USB ports not working
 

Okay, another question from the technically challenged one here.

Among the many USB ports, I have two on my Dell flat panel monitor, which up until a month ago, were working fine. Now, when I plug in a flash drive or the card reader for my digital camera, nothing happens. The PC does not recognize that I've plugged anything in.

So, I paid a visit to control panel/system/hardware/device manager to check on them. Of course, I have what feels like dozens of USBs to check (2 on the front, 2 on the back, a PCI card with 4, a USB hub adaptor with another 4 and the 2 on the monitor) Now, I cannot tell which two are on the ones connected/included on the monitor.

I've gone through each one and done a troubleshoot and according to my PC, they're all working fine.

Anyone have a suggestion? I miss being able to just plug in the flash device, or whatever, in to the monitor instead of crawling all over the floor hunting for an open USB port (yes, I have a whole lot of crap hooked up to this poor tired old Dell)

Errrr, Ummm...

Is it safe to assume that you have checked the USB cable between the monitor and the PC at both ends? Unplugged and replugged it?

Yeah, I figured you had. Sorry for asking.

No, I appreciate it!

There is no cable. The USB ports are built into the side of the monitor. All I had to do before was simply plug and play. The monitor i fully operational and correctly hooked up to the PC, otherwise I''d not see your response ;)

I guess I will go through all of the USB listings and update the drivers, just in case.

It's sheer laziness on my part, but it would make life easier! :)

The monitor acts as a USB hub. As such you HAVE to have a USB cable going from the monitor to the puter. This is in addition to the power and video cable on the monitor.

Hmm, okay, but I don't remember having a cable before! I will check my instructions for the monitor. Thanks!

We have this problem at work. We do not have the USB cables going from the moniters to the computers. This may be why we have this problem.

Thanks Snowflake! You totally helped me!

Our other option was reinstalling the moniter drivers.

Well, I'm at a loss. There is no USB cable for the monitor to plug into the PC (and I never needed one when I installed originally) I reloaded the drivers and still nothing. A mystery!

Last 20 monitors we bought, same thing. But there were cables in the box.

I think the cables are a camera-like cable. The port on the back of the moniter should look like a mini-USB port. I will try to remember to look tomorrow.

Well, I dug out the CD for the monitor and reinstalled the drivers and this has solved the problem. The USB ports are now recognized by the PC. Yay!

Thanks BTD, if I'm not mistaken, it was you who made the suggestion to reinstall.

For the record, on this monitor, there is not additional cable to connect the PC to the monitor with regard to the USB ports. Regular monitor cables. There are two choices, and I can't remember the diff between the two.