USB Port Repair

You can try, but they'll likely tell you they don't have the parts to repair a system this old.  You'll need to replace (or have replaced) the mainboard -- if it's the Intel video version, the board is relatively inexpensive

www.parts-people.com/index.php

(add an hour's labor with a local shop if you don't replace it yourself.

If you have the AMD GPU aboard, the boards are a lot more expensive - with labor it'll be an over-$300 repair;  given the age of the system, you're better off putting that toward a new system rather than an expensive repair on an obsolete system.

www.notebookparts.com/.../

Hi DANOFL,

Is there any damage on the system? When the USB devices are plugged in, do they stay in firm or do they fall off easily? Does the esata port on the left side work fine?

Check if all the ports on the machine are fine or misaligned. Sometimes if the pins in the USB ports are touching each other, they are known to cause many issues on the machine.

If the USB devices fall off easily - the port might be misaligned and it would be a hardware issue.

If the USB devices stay in firm, however has intermittent connection issues, then the issue could be OS related - then try the following:

Flash the BIOS - http://dell.to/2hjffSw- restart the system and check. 

Try a force BIOS flash if required - http://dell.to/2hnhjs4 

Reinstall the chipset drivers from the support site link above and check.

You could contact our team to get a quote for a paid service call - http://dell.to/1vnT6CQ

You could also order the parts here - http://bit.ly/2hsCHQP

Also, please click my DELL-username and write me a private conversation with the service tag and your contact details(Name and Email) for case records.

Let us know if you have any other queries.