Mark has purchased a new working USB webcam. He connects the webcam to a USB port on his
computer and finds that the computer does not detect it. He connects other working USB devices to
the port and discovers that the USB port is not functioning. What should Mark do first to resolve the
issue?
A.
Verify that the USB functionality is enabled in the BIOS.
B.
Purchase another model of the USB webcam.
C.
Change the computers motherboard.
D.
Replace the USB port wires with a new one.
Explanation:
In order to resolve the issue, Mark should first verify that the USB functionality is enabled in the BIOS
on the motherboard. The BIOS has an option for enabling and disabling the USB functionality. If this
functionality is disabled from the BIOS, the USB ports on the computer will not work. Universal Serial
Bus (USB) is a high speed bus standard developed by Compaq, IBM, DEC, Intel, Microsoft, NEC, and
Northern Telecom. It provides the Plug and Play capability of Windows to external hardware devices.
USB supports hot plugging, which means that a USB device can be installed or removed while the
computer is running. A single USB port can be used to connect up to 127 peripheral devices, such as
CD-ROM drives, tape drives, keyboards, scanners etc. USB 1.1 has a maximum data transfer rate of 12
Mbps, whereas USB 2.0 has a maximum data transfer rate of 480 Mbps. USB 2.0 is fully backward
compatible with USB 1.1. Answer option C is incorrect. There is no need to change the motherboard,
as the problem is most probably due to the BIOS setting for USB functionality. Answer option B is
incorrect. Purchasing another model of the USB webcam will not help resolve the issue, because the
problem is not with the webcam. Answer option D is incorrect. It is possible that the USB port wires
are bad. However, this rarely happens. Reference: TechNet, Contents: “Chapter 9 – Managing
Devices”