Ubuntu

After a hard drive was replaced all four usb ports stopped responding to printer and pen drive

Asked by David Armitt

The hard drive was removed then replaced by a pc technician. Now the USB ports which were being used for a printer/scanner and pen drives for backup, no longer respond - no screen icons and printer does not respond. The technician says there must be a problem with the motherboard or drivers are missing - ie he does not have any idea and does not want to know. Any thoughts please?
David

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Solved by:
Federico Vera
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David Armitt (davidarmitt) said : 		#1

If anyone has solved a similar problem please let me know
David

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Best Federico Vera (fedevera) said : 		#2

If you are talking about the front usb ports (which is to say the ones in the front of the case) It's possible they get disconnected in the process of changing the hard drive (they are wired to the motherboard), because there are "no" usb drivers for Linux.
BUT if your technician is telling you is the problem might be the mother board (It goes with out saying it's quite odd behavior to just spontaneously stop working), and they were working fine before the hard drive was removed, well *cuogh* I don't like pointing my finger but *ejem* .... (I think you get the point =)
Giving him the benefit of the doubt, there is a very slight chance that the usb ports were somehow not recognized by the kernel during the installation... So, before hanging him... you could try using an Ubuntu LiveCD, in order to check if they are recognized in there. If you don't know how to do this, just follow this steps:
Download an ubuntu image from (www.ubuntu.com)
Burn it to a cd using brasero
Restart your computer (with the cd on)
Once Ubuntu is "on", try connecting a USB device to see what happen

Hope it helps

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David Armitt (davidarmitt) said : 		#3

Thanks everyone for the advice.

The ports had shorted - still not sure why. A qualified IT technician re-set the BIOS and got the system working again. Again I cannot explain how.

Thanks again.

David Armitt