I have a Lenovo Legion 5 Pro with a Ryzen 7 5800H, 16 GB of RAM, and an RTX 3070. The three USB ports on the back suddenly stopped working, while the USB port on the side still functions. Windows is fully updated, and I tried uninstalling the USB drivers through Device Manager so they could reinstall automatically, but that made no difference.
An external hard drive connected to the rear ports powers on and its activity light comes on, but Windows does not detect the drive and there is no connection sound. This makes me wonder whether the ports are receiving power but have lost their data connection.
I found reports suggesting that these models use an internal USB hub and resettable over-current protection, which might trip after a USB fault and recover after the laptop is left powered off for several hours. I have already left the laptop off for more than 10 hours without any improvement. Is there a way to manually reset the protection, or another way to determine whether this is a Windows problem or a hardware failure without reinstalling Windows?
3 Answers
Power being present does not necessarily mean the USB data lines or hub are working. Try a full embedded-controller reset first: shut the laptop down completely, unplug the charger and every USB device, then hold the power button for about 30–60 seconds. After that, reconnect the charger and test the ports with a simple wired mouse or keyboard. Also check Device Manager for disabled or error-marked USB hubs and install the Lenovo chipset and BIOS updates, not just the generic Windows USB drivers.
The easiest way to separate a Windows problem from a hardware problem is to boot from a live Linux USB or another temporary operating system. You do not need to install anything—choose the option to try it without changing the internal drive. If the rear ports work there, Windows or its drivers are probably responsible. If they fail there too, the internal USB hub or the laptop's motherboard likely needs repair.
A resettable fuse generally is not something you can manually reset from Windows. It may recover after the fault is removed, but if the ports still fail after a complete power drain and a live-OS test, the protection circuit, USB hub, or motherboard may be damaged. In that case, a repair technician would need to diagnose it; reinstalling Windows would not fix a hardware fault.
The external drive powers on when connected, but Windows never detects it and there is no connection sound. I would prefer to avoid reinstalling Windows, so I was hoping there might be a less drastic fix first.