USB Device Not Recognized (Malfunction)

I have come across the same problem that apparently many Windows users are ailed with.

I thought I found the solution here when I googled the topic and was lead to this post http://www.ntcompatible.com/Desperately_need_help_---_USB_Devices_Not_Recognized_t32356.html

It seemed to work for everyone else, but it hasn't worked for me.

I have already done the Microsoft Standard 'moron checks' and I have added the stated USB Key to my registry. Nothing. I even unpluged my computer from the power supply twice, and still nothing.

My problem though, doesn't seem to be with any Modems, Printers, or flash cards..Instead my problem is with my USB Logitech Mouse and my APC Battery backup Power Strip.

My Device Manager tells me that everything is working fine. But when I plug in ANY USB Device, to ANY Port, it comes up as Unknown Device, and I get that annoying Malfunction Bubble that everyone else seems to get.

I don't know where else to go... I feel like Microsoft is just as much in the dark as the rest of us about this, and I was very excited to see that I'm not the only person with this problem. I almost got mad and formatted my computer, which I'm happy to say, I didn't go through with, because after finding this forum last night, I read that the format didn't work, and that would only add to my aggrevation.

Let me go ahead and follow suit by leaving you with some system specs.

Computer:
Alienware Area-51
Pentium4 3.1ghz
Windows XP Home Edition
Service Pack 2 (fully updated)
1gig DDR2 RAM
160gig HD.
ATI Radeon 9550 SE Video
Audigy 2 ZS Sound
ASUS PC4800 Mobo

If anyone has solved this problem or has ANY other methods I could try, please please let me know, I appreciate any and all help.

PS- I wasn't able to reply in the above said thread, thats why I'm making a new post out of it...sorry for inconvenience.

Thanks again.

After a bit more tweaking and tinkering, I managed to resolve my issue!

Thank you to all the people who have posted on this topic and to those that have thought about helping me

I'm so happy right now, that the fact that nobody replied to me in this post is irrelevant.

Thanks everyone!

I believe I have the same problem as yours. All my 4 USB ports will not recognize anything...

Will you please share what you did to solve yours?

Well, basically what I did is follow the instructions that is listed in the link I gave before. And it actually worked when I followed the instructions EXACTLY as they were written.

But at the time of this writing, I am once again having the same problems I described above. Its like my system relapsed. The only difference is this time the above instructions are NOT working. I can't figure it out. I'm really afraid to format because I've read that it doesn't seem to solve the problem.

It seems that at this point, nothing I'm doing is working. I think I have managed to find the source of the problem this time though. It seems to happen only after using my Samsung Yepp' MP3 player. My USB ports were working fine (after I fixed them) until I pluged in my said MP3 player, then the following day, the USB troulbes came back. This time I can't fix them...

So if anyone has any information about this, I would love to get this fixed again too.... Sorry I couldn't be more of a help Clueless, but I'm once again in the same position you are

Thanks Kain for your reply. Here is my situation so far:

I have the HP laptop DV8000 with AMD Turion 64. I have tried all the possible ways from many tips but cound not solve the problem. HP technical support seemed to be even more clueless than me! I then used the 3 HP Recovery DVDs to first try a Repair option to keep my files but this still did not work.

At this moment, after backing up all my files, I am using these same Recovery DVDs to do a Complete Recovery which is supposed to reformat my hard drive and reinstall everything back to Factory Settings. I hope this will solve the problem. It currently seems to take a long time (10% so far after half hour). If this still does not work, I think my new name will then be Cluelessest...!

I will keep you informed of how this turns out.

The HP Complete Recovery did not solve the problem. Bummer, all of that for nothing!

I'm having the same issue. HP DV5000 laptop.
Was working fine until my daughter plugged in a Coby MP3 player. Worked the first time , then never again. Will no longer recognize Ipod, Coby, or Sony digital camera. Tried all the tricks too. HP online chat support said I should update the ATI chipset driver. That didn't work. Will try again today in "safe" mode.

