G41 USB problems

[jpenney]

Hey all,

new to the forum, I've searched for my problem and haven't found anything yet so I figured I'd ask. I have a G41, it was working fine until yesterday, then suddenly the keyboard (which was plugged into a Kensington ps2/usb converter) pooped out. Now I can't use a usb keyboard directly into the side ports of the laptop, or a usb mouse. The rear ports may or may not be working - they will not take keyboard or mouse input, but I have two other devices plugged in that haven't complained. One is a pda, so I'm going to test that soon.

I have performed all automatic updates from IBM's site, I'm running windows XP and that has all been updated from the "windows update" site. I also updated all optional software from the windows update site, just to be complete.

This was not true when the devices pooped. The first thing I did after the problem was update everything (including the bios) in the hopes that a driver was having a conflict with some recent software install or something. No luck.


So my questions:

What other information do you need to answer my questions?

Are there known problems with these USB ports, and interactions with XP Service Packs, or optional software installed from windows update?

What diagnostics can I do besides looking at the device manager?

Is there a driver update that I would have missed, specifically for the USB ports? (It's an Intel chip that manages the ports, but I haven't found a more recent driver than what's installed)

Is there anything I've done that an IBM laptop expert would never do in their wildest fit of stupidity? I am not an IBM laptop expert of any sort, and would appreciate any tips. Thankfully this is the only machine that seems to be having trouble, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

Thanks,

JP

[HIPAR]

Try connecting a different USB device to the computer to determine if the USB ports are working.

--- CHAS

[jpenney]

OK - so for the record I already did the basic debugging. The port is not responding whatsoever, and in fact the rear ports seem to be bunged up as well. What I want to know is, does anyone know of anything specific to this model having problems with USB ports, or of any known conflict type stuff with Windows XP service packs, etc.

Thanks.