USB external HDD & cell phone not detected but used to be

[MyPalAndy]

My USB ports don't seem to be working properly.  I used to be able to hook up my external hard disk drive and cell phone to transfer files, but now I can't.  In the laptop's DEVICE MANAGER, nothing seems to be wrong, no red or yellow warnings.  However the USB ports DO seem to be powering the devices, my cell phone goes into charging mode and my Seagate HDD you can feel it vibrate ever so slightly.  There's two USB ports on the left side and one on the right, and all three can't detect the devices.  Please help.

[TheOldMan · Accepted solution]

HERE IS A GUIDE for troubleshooting USB problems as described in the post.  See if any of those help.  Since you posted in the laptop section, when you do that one step of shutting down, also remove the battery after the computer shuts down, remove the charger, too.  Then hold the power button down for at least 30 seconds before powering back up.

BTW: have you tried to remove all things under the USB heading in Device Manager and then reboot to allow Windows to reinstall the USB ports?

[MyPalAndy]

No I didn't, but now just went ahead and uninstalled all items under the USB portion of DEVICE MANAGER.  I will now do an "ice cold" boot, removing both charger and battery for a few minutes before restarting.  Will let you know how things go.

[MyPalAndy]

It worked, THANKS!