usb ports dead after system restore

[jvoth]

dear all,

i have a thinkpad t42. old setup seemed to slow down a lot, so reinstalled windows xp, updated drivers and whatever else thinkpad updater likes, plus sp2, and installed my normal programs. fine and dandy for a few days. then the usb port switched to lower speeds (1.1), and then they stopped working altogether. i thought the 3 year old machine had finally given up the ghost, but i still had the old hdd. swapped hard drives, and what do you know? it's all working again [minus the super-slow boot etc etc]. there is some software gremlin in the updates i applied. does anyone have a solution? can someone please tell me what lenovo is doing to keep my machine useable?
thanks
jv

[tahsan]

It happens quite few times with me, not only in my laptop in my desktop as well. I do not know why but if I clean install it again (format) than its works again.

No idea why but you can try reinstall it again. Try to get a windows cd which is uptodate. And dont install all those bloats.

[oddb@ll]

usb ports are controlled by chipset drivers, id try updating the intel inf chipset drivers

[SteveS]

As stated above, start by making sure you installed the “Intel Chipset” driver from the Lenovo site. This supports the specific features used in the Southbridge chip in your machine. If you are lucky, it is strictly a missing driver.

Another member experienced your same problem, and a long thread followed. Try searching on “USB2.0 running at USB 1.1 speed”.

I have a T41 with the same problem. There seems to be a controversy if the problem is hardware or software based. The consensus seems to be that it is a hardware issue, initiated by ESD discharge into the USB port which degrades the Southbridge chip, which contains the USB controllers. Since driver swapping corrects it (sometimes temporarily) in some machines with the symptoms, there seems to be some sensitivity to the driver. However, some members working in environments with large numbers of identical T4x machines report that swapping drives from those with USB ports running at 2.0 speed with those running at 1.1 do not see a speed change with the swap – providing proof that it is not totally a software problem.

The bad news is that many report the drop to USB 1.1 speed is the only the first sign that the entire port is about to die.