(Laptop) When battery is plugged in, USB ports do not work

SharpieMarker · 12-07-2008, 06:27 PM

By plugged in, I mean that the battery is in the laptop.

So I have an aging Dell Inspiron 1501 laptop. One day, while I was playing Halo: CE on my laptop, my computer froze. No biggie, I restart it. I noticed two problems upon restart: 1)USB ports do not work and 2)If I would try to type, the text would not appear until a few seconds after I type. I managed to solve problem 2 (by disabling ATI hotkey poller in msconfig). It's been a year or so since these problems first showed up. I've tried practically everything to solve problem 1, and gave up. I discovered that my USB ports worked when my battery isn't in my laptop on accident. Although this is a nice work-around, this has changed my computer from a laptop to a mobile desktop. I want my laptop back =(.

Do you guys have any idea on how to fix this problem? I'm running windows xp sp2, if that helps.

I'm thinking that it's some sort of power problem? I don't know.

Thanks in advance.

Edit:
Sorry, I am new to this forum and I did not realize that there was a Laptop hardware help subforum. If a mod would kindly delete/move this thread, thank you. I do not want to make an identical thread somewhere else, because it's bad forum manners =S

**kev1952** · 12-07-2008, 07:32 PM

Could be that the battery is dying and is unable to produce enough power for the USB ports?

12-07-2008, 06:27 PM	#1 (permalink)
SharpieMarker Registered User Join Date: Dec 2008 Posts: 1 OS: Windows XP	(Laptop) When battery is plugged in, USB ports do not work By plugged in, I mean that the battery is in the laptop. So I have an aging Dell Inspiron 1501 laptop. One day, while I was playing Halo: CE on my laptop, my computer froze. No biggie, I restart it. I noticed two problems upon restart: 1)USB ports do not work and 2)If I would try to type, the text would not appear until a few seconds after I type. I managed to solve problem 2 (by disabling ATI hotkey poller in msconfig). It's been a year or so since these problems first showed up. I've tried practically everything to solve problem 1, and gave up. I discovered that my USB ports worked when my battery isn't in my laptop on accident. Although this is a nice work-around, this has changed my computer from a laptop to a mobile desktop. I want my laptop back =(. Do you guys have any idea on how to fix this problem? I'm running windows xp sp2, if that helps. I'm thinking that it's some sort of power problem? I don't know. Thanks in advance. Edit: Sorry, I am new to this forum and I did not realize that there was a Laptop hardware help subforum. If a mod would kindly delete/move this thread, thank you. I do not want to make an identical thread somewhere else, because it's bad forum manners =S Last edited by SharpieMarker; 12-07-2008 at 06:29 PM.

12-07-2008, 07:32 PM	#2 (permalink)
kev1952 TSF Enthusiast Join Date: Dec 2006 Location: Townsville, Australia Posts: 1,007 OS: Win Vista Home Premium	Re: (Laptop) When battery is plugged in, USB ports do not work Could be that the battery is dying and is unable to produce enough power for the USB ports? __________________ Cheers.... Kev *"The Definition of an Upgrade: Take old bugs out, put new ones in."* Please don't send me PM's for support. Post in the forums for everyone to benefit.