USB Ports on new MB

[DVD_Ripper]

I have 6 USB 2.0 ports on my new MB.

Two in the front and Four in the back. The two in the front are fine. But, only three in the back are active. Control Panel / System denotes a ! on one port. If I delete it replaces it with another ! port.

I thought the ports are 'driven' in pairs and that if you did have a failure it would be on two ports and not just one. Am I off here? The port has power (If I plug a Flash Drive in the drives LED glows).... but not recognized.

Any ideas ??

[Jayhawk]

This is "educated guessing" but I believe you have a bad port at the hardware level. Power is transmitted on two of the pins (power and power ground) with the others covering transmit / receive / ground (sometimes the grounds are combined). It is possible to have power and still not have the operating system establish communications with the port if there is a problem with the transmit / receive pins.

The ports are grouped in "pairs" from an operating system perspective but not from a physical perspective (hardware). The grounds may be common but the transmit / receive wire pairs are seperate.

[Dr. DOS]

May have to live with it ... maybe add a hub.

Thanks.