USB ports aren't working

Everything was working perfectly fine just two days ago...
I borrowed this external hard drive from a buddy—it’s a high-speed 3.0 drive—but my ports are old-school 2.0. I tried moving some files over, and now my ports have basically just given up on life.
The USB slots technically still "work" if you plug something in, but they won't recognize my keyboard, mouse, or printer at all.
For instance, when I plug my mouse into a port, the little laser flickers on for maybe three seconds and then dies—then nothing. Total silence. No response whatsoever...
If anyone actually knows how to fix this mess, please let me know because I am seriously at my wits' end here.🤷

wanderingdrifter20 said:Everything was working perfectly fine until just two days ago...
I borrowed a portable hard drive from a buddy that runs at USB 3.0 speeds, but my ports are old-school 2.0, and as soon as I tried moving some files over, my ports basically just gave up the ghost.
Now they’ll let me plug in a thumb drive, but my keyboard, mouse, and printer aren't getting any juice at all.
Like, if I plug the mouse in, the little red laser flickers for maybe three seconds and then dies, and after that, nothing happens...
If anyone has a clue how to fix this, please let me know because I'm honestly at my wit's end here.🤷

Did you happen to cut the power while unplugging the external drive? ☕

Kyle Davis6 said:Did you actually eject the drive properly before unplugging the portable hard drive? ☕

Nope, I didn't...
Is there any way to fix this mess?

wanderingdrifter20 said:Not really...
Have you tried any fixes for it yet?

You probably need to check out those USB ports, maybe tear things down a bit and get some testing gear on it.
But before you go full mechanic, just run Siri to see what's actually going on under the hood...☕