Power Surge on Hub Port (usb) Problem

[imported_earthslash]

I'm having trouble with one of the USB ports on my Dell Inspiron 8600 laptop. I probably wouldn't care that much if I have a lot of USB ports, but the 8600 only has two of them and with one not working, that dosn't leave me any extra as I use one for the mouse. I'm not sure whats causing the problem, but this happens every time I try to connect any USB device to the top port. I wasn't sure if it was a hardware problem, or if I could mess with some drivers in Windows to get it working again. If anyone has had similiar experiences or can offer advice, that would be great. Thanks.

- Steve

 

[montag451]

I think you only have one USB hub on the lappy.
It just happens to be split into two ports.

What is exactly happening with the problem port?
Could you try using a ps2 mouse? and a 4 port external hub it if comes to it?
or an RMA

 

[imported_earthslash]

When I plug something into the top port (the one thats not working), it just says power surge on that port and to remove the object and reset the port, which I have done already and it hasn't worked. Unfortunately there is no PS/2 port on the Dell Inspiron 8600 (2 usb ports, 1 firewire, and s-video but no ps/2). I have a 4 port external hub but its only usb 1.1. I'll have to buy another one I guess but I used to use the external hub on the top 1 and connected a few things to it, so i'm wondering if somehow the things I connected overloaded the port.

- Steve

 

[montag451]

Is it possible that in the past you pulled the plug on a usb device without priming it from the taskbar first. I never heard of that causing this problem, but who knows?
I have seen small sparks from USB devices [powered] when being plugged into a USB port when the machine was on, and that was also on a lappy. That might have done it. If that is the problem, then you are lucky you have any USB ports. Careful with this one remaining one tiger.