Here's what I was told:
At this point I suggest you to uninstall all the items listed under usb controller and then install the chipset driver.
Spring 2006 Original ATI Chipset Drivers for dv5000: First download the drivers from the following link: ftp://ftp.hp.com/pub/softlib/software6/COL13270/pv-36944-1/sp26608.exe Then follow the below steps 1. Download the driver package. 2. Double-click on the icon for the driver package downloaded in Step 1, and then click NEXT. 3. Select I accept the terms in the license agreement, and then click NEXT. 4. Click OK to continue. The original drivers are now stored in the C:\SoftPaq\sp26608 folder. 5. If Device Manager does not start automatically, use the following steps. Otherwise go to Step 6: a. Click Start. b. Right-click My Computer, and then select Properties. c. Click the Hardware tab, and then click the Device Manager button. 6. Click the + (plus) sign next to "System devices" or "Other devices". 7. Right-click SMBus Controller or the device you want to update, and then select Update Driver.... 8. Click NEXT to install the software automatically. 9. Click FINISHED to complete the installation.

The first time I fixed the problem, what I did was go into control panel and uninstall ANYTHING that used USB.

I then booted to safe mode and uninstalled all the Human Interface Devices and Peripherals, then the USB Root Hubs and Controllers (in that order).

I then booted back to Nomral Windows, and let all the USB Drivers install themselves again. That did not fix the problem.

Then I repeated the above steps, again, this time while leaving Safe Mode, I selected the Turn Off Computer setting. When the computer turned off, I unpluged it from the power strip for about 30minutes. I then pluged it back in and booted it up, waited for the USB drivers to install a 2nd time, and it all worked.

But now that my system has relapsed, this isn't working anymore...I'm totally confused on the problem as of now.

Hopefully someone reading this will find a sure fire fix.

EDIT - The above process is known as Restacking the USB Drives...
And I'm sorry to hear that using the Recovery Discs didn't help. Your now the 2nd person who has reported that recovering WILL NOT fix this problem, so my mind is made up, I will not format, I'll just keep looking for a solution.

As an update, I'm going to try replicating the exact system settings I had before the problem occured, then try the USB Restack again and see what happens.

I guess I'll get back to you guys on that.

Sawman,

I was given the exact ATI chipset driver sp26608 by HP online chat support so we must be sharing the same hardware... I have tried uninstalling all Windows XP USB drivers then install the sp26608 but it still did not work including doing all of this in safe mode.

These "generic" Windows XP driver keeps installing by themselves (their names start with Standard....and their properties show driver information as from Microsoft....)

I am now leaning toward a possibility of hardware failure. Any thoughts?

This is my update:

I called HP Technical Support today specifically asking for the "ATI USB driver" because I strongly believe it is what I am missing based on the fact that no matter what I do, all the USB drivers shown in device manager are generic from Microsoft while there should be at least one that has something to do with ATI.

After a long wait, she told me to wait for a call from HP to have my laptop brought in for repair.

I will get back with you guys when the situation changes.

Windows XP SP2 comes with USB 2.0 Drivers installed on the system, those drivers should be good enough. Besides that, even before my USB drives went berserk, they were still taged by Microsoft in Device Manager.

After all kinds of software updates without success, HP has determined that my laptop needs the motherboard replaced but the lady said it will not be in stock for two months. I then asked if a simple exchange for another compatible refurbished model is OK but she did not have the authority so I was sent up to the next level, a HP case manager, who said he will try to make it faster and if it takes too long then an exchange might be an option.

I am now waiting for HP to send me the empty box so I can use the box to send back to them for repair.

A little off topic, since the laptop is going back for repair anyway, I also asked them to fix the battery which from the beginning could never be properly snapped into its place securely and thus can get loose easily but I use AC adapter most of the time anyway so did not mind.

I will keep you guys updated later on.

Thought I'd join the club here. I'm running Windows Vista x64 RC1, build 5600. Everything ran smoothly since I installed it shortly after its release, but about two weeks ago any USB storage device would fail - "USB Device Not Recognized". I have a printer and a wireless keyboard/mouse connected via USB, and I've also used a gamepad without problems. But neither external harddrive, memory card reader nor Canon camera works.

However, when starting Windows XP 32-bit (I have dual boot) it all works fine. I even got it working on Mac OS X Tiger!

So I formatted, sure it would solve the issue - yet it didn't. Still works in XP and OS X, though.

