Hardware half of a usb port on laptop not working! HELP!

[AtomSmasherMazionga]

when I say half of a usb port, I mean that it is one usb port that is built into the same chip as a second usb port. excuse the shity diagram but for example:

USBA----USBB
X.X
-
-
-
-
-
MOBO


so the X.X is the "dead port" and the is the good port. so what the hell happened? I really need the port fixed as my network card, mouse, and keyboard are all dead and I'm forced to use USB variants of them. was using a USB hub not long ago but sadly that's not working right either.

 

[FAST6191]

"as my network card, mouse, and keyboard are all dead"

Keyboard and mouse can be passed over a USB controller (some internally used ps/2 for quite a while). Network can be too but that tends to be for lower powered devices (the raspberry pi for example). If it is broken ribbons or something from another teardown then so be it.

This makes me wonder if the controller or some aspect of it has failed and taken those out with it. I see it from time to time on desktops, there I either replace the motherboard or if it sort of still works stick a USB card in there (hard to do on laptops since they did away with PCMCIA slots). On said desktops I tend to see windows pop up a message like "this device could work faster if you used a usb 2.0 port" before they go, and while that is not the only reason for that to happen (bios settings and such can get in the way) it is the main thing I see it for these days.

It is unlikely to be a simple BIOS setting or driver tweak that fixes this. More likely it will require some fiddling with hardware, if so hopefully it is just a cold joint on the port stack.

I assume you checked inside the port to make sure nothing is shorting out, for most designs I see it would take out both ports on the same internal hub but I have been surprised in the past. While you are there make sure it did not get covered in something, a pin got misaligned or get a bit of corrosion going on. If you want to disassemble the laptop and check any connections you can do that as well; some models will be a long section of PCB going to it, others will have a wire or ribbon connecting it.

Was the port you used a hub in the same one that is now dead? If it drew too much power then that could have led to a burned track or aspect of it. Likewise does the hub work on another machine?

 

[AtomSmasherMazionga]

the hub I was using was essentially a USB "splitter". one port in, two prts out. that wasn't working because the hub itself was a USB 1.0 hub and was quite old. circuitboard was broken right in half, almost. as for the port itself, there's no broken ribbons, and no visible physical damage. the port is pulling power but not data, and the power seems.... .wonky. the other port, which is on the same chip, works fine. there are lights beside both ports and the working port's light is ALWAYS on, indicating it's working I guess. the other one flickers, or stays on for just a moment, then returns to flickering. I've tried every USB controller and driver fix I can think of, nothing seems to work. I'm hoping this is all something super simple that I'm overlooking.....