Questions: what operating system are you using? What is the history on this board - is it recently acquired with no background of how well it works, or is it one you've had for a long time and the ports have only recently begun acting up?

First port of call is the BIOS, ensure all USB options are turned on including USB keyboard and legacy USB.

USB keyboard usually works natively in DOS, USB mouse almost never. What OS are you using? Anything pre Windows 98SE will be a challenge.

was there corrosion inside the port? or did you scrape gold off? 😀
if corrosion then I would expect more on the board

The OS is Windows 98SE. I built the system around this board around a year ago with no prior use, and this is the first time I tried to use the USB ports. There are only two options that I found that regard USB: "Assign IRQ For USB" under "PnP/PCI Configuration" which is either Enabled or Disabled, set to Enabled, and "USB Keyboard Support Via" under "Integrated Peripherals" which is either OS or BIOS, set to OS. As for corrosion, since it is an old board, I thought cleaning the contacts would be an easy way to try fix the issue, I wasn't sure if there was any corrosion on the contacts but I doubt there is any left after a few cleans with deox and lightly sanding the contacts.

I think the next step would be to measure the USB port's voltage. Do PS/2 mice and keyboards work?

Repo Man11 wrote on 2024-04-21, 15:41:

I think the next step would be to measure the USB port's voltage. Do PS/2 mice and keyboards work?

Right, I'll be doing that next. The PS/2 ports have always worked just fine.