Further machine specs: Custom built AMD Athlon 64 X2 4600+, 3 GB TwinMOS PC-3200, 2 x WD 200 GB S-ATA harddrives, GeForce 7900GT. Running freshly installed Windows Vista x64 5600, only newest ForceWare installed.

Geez. I am sorry to say that at the time of this writing, I am still baffled as how to fix my problem.

I've also had another issue arise (not sure if this one is related to usb or not though), my computer randomly shuts it self off for no given reason. Not one of those safe soft boots where windows tells ya theres a problem and needs to shut down, but one of those hard boots where the power suddenly leaves the tower w/o notice and your staring at a black screen with No Video Input. You then have to turn your tower back on and boot up, and sometimes (usually happens at least 2 times in a row to me), while its booting up, you'll start to see the desktop and the icons loading, and then boom, off again.

I'm getting rdy to format to fix the crazy hard boot problem because I think it has something to do with the way I did my registry in an attempt to fix the usb problem, but I know that formatting won't fix my usb problem.

So if anyone, anyone, knows how to fix this, please help us out, Thanks.

I have an update:

My laptop came back from HP and the USB problem was not even fixed with a note that an issue with the system was found but no part replacement was required... How they decided to ship the laptop back to me without the problem being resolved is beyond my imagination. Anyway, I called the HP case manager back and he could not give me a clear answer .He then wanted to start the process all over again so I will be waiting for another empty box from HP to ship the laptop back to them again. Wish me luck because I think I will really need it.

However, even though the main problem was not fixed, they did fix my battery which can now be securely locked into place without falling out.

when i insert a pen drive,my pc is recognising it but when i insert Blue Tooth Dongle it is not recognising...n says USB Device Not Recognized r malfunctioned....can u please help me on this.....thanks in advance..awaiting reply

Bhava, I wish I can help but I do not know how since I am not even a tech savvy PC user. However, have you tried to insert the Blue Tooth Dongle into another PC and see if it works? Just a suggestion.

By the way, about my laptop: it was resent back to HP and received by them on 1/24 but until now, the online status still shows nothing. I called yesterday asking for the status but then someone had to email someone to get the status then get back to me. I called back today but no body is available to take my call so I have to leave a message hoping that someone will call me back. Did I mentioned that HP called themselves "HP Total Care"?

Another update:

My USB problems seem to fix themselves and break themselves randomly, still.

Nothing I'm doing works, formatting doesn't work. I can't seem to fix the problem. Today I went to insert a USB device (because they have strangely been working for the last week or so), and as soon as I did, the entire computer just froze. The only way to get out of the freeze is to hard boot the computer (pull the power) and then boot back up. I tried a couple different methods to fix this new problem such as going into the system works and starting the "Universal Plug and Play" process. But it doesn't work. I'm at a total loss. I'm really angry with my USB ports and I've almost just given up completely on it.

Clueless, it really sux that HP failed you lol. I actually just bought a new HP Laptop today, came installed with WinVista Home Premium, it has its own set of "New OS Problems" lol. *sigh* Microsoft needs to get their [expletive] together and start fixing some of these problems.

Dear Kain,
Am I paranoid, or are we using devices that are deliberately bugged to cause this problem? If you check the dates when the "USB Device Not Recognized" error began showing up on forums, they're mostly all pretty recent. No wonder HP support and everybody else is perplexed, and that every solution out there only works temporarily if at all.

My problem, like yours, has been fixing and unfixing itself randomly. I know for a fact the problem began when trying set up my ebay purchased ipod shuffle. From then on any camera, card reader, external hard drive or mp3 player has given me the "USB Device Not Recognized" error. Only once has it "fixed" itself.

I did not format and reinstall XPHome, but I did install a dual boot Linux OS (Simply Mepis, which I use and love on another machine). Guess what: it didn't recognize the devices either!!!

I'm searching for a new motherboard. Boy will I be crestfallen if that doesn't work either!

I just can't bring myself to be angry with USB ports, because I know the problem started with one ipod shuffle. This is the single most baffling (computer) problem I have ever encountered. "USB Device Not Recognized"

I am in Mexico and I bought a computer there in USA. The model is Hp Pavilion DV2125nr and it seems that it has the same problem with the USB ports, two days ago I was working in the laptop and the mouse suddenly shut down. When I powered on the computer it used to power the Usb mouse too now it doesnīt. I donīt know what to do the laptop is still under warranty but the HP service is weak here, it seems that I will need to fix it by myself so if you find out a solution please let me know, Regards.

