Loss of power in 2 usb ports... any suggestions?

[sparkybird]

Hi everyone

I've got a 2 (or is it 3?) year old Dell Inspiron laptop which has 3 usb ports. Yesterday the 2 on the left hand side (by the power cable) lost 'power'. The other one on the other side is fine and all devices work OK from this one.

Can anyone suggest how I can test or fix this??

I've tried deleting all the usb software in the device manager and then rebooting, but no joy.

Of course it's out of warranty

Worst case scenario, is there a device which can convert a single usb port into several? Bit like an extension lead for plugs?

Thanks in advance for any assistance

SB

 

[Diyisfun]

http://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=e...ntDg&ved=0CBsQvwUoAQ&q=USB+MULTIPLIER&spell=1

You can buy usb multipliers

 

[EFCLee1]

buy a USB hub for less tha a fiver, not the idel fix but better than forking out for a laptop engineer to do some electrical testing on the motherboard

 

[sparkybird]

Many thanks for the speedy replies and suggestions - will order one pronto!

Cheers again

SB