USB ports are not functional

[cosmictheo]

I had recently built a new computer, my integrated USB ports are giving power to my mouse and external hard drive but the system does not recognize them what so ever! I want help with this please. It has always done this. My mother board is a gigabyte 78lmt-s2p

[PGHammer]

I had recently built a new computer, my integrated USB ports are giving power to my mouse and external hard drive but the system does not recognize them what so ever! I want help with this please. It has always done this. My mother board is a gigabyte 78lmt-s2p

When it comes to USB (regardless of speed OR manufacturer), there are exactly three points of failure:

 

1.  Not all ports are active (check your BIOS settings - if you have more than the outboard USB ports, some may be disabled by default; the motherboard I just moved out of had eight USB ports; however, half were disabled by default).

2.  Driver/compatibility issues (critical with third-party USB controllers) - go to the documentation for your motherboard for this - is there a third-party USB controller that manages some of those ports?  (Apparently, this is NOT the case for your motherboard - I have its manual open in another window.)

3.  Controller/hardware failure - this should be looked at if NONE of the USB ports work.

 

#2 is out (the motherboard's chipset manages all eight USB ports), which leaves #1 or #3.  If some of the ports work (but not all), #1 is the obvious choice.  From the documentation, your motherboard is like most, with half the ports built-in and outboard, while the other half rely on header-connections (to either the rear OR front of your case).