Strange USB behavior

[jtgartner]

I have a Surface Pro 8 running Windows 11 Home. Recently my USB ports seem to have changed behavior (I assume after an update). It used to be that I could plug a USB device into any of the two ports (upper or lower) and it would work. Now the lower port works only when the upper port also has something plugged into it.

For example:

• I plug an external drive into the upper port, works fine.
• I plug that same drive into the lower port and it doesn’t power up.
• I again plug the drive into the upper port, and then plug a second drive into the lower port, now second drive also powers up.

It’s as if the computer is forcing me to use the upper port before I can use the lower USB port.

Why? Can I disable this behavior?

Thanks,

Jack