -- the USB 2.0 port seems to be working perfectly. However, the USB 3 ports do not even recognize any devices which are plugged in -- I've tried mice, flash drives, external hard drives (which are supposed to be USB 3 compatible) and a whole host of other things. The ports are powered (verified with a multimeter). I need at least one USB 3 port to connect with an external gigabit ethernet card.
My first assumption is a driver conflict -- this laptop is part of a scientific experiment and has some software to allow it to communicate with an Arduino microcontroller, as well as several cameras and servo motors. However, I'm hesitant to try something like a clean reinstall -- I wasn't the person who set up the machine, so it would be difficult to add back in the highly specific (in some cases custom written) software that is on this machine.
My first assumption is a driver conflict -- this laptop is part of a scientific experiment and has some software to allow it to communicate with an Arduino microcontroller, as well as several cameras and servo motors. However, I'm hesitant to try something like a clean reinstall -- I wasn't the person who set up the machine, so it would be difficult to add back in the highly specific (in some cases custom written) software that is on this machine.