USB ports won't work on Acer Aspire 5551g

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b_belchev

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May 31, 2013
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Two of my USB ports are not working (the right ones) - the left one still works. I have reinstalled windows 7 64 bit, device manager shows it is all good, all drivers are up to date. And still when a connect a device (mouse, flash drive, laptop cooler) nothing happens - it seems the is no power running through the USB.
Also the power management in the USB properties says that the system isn't allowed to turn of the device in order to save power.

Another note: I have installed the windows last night which was no help but today in the morning the all 3 of the usb ports have worked for a while.
 
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b_belchev

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May 31, 2013
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Ok, I changed the power options regarding the USB and power saving but there is NO change!
My next step was to check out the BIOS but I didn't manage to find a power saving mode option in the BIOS
And still the left USB works fine and the 2 right ones - not at all
 
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TenPc

TenPc

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Jul 11, 2012
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What are you using in that port?
A cooler might have an on/off switch at the front.
A mouse may need to be enabled in Bios for it to work, also see mouse option in Control Panel to enable it.
A flash drive might not appear to work if it is empty and you have the option to Show blank drives and empty folders disabled in Tools > Option.
 
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b_belchev

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May 31, 2013
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I don't think the devices are the problem because the mouse, the cooler, the flash drive and the USB cable for my cell work fine on the left USB. But once I connect them to one of the other two ports (on the right side of the laptop) nothing happens.

 
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TenPc

TenPc

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A cell phone or usb internet device or a capture usb device (may) reserve that port for its own uses, particularly TV capture usb device, if you use one, you'd need to disable it in Device Manager before being able to use that usb port for a different device.

Remove the phone from the usb port, you might find that the other port is now enabled.

Sometimes utilizing all of the ports causes issues with other ports. Also, only use the same port for the one device, don't keep swapping them around to different ports.

There should be a port or two at the rear, use them for mouse and the cooler.
 
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b_belchev

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May 31, 2013
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Last night I turned off my laptop with still not working 2 out of 3 USB ports. This morning when I turned it on all of the 3 USB ports were working for like a half an hour. Then suddenly again the two right ones ports stopped working. It is the same situation over and over again

I'm still wondering if it a software or a hardware issue
 
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b_belchev

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May 31, 2013
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Right now my mouse is connected to the left one USB port (that is working properly and without any problems).
Today I've connected my cooler to one of the right USB ports and it has worked for 30 minutes and then stopped suddenly. After that the two right USB ports don't work anymore

n.b. every device I connect to the left (working) USB port is working fine and every device I connect to one of the right USB ports doesn't work at all
 
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TenPc

TenPc

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A laptop uses a reducing power of the battery for its power, having the adapter connected means that the capacitors on the motherboard are always being topped up and the battery is possibly having cyclic problems. Disconnect the adapter, you will be notified if the battery is 10% or lower.

It might impact on the usb ports, some external devices use a higher v/a than others, the adapter/battery/capacitors may need to compensate and the power charge is having to go through a series of "tunnels" to top up, recharge and feed.
 
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aford10

aford10

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Plug your USB devices in. Go to the device manager, and see if there is any unrecognized hardware that pops up. If not, uninstall all of the USB root hubs, then right click on your computer name at the top of the list, and search for new hardware.
 
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b_belchev

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May 31, 2013
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TenPc, tried to recharge the battery, tried with and without battery - same situation. Nothing has changed

aford10, tried this many times - I connect for example 3 devices in all of the ports (mouse, usb flash, cooler) -> the system recognizes the device in the left USB port but does not the other two (in the device manager everything looks fine) -> I uninstall all of the USB root hubs -> scan for new hardware and the result is this: only the device in the left (working) port is recognized, the other two (right ones) - still nothing
 
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TenPc

TenPc

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So does the battery actually charge up to 100%?

It might be that you can only use 2 usb ports at any one time, you don't have to have the cooler thrashing all of the time, you could switch it off when you plug in the usb flash drive then when you unplug it, turn the cooler back on. Some coolers have a hi/low setting, if you don't want to turn it off then turn it to low setting so it is not drawing as much power. The link has one for $5, I bought mine for about $15, 3 years ago, actually got 4 of them for $60, what a rip off!.
Adapter


With my cooler, I actually use an adapter with its own usb port that plugs into the power board rather than having it drain the battery. The adapter has many other uses like charging up ipods, mp3 players, iphone etc so it is a good value item for about $20. You can get 5v 500ma or 5v 1a adapters, the cooler would be better with the 5v 1A model, the fan runs more quiet.
 
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b_belchev

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The battery actually does not go to full 100% but to 56%. I have misused and underestimated the importance of proper battery usage/charging and its life now is only up to 56%. The laptop is almost 3 years old now, turned on at least 12 hours a day.

The cooler is 0.26 A and it has no high/low setting nor a start/off button! :D It got it from a real bargain for a 5$ or something.
I'm thinking to purchase a USB hub (without external power) or a adapter like that to power my cooler and to use the working USB port for the mouse (or a usb flash when needed). But what concerns me is that if I buy a regular USB hub to power my cooler and mouse maybe it will "overload" the single USB port and may damage it.
 
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TenPc

TenPc

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Your laptop does not get power directly from the power adapter, the power adapter provides a current to the battery that then tunnels to the capacitors to which then filter the electricity that then goes to the components so if the battery is at fault or near its end life, the rest of the laptop is also suffering.

You could try removing the battery while it is being powered by the adapter then see if the ports work but that is only a temp measure, the power would then be going at full peak directly to the capacitors to which would then be working over time to pfilter the power and may cause them to blow a fuse!

The laptop is near its use by date due to the battery not being quite right so don't use the usb ports if the devices are not being used. The flash drive, how often would you use it? I got 15 of them, they got cobwebs on them, it's been almost a year since any of them have been required for use. They all got back up data but I rarely need them.
 
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b_belchev

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So what do you recommend - to get a regular USB hub and to use a mouse and cooler at the same time OR to get an external USB adapter to power my cooler and to use the working USB for the mouse?
 
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TenPc

TenPc

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Get a usb adapter for the power point to the cooler, you'd only need about 5v 500ma if the cooler does not have hi/low setting.
This will leave the laptop free to give more power to other ports.
 
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jcteck88

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Nov 10, 2014
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This is a little late but I had the exact same issue with my Acer Aspier 5250-BZ873. The right 2 USB ports were DOA and I was able to repair the issue due to me having to rip it apart for an unrelated issue. My laptop kept crashing and the GPU was acting up, I had to take the laptop apart and clean out the fan/heat sink and replace the thermal paste. When I was taking it apart I noticed the ribbon cable for the right ports was half way plugged in on the mother board. I replaced the port anyways I found them on eBay pretty cheap and when I put everything back together I have my side ports back. I can not say for 100% that the old usb port was bad maybe it just had to be plugged back in. But my fan was clogged with dust and animal fur that explained why my stuff would shut off, and I put in new thermal paste and a copper shim for the gpu. So I would take a look at that, its not too bad to tear down the top half of the laptop you can keep the motherboard inside.
 
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