USB ports all packed up

[Justin Passing]

I still use an old XP pc sometimes because of the s/w on it.
I moved it sideways while it was still switched on, and may have pulled a critical wire. The side's off it so it's vulnerable.

It now boots up ok but the USB ports direct on the mobo, and the ones on small header/0.1" pins, and even the old type round socket mouse port, all don't work. (The old style mouse is old though and may be dud.)
Keyboard (not usb) and screen still ok.
It said it recovered from a Serious Error.

Are these all on a common power supply, or anything like that?
No power to the usb ports, I think (though I'll recheck that).

It's hard to do a lot without a mouse!

 

[big-all]

havent got a clue
but when i cant get the mouse to work i press the windows key then left /right/up down buttons to select required action then enter key to activate

 

[mattylad]

Try reseating everything on the motherboard (while switched off) also unplug all USB devices and try 1 at a time.
1 may be dragging the others down.

 

[Steve]

If its an old computer maybe time for a new motherboard. Sorry.

 

[Doggit]

You can get plug in USB ports, and then disable the onboard ones in the BIOS

 

[JohnD]

on my old PCs, you could see the twisted wires running to the usbs on the front of the case, and plugging onto pins on the MB.

Can you see such wires? Are they plugged in?

If so, but not working, yes, buy a USB expansion card. Fitting will depend on your MB but will be easy. You can probably get half a dozen on a card, including USB3.

something like https://www.novatech.co.uk/products/novatech-4-port-usb-3-0-adapter/m069.html

 

[ChrisR]

I bought a USB card with 4 sockets, plugged inthe mouse and it worked. File transfer by email/upload, fine.
Then I plugged a printer into one of the other USB ports, and the mobo died again!

Hey ho.
I've ordered a used tested mobo from an ebay regular, £15, which is just about worth it.
I have a new pc now which is faster. Stacking large pictures used to take about 2 minutes per 24mp frame, the new box(i7700 4.5GHz) takes about 2 seconds. A 6 year old i7 laptop only takes about 7 seconds though.

I still have some bits and pieces on the XP pc, and I prefer some of the old versions of some programs, which always ran plenty fast enough, like Office.