I am in Mexico and I bought a computer there in USA. The model is Hp Pavilion DV2125nr and it seems that it has the same problem with the USB ports, two days ago I was working in the laptop and the mouse suddenly shut down. When I powered on the computer it used to power the Usb mouse too now it doesnīt. I donīt know what to do the laptop is still under warranty but the HP service is weak here, it seems that I will need to fix it by myself so if you find out a solution please let me know, Regards.

Sophora,

Actually I thought about that.
Windows might have installed a usb patch in one of its magnificent *gack* Windows Updates, that could have started the whole thing. But if this is true MS isn't saying anything, and so far they offer no more support then "Yes, we know its broken, and we're confused, but working on it".

Quite lame actually.

But I seem to have narrowed the source of the problem to a certain Yeppo MP3 player. It seems to the be the 1 device that throws my USB system into non-responsiveness, randomly.

For the record tho, my problem isn't on a HP, its on an Alienware with an ASUS P4C800-E Mobo.

Kain,
Thanks for the reply. Mine isn't on an HP either. It's on a self-built, 3.06Ghz P4.

Just curious: did you acquire your problem mp3 player new in box? My offending ipod shuffle was an open box return.

DJBlackbeer: can you narrow down the origin of your problem to a particular device?

Clueless,
What about you? can you narrow down your malfunction to one particular device? (sounds kinda like an insult...)

I donīt know which device could made the problem, I just had connected my usb mouse and an external USB Hard drive, I think that maybe it was an overvoltaje problem but whatever of these it has made a several problem because it doesnīt give power to my peripheral, I updated my bios and reinstalled the drivers but I think that is a physical problem not software, any comments??

I have done some research and it's really starting to look like my ipod caused the issue. I have searched several forums and I keep seeing ipod's in the listings. I have a gateway laptop and am using a 4 port USB hub for about 6 months now (never experienced any issues). I just bought an ipod and the other day I plugged the ipod in and boom my computer shut down completely. I was scared to death!!!! I thought everything was fried!!! I left it off for about 30 minutes and unplugged all USB ports and it started up! I then started getting the "USB device not recognized" error. I then started researching and tried unplugging the power cord and battery and this worked!!!!!!! Until I plugged my ipod in..... My PC now recognizes everything but the ipod. I don't know what to do now. I just spent 300 bucks on a useless 30 gig ipod that I can't use! Great : )

Sophora,
It is my Fiance's MP3 player, and she bought it from a friend for like 35 bucks. Didn't get any software for it, just the mp3 player and the MP3>USB converter thingy (for pluging it in)...

Baseball,
Look back to the very beginning of this thread, where I posted a few things, try Restacking your USB Drives, it worked for me once. But then I got the problems back. It has been known to be the end all method of fix for "some" people though, worth a shot. I have also done the Cache release (unplug computer from wall and let sit for 15-20 minutes), that worked once as well. It seems like my computer is learning, kinda like a cockroach who changes its DNA to overcome extinction. I just can't kill this problem, and when it returns, the fixes I used last time around don't seem to work again.

But a warning, DO NOT FORMAT OR RECOVER YOUR HARD DRIVE EXPECTING A SIMPLE FIX! You will be angry and disappointed.

I'm really hoping that eventually someone will come in here with the Cure All End All fix, or maybe Microsoft will offer us a bit more support. You'd think that being the biggest proprietary Software Distribution Corporation in the world, they would want to make sure all their stuff works and their consumers are happy....oh wait, I said proprietary didn't I?

-----
Decided to repost my system here so that people don't have to keep looking on front page to find it, in case it helps at all.

Alienware Area 51 Gaming PC
ASUS P4C800-E Motherboard
Intel P4 3.2ghz Processor (486 Pin Chipset)
1gig DDR2 Ram
160gig SATA HD
ATI Radeon 9550 SE Video Card
Audigy ZS 2 Sound Blaster
Windows XP Home Edition (Service Pack 2) Fully Updated
