USB ports not working

[Nymn]

I just put together a PC using a bunch of old parts from an older one. Now, originally this PC was put together by a friend and the front USB ports never worked, but the back ones did. Since getting all this hooked up in the new case, none of them work. It says they're enabled in the BIOS and as far as I can tell, they're connected correctly. The motherboard is an Asus P4S800D-X.

 

[Zap]

Hello Nymn, and welcome to AnandTech forums.

What's the pinout of the motherboard? BITD it wasn't quite standardized, so the single block for the front ports may or may not work. Have you tried both ports? Typically one is reversed pinout, but there are other possibilities. Note that if it was hooked up wrong and someone tried to use it, then it could have burnt out that port.

 

[Nymn]

Yah, I tried all the ports. It's a 9-pin (cables are, too). It's 5 pins top row, 4 on the bottom. It's like this pic.

 

[Zap]

That looks like a really standard pinout. Do you have any extra rear slot ports that use the headers to try? That can help narrow it down.

 

[Nymn]

There are rear USB ports, but you don't need to hook any cables to them. They're connected directly to the board. The two in the picture are just for hooking up ports for the front. The rear ones should definitely work, at least, but for some reason they don't.

 

[gorcorps]

Given that the back ones don't work either, I'm inclined to ask if you have the proper USB drivers installed?

 

[mfenn]

Do the read USB ports work with a USB keyboard to get into the BIOS, etc? The board should be new enough to support that feature. If it doesn't work, I'd say that something is FUBAR in the southbridge.

 

[Nymn]

Not sure about that, it doesn't have a USB keyboard at the moment. I suppose I could try using the one for my main PC.

 

[Nymn]

Ok, I guess driver issue is the problem. I threw in a LiveCD for another OS and I was able to use a USB mouse with every port, including the front ones. My question now is how do I get them installed? I'm using Linux Mint on it now and I don't see the drivers for them on Asus' website.

 

[mfenn]

Ok, I guess driver issue is the problem. I threw in a LiveCD for another OS and I was able to use a USB mouse with every port, including the front ones. My question now is how do I get them installed? I'm using Linux Mint on it now and I don't see the drivers for them on Asus' website.

So it works in Mint but not Ubuntu (judging from your initial screenshot)? Or does it work in Linux but not in Windows?

 

[Nymn]

So it works in Mint but not Ubuntu (judging from your initial screenshot)? Or does it work in Linux but not in Windows?

Sorry, I should have specified. The Ubuntu screenshot is from a different PC. I tried a Puppy Linux LiveCD and the USB ports all worked. I want to have either Mint or Ubuntu on the other PC, but the USB ports won't work with either of them.
Another problem I'm having now is lockup. Both Mint and Ubuntu will lock up after a few minutes (Puppy linux doesn't).

 

[mfenn]

Sorry, I should have specified. The Ubuntu screenshot is from a different PC. I tried a Puppy Linux LiveCD and the USB ports all worked. I want to have either Mint or Ubuntu on the other PC, but the USB ports won't work with either of them.
Another problem I'm having now is lockup. Both Mint and Ubuntu will lock up after a few minutes (Puppy linux doesn't).

I'm not sure what kernel version Puppy Linux uses (check with uname -r), but since your board is older, it could be that they dropped support for the USB controller in the newer kernel versions. Try an older Ubuntu release (8.04 LTS or some such) and see if everything works there.

 

[Nymn]

Well, it turns out that must have been the problem. I tried a Ubuntu 8.10 LiveCD and everything worked fine (including all the USB ports) and then a 9.10 one and everything was fine there, too. This leads me to wonder, if I have 9.10 installed and then upgrade, will the USBs stop functioning and the computer start locking up?

 

[mfenn]

Well, it turns out that must have been the problem. I tried a Ubuntu 8.10 LiveCD and everything worked fine (including all the USB ports) and then a 9.10 one and everything was fine there, too. This leads me to wonder, if I have 9.10 installed and then upgrade, will the USBs stop functioning and the computer start locking up?

Probably. The drivers are included in the kernel which is definitely updated when you upgrade versions. Your best bet is probably to stick with an older distro for this machine (since the machine itself is older anyway).