What can I use as an alternative to a broken USB port on laptop?

Question

My dad has a Toshiba Satellite A500 which is only 8 mths old. It has 3 USB ports. The 2 on the right have come loose. They can still be seen hanging loose inside the laptop casing. I've done some research and discovered that rather than these USB ports being soldered to the motherboard, Toshiba came up with the idea of mounting the dual USB port onto a little plastic piece attached inside the laptop case. The ports are attached to this plastic lug with a screw. Over time the screw exerts pressure and cracks the plastic that the port is screwed into, and the port drops inside.

Some people have had success fixing them altho a lot said the plastic piece is so flimsy it was almost impossible to fix. One guy successfully used a pencil eraser to wedge it in place! Toshiba won't cover it under warranty because they say it's broken due to too much force being used.

But rather than pull the whole thing apart I thought about using an Expresscard with 2 USB ports as an alternative. However when I went to buy one, I read a comment on the site from someone else who'd bought one and he said that he was surprised that it needed A USB power source! Can I get an Expresscard 34 or 54 that doesn't need a USB power source? It also needs to be Windows 7 64 bit comp.

There's only one USB port left on this laptop and if that goes an expresscard won't help! There are quite a few different connectivity ports on the laptop - is there any other sort of USB converter or adapter I can get to add extra USB ports?

Answer 1

I see nothing on this card that it needs an external USB power source. In fact I have never seen that on any express card.

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http://www.espow.com/wholesale-4-port-usb-2-0-480mb-expresscard-34-express-card-adapter.html



Ask them before you buy.

Answer 2

What you can to is go out and buy a USB Hub. A USB Hub is a USB slot extender. they are roughly around $15 at walmart they provide you with 4 extra usb ports. Just unplug your express card from your usb port then plug it into the hub the express port will still work the same.

Answer 3

Actually there are some very small 3-port usb-powered usb hubs. Plug the usb hub into the single working USB port and have three working USB ports again.

Answer 4

I can suggest you Belkin USB Hubs, these are reliable, got 4 usb or more, external power source, and 5 or 10 years or lifetime warranty. I hope it can help.

Answer 5

Bluetooth works for most things