Basic Troubleshooting Ports

You wouldn’t be able to interact with your PC very well at all if it weren’t for PC ports. Ports are the pathways for connecting hardware devices to your computer. Lots of important devices use ports, such as monitors, keyboards, and printers. With the advent of the USB port, it became easier to connect a wide variety of gadgetry to your computer. Now you can transfer photos from a digital camera, connect a flash drive, and synchronize your PDA through USB ports. How To Obtain Port Information To identify the types of ports installed on your computer, you can check the specifications that came with your PC. You can also check the PC manufacturer’s support Web site to find information about ports and connections included with the model of your computer. But the most reliable method of checking port information is the Windows Device Manager. To open Device Manager, right-click My Computer, click Properties, click the Hardware tab (if present), and click Device Manager. For parallel and serial port information, click Ports in the list that appears in the Device Manager window. For USB information, click Universal Serial Bus Controllers. Double-click an item to display its Properties dialog box with additional details about the port. Port Problem Or Hardware Problem? Because you use ports to connect peripherals such as printers and PDAs to your computer, inoperable hardware is a symptom of a port problem. Try resetting the port by restarting your PC and reconnecting the device. If this doesn’t work, it’s time for some trial-and error troubleshooting. To try to determine whether the port or a malfunctioning device is causing the problem, connect the hardware device to another computer. If it works, the problem may be related to the port. If you don’t have another computer available, you can try plugging a different device into the port. For example, if you plug a keyboard into a USB port and it’s not working, try a USB mouse or flash drive. If it works, you can focus on troubleshooting the nonworking peripheral device and not the port. General Port Troubleshooting

Problem: My hardware works when it’s connected to a different PC’s USB/parallel/serial port, but not on this PC. What should I do next?

Solution: If you determine the probable cause is not a hardware issue, the next steps are to check the computer’s BIOS (Basic Input/Output System) settings and to check for upgrades to the computer’s BIOS. To check the BIOS setup screens, you press a key or key combination as your PC is starting, before Windows begins to load. Common setup access keys are DELETE, ESC, and F function keys. If you’re not sure which key you need to press to enter your PC’s BIOS, watch for a message as your system starts for the key(s) to press. Repeatedly pressing the key(s) as your computer is starting helps to ensure you press them at the correct moment. When the BIOS setup screens appear, take care not to inadvertently change settings. The on-screen display should note how to exit the screens without saving changes, if you need to. As you review the BIOS information, look for the BIOS version and write it down. You can check the manufacturer’s Web site for BIOS update instructions after you exit the BIOS setup. Next, check the BIOS settings for the port you are troubleshooting.

Port settings are normally located in the Advanced menu. If your computer is newer, the BIOS setup screens may not include port information. If that’s the case, simply exit the BIOS to continue the PC startup. If the BIOS setup screens contain settings for the port you are troubleshooting, check to make sure the port is enabled. You may need to enable additional features, depending on the hardware device you want to connect to the port. For example, if you are working with a parallel port for your printer, you may need to enable bidirectional capabilities in the BIOS. ECP (Extended Capability Port) mode is a bidirectional parallel port standard that lets modern printers communicate with your PC and vice versa. Check your documentation for instructions. If the port continues to malfunction after you check the BIOS information, you can move on to troubleshooting Windows settings with the Device Manager. To open Device Manager, right-click My Computer, click Properties, click the Hardware tab, and click Device Manager. For parallel and serial port information, click Ports in the list that appears and expand Universal Serial Bus Controllers for a USB issue. (NOTE: If you are using Windows 98/Me, check the Microsoft Knowledge Base article at support .microsoft.com/kb/133240/EN-US for details about using Device Manager.) In the Device Manager, look for error messages or symbols (such as an exclamation point on a yellow background) next to the controller or near items in the expanded list. If a message or symbol does not appear, check each item in the expanded list by right-clicking it and clicking Properties. Check the Device Status box to determine if there is an error associated with the device. If so, follow the suggested solution. Troubleshooting USB Ports

Problem: When I use my external USB hub, Windows does not recognize the device I attached to it or it stops working.

Solution: External USB hubs are either self-powered (obtain power from an AC/electrical outlet) or buspowered (obtain power from the USB port on the PC that it’s plugged into). Bus-powered hubs can only handle low-power USB devices that use 100mA (milliamps) or less, such as mice, keyboards, joysticks, or USB devices that are self-powered (use an AC power connector). They can’t handle devices that require 100 to 500mA of power, such as video cameras, scanners, and external drives. If the device is a high-power device, attach it to a USB port on the PC or purchase and install a self-powered hub. Or you can try distributing high-power and buspowered USB devices across your PC’s USB ports, so that not all highpower devices are on the same external hub.

Problem: None of my USB devices work when plugged into the USB port on my computer.
Solution: Verify that the power requirements of the USB port are not exceeded. USB devices can draw a maximum of 500mA per connection. If a device attempts to draw more than this, Windows may disable the port until the system power cycles. In addition, if the device draws less than 50mA, the port never becomes active. Check the Power tab in USB Root Hub properties to check the power usage. To access the Power tab, open the Device Manager, expand Universal Serial Bus Controllers, and doubleclick the USB Root Hub. In the Properties dialog box, click the Power tab and check the Hub Information area for details about power usage. Repeat this process for each USB Root Hub listed in the Device Manager. Printer (Parallel) Ports & Serial Ports

Problem: My printer won’t print to the parallel port.

Solution: To determine whether a printing problem is due to a faulty parallel port, try sending data to the parallel port through the command prompt. Click Start, click Run, type command in the Open box, and press ENTER. In the command prompt window that displays, type dir > lpt1 and press ENTER. You may need to type this more than once to send enough data to the printer to cause a page to print. If a page does print, the printing problem is not related to the parallel port, and you should troubleshoot the printer. See “Basic Troubleshooting: Inkjet Printers” and “Basic Troubleshooting: Laser Printers” for more information about dealing with printer problems.

Problem:I connected a serial device to my computer, and Windows is not detecting it.

Solution: The problem may be that Windows is misinterpreting the hardware as a nonserial device and is not enabling the port. Microsoft has created a tool to help you enable and disable serial ports. For a link to download the tool, see Microsoft Knowledge Base article 819036 at support.microsoft .com/kb/819036.