Do USB ports actually fail?

[Neos]

My boss has an older PC running ME. He could never get the USB ports to function ...never getting the drivers to work. I figured it had to be software related, specifically ME being a not so great OS.

He took it to a shop, and the tech installed a new USB card with drivers. Now it works.

So were the USB ports on the mainboard bad?? I find that hard to believe ...but I may be off base completely.

Am I?

 

[lopri]

Yes, USB ports can fail. There can be various reasons but it's not uncommon especially on aged boards.

 

[bigsnyder]

Are the ports in question on the backplane? What shows up in the device manager regarding the native USB?