My daughter has a Dell 1501 Inspiron laptop that is about 2 years old. Recently she thought her mouse (wired) had died so we bought her a brand new Logitech wireless mouse. After downloading software and drivers, the mouse still did not work. Thinking that it was a defective mouse, I tried it on a different laptop and it worked immediately. We then came to realize that her USB ports no longer work. None of them. My daughter also tried playing a DVD in the player but only gets the error that there is no disk in the drive. Although the computer runs very slowly, she can still connect to the internet and most other functions run. (Slowly, but they run.) Not sure what to do now or if this needs some sort of physical repair.
Thanks!
Casi
Hi Casi. Your daughter's laptop may be experiencing a motherboard issue where the USB ports have failed. If this is the case it will hardly be worth putting the money into replacing the motherboard.
However, with the fact that you are having multiple, simultaneous problems its a possibility that some core service or driver is failing in windows.
My suggestion in this case, if you are prepared to try, would be to back up your daughters data and reload the laptop with a fresh operating system using the manufacturer provided recovery discs or built in recovery partition. If the ports work after that then you are good to go. If the ports still fail you will know you have a significant hardware problem and unless spending probably at least $200 for a technician to purchase and install a motherboard is attractive, it is probably not worth fixing.
If you don't want to reload the operating system, you can google for one of the many various flavors of "linux live CDs" that you can boot from in order to provide a temporary operating system outside of your regular operating system. By booting one of these you can verify not only if the CD/DVD drive works outside of windows, but also if the USB ports work.
If these two problems occured at the same time, and it turns out to be hardware related I would suggest the possibility that the laptop was dropped, which could also be evidenced by a failing hard drive which would cause the slow performance you mention.
Appleoddity may be right in looking toward probable hardware issues.
However, there are a few applications that when installed cause a change in Drive Letter assignment, and make it appear that no media is in the drive (for instance: therefore can't play DVD).
Since you can access the internet, I'd suggest a PCPitstop Full Tests, to get more information and an overview of your daughter's machine's current functioning.
It is free and often very informative.
Please Run the PCPitstop.com OverDrive Full Tests
Here's how:
You must use your Internet Explorer for this procedure. (doesn't work so well in Firefox or others)
Go to: http://www.pcpitstop.com
Click on "Free Computer Check-up" listed below PC Pitstop OverDrive
In the User Login - Click on "Sign up FREE!"
You'll need to submit a valid email address and create your own password, then click - Create Account(button)
Now enter your email address and password to Log in, Select - Scan this system Now!(button)
You will then be asked to download an ActiveX component and allow it to install.
It is safe and does not compromise your privacy.
Follow the on-screen prompts to install the ActiveX and to allow the Full Tests to be run on your machine.
The Full Tests take about 2 1/2 - 3 minutes on most machines.
When complete, a Results - Summary - Recommended Fixes will be displayed.
Please post the URL internet address from your Results, back here into this Topic Thread so that we can review the configuration and present performance levels of your machine.
Note: During the graphics 2D and graphics 3D testing, your screen will display some rapidly moving objects.
If you are sensitive to visual flashing, it may cause dizziness. Therefore, look away from the screen during that portion of the testing.
We'll be able to provide some better informed recommendations for you to work towards improving your machine's performance.
