All USB Ports on right side stopped working - cannot even charge laptop

[WelltonLaurie]

UPDATE: I fixed this.  Will explain in a reply.  I would still like any insight as to why I can't add my computer to my HP Dashboard as described below.
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Today after a windows and BIOS update,  all usb ports on the right side of my computer stopped working.  This includes the 2 USB C ports used to power on and my battery is almost dead.  

The HDMI Port onbthe right side of my computer between the usb ports does work.

HP Support keeps asking me for my serial number and product number, I downloaded their software and it identified them for me.  I have clicked to "add to dashboard" myraid times and it says it added but then asks for the numbers again.  I enter them manually and it says enter a valid product number.

Things I have tried:

I rolled back the windows updates and

reset the bios to system defaults.

I uninstalled all USB controllers in device manager

I can't find a way to download the drivers without it accepting my computer information.  Same with contacting HP Support.

Something similar happened a week ago when the USB C ports stopped working and my computer would not charge.  After it completely died I was able to charge it.  

Any advice?

[WelltonLaurie]

I fixed this by turning off the computer, unplugging everything, then holding down the power button for 30 seconds.  

I could tell it fixed the USB C ports because when I plugged the power back in the red light by the USB ports turned on.

Apparently that resets the power stuff.  Then when I turned it back on I got a BIOS "The CMOS checksum is invalid" error.  CMOS Reset (502).  That had a Q-code that told me the computer would reinstall BIOS automatically then restart.  That happened and I restarted again and it's working.  The regular USB port is also working again.

[ABCUK]

Thanks, mine happened 1 week after the warranty expired so I  was very suspicious.  The simple restart worked.  If there is an issue with the bios update, surely HP would be aware of this as it would affect 1000s of people.  Also it doesn't say much about HP quality control,  releasing significant updates which could cost 1000s of customers a lot of money and unnecessary stress. The fact it affected the PSU circuits as well as some comms ports suggests it is likely to be firmware rather then anything else. I would like to know the real issue. 

[WelltonLaurie]

It sounds like you understand a lot more about computers than I do.  Just want to report that something similar happened again -- I was working on it w/out power plugged in and it died and would not turn on.  I tried holding the power button down for over 30 seconds but it did not work this time.  The next day when reunited with my power cord I plugged it in and thankfully it started up.  But I do NOT think the battery was low.  And when it started up, I got a "BIOS ERROR" message of some sort again.

Here is what gets me about HP Support -- I could not get ahold of them other than this community because they put me in an endless loop asking for a product number, but then when I copy/paste in the number THEIR SOFTWARE said it is, they ask me for a VALID number and start the cycle all over again.  I couldn't find a phone number or way to chat with a human.

I bought the laptop off Amazon.  It says Made in China on the bottom which concerns me about sabotaged/malware stuff from China, but I assumed it must be legit if I got it from Amazon.  Maybe not.

My incidents have been well before the warranty expired but I can see your suspicion.  I rely on the computer for business and having to deal with warranty and repairs will be an expensive hassle if it comes to that, even if it is covered.  At the moment it's working fine, my only additional concern is that it does run pretty hot.

[ABCUK]

The main processor is the chip which controls your laptop. It is surrounded by other chips which are memory devices, serial ports, other processors, clocks, power supplies etc. In order to read/write to a specific chip or area of memory, they all have unique addresses.

When the Laptop is turned on, stable clocks and power are available, the processor is released from its reset state and begins executing code from a specific address. This first code to be executed is called the BIOS and the code will configure all the chips (including itself) in the Laptop to operate correctly. The BIOS is usually stored in an area of memory which is not modifiable (write protected). However sometimes it may be necessary to update the BIOS, so some additional parts of the BIOS are stored in memory which can be updated (patched). As you can imagine, its would be catastrophic if there was an error in the updated BIOS, so it needs to be thoroughly tested before release by HP. It will also be protected by a checksum (CRC) to verify that what is downloaded to the client is not corrupted in any way. Once downloaded to your laptop and checked, the main processor has to be directed to execute this code on startup instead of the existing BIOS. There are several ways to do this but I imagine that a pointer is modified in the existing BIOS to point to the new code. This way it is possible to revert to the previous BIOS code in the event of an error.

So, holding the power button on the Laptop for >30s presumably puts the Laptop in a diagnostic mode where instead of the process proceeding to boot normally, it performs some diagnostics. It looks like it does some CRC checking on any downloaded patches (which may be loaded into Ram for speed of execution. The Error message suggests a CMOS CRC error which is usually a ram error. I would have thought that the BIOS would be in Flash memory. It may be that the patch was bigger that available ram so it fell off the end and failed the CRC check) Anyway that is conjecture. The facts are that after a HP BIOS update things stopped working for some people. I guess the BIOS was then modified to use the previous version of the BIOS after the diagnostic check and everyone is happy again.

I'm not sure this helps you much, and talking to HP Support may not be possible (they don't like spending money on humans to answer phones) so if you use the laptop for work, I would suggest the warranty would be a good option as a few days loss of work will doubtless cost more than the support. I know it sticks in the throat, but life is too short to fight all these battles.

[WelltonLaurie]

Thank you SO MUCH for all this valuable information!  It is so helpful for my general knowledge.  I'm a software person, but have always been intimidated by the hardware and electronics side of things.  Words like "Bios" scare me and are reserved for sucking it up to get the function keys to behave the way they used to (in other words: correctly) and num lock to be on by default.

Many thanks!