Battery powered USB port?

[gawl47]

I bought an old laptop at a pawnshop nearby and it works fine except for the fact that the USB port doesn't seem to be supplying any power. It works with my powered external hard drive so I know the port works, but anything that's powered by the port itself, like card readers, don't work at all.

I'm not comfortable with the idea of opening it up and screwing around with it, so was just thinking of wiring a battery pack like this to an A male to A female gender changer and having that supply power to anything I connect to it. Would that even work though?

[TheMagnolia]

Best bet is change the USB port, it's actually really easy (I mean I can take apart a laptop in about 15 minutes and have it reassmbled again).  Replacement USB ports are also fairly cheap.

[gawl47]

I've never screwed around with something like that though, and I figure if I mess up on a powered adapter I'm only out like $3 at most.

[phenomenal]

Check for voltage and connectivity with a multimeter

[Tec_]

this is a common problem. when a device plugged in to the USB port attempts to draw to much current the usb port shuts down. to fix it you need to uninstall your usb drivers and reinstall them

[gawl47]

this is a common problem. when a device plugged in to the USB port attempts to draw to much current the usb port shuts down. to fix it you need to uninstall your usb drivers and reinstall them

Damn, it worked. Thank you!

Though why the port worked with a powered HDD I don't know, but at least it's fixed now