USB ports not working

[juanmacedo]

Hello, I own an EliteBook x360 1040 G6 and have been experiencing issues with the USB ports.

Initially, they worked fine—I even installed Windows using a pendrive and charged the laptop via USB Type-C ports ( it has two) without any problems. I always used the same port to charge, however, after switching the charger to the other port just to try it, I encountered issues. Sometimes the laptop doesn't charge when plugged in, and when it does charge only one port works. But if I keep the computer charger in the port it is working and then I connect a cable with type c entries in both ends, for example to connect a mobile phone, the phone charges. So electricity flows through both ports.

Additionally, neither USB port recognizes any device I plug in (tried with a pendrive and mouse). I've tried various solutions found online without success. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!

[WAWood]

Here's a video from HP port about Testing your HP Computer hardware using HP PC Hardware Diagnostics:

https://www.youtube.com/@HPSupport/search?query=diagnostics

[juanmacedo]

Thanks for your answer! I run the USB test in the bios and got this: 

[WAWood]

OK, so how new is the laptop, is it still under the HP warranty timeframe?

[juanmacedo]

No, I'm not the first owner. I bought it this year from eBay. When I first used it, the USB ports worked properly (I installed Windows with a pendrive), but I don't know what could have happened. Maybe when I changed the USB Type-C port to charge it, something inside broke down.

[WAWood]

I'm surprised you have not had major hardware issues before this.

Why? Because an install made with media created from an MS download will only install the generic drivers that MS supplies, not the HP custom drivers your laptop needs. Even if the Win11 install comes off OK, the laptop will not be OK because some of the hardware components will not work properly due to the lack of HP drivers.

In addition, the Windows product key embedded into the firmware of the motherboard can only be used to activate an HP OEM version of Windows. If you install anything else, it will not activate using that key and you will have to buy your own retail key to activate it.

If your PC is a 2016 model or newer, you should see if you can make a bootable USB recovery drive using the HP cloud recovery tool on a working PC.

The recovery drive can then be used to install Windows and the HP drivers and utilities that originally came with your PC.

You will need a working PC and a 32GB USB stick to hold the recovery files. Here is the link:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xmtXOU40vxk

You use the Microsoft Store to download the actual tool:

https://apps.microsoft.com/detail/9mtks9pr7r3n?rtc=1&hl=en-us&gl=us

If you use a different PC to run the tool, you will have to provide your PC's product number. Here is an HP link for finding that information:

https://support.hp.com/us-en/document/ish_2039298-1862169-16

Here's a video from HP Support about using the Cloud Recovery Tool:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P7AwuKNJKS4

[juanmacedo]

Thank you so much for all the information. I'll check it as soon as possible. Honestly, I can't tell if I understood everything completely. Are you saying that the hardware issue occurred because I installed Windows with a pendrive?

[WAWood]

Kind of ... I am saying the hardware issues PROBABLY happened because you installed a non-HP version of Windows, one that did not include the HP drivers.  This will guarantee that at lease SOME of the hardware is not going to work right.  If you then added HP drivers to your install, then you should not now be having hardware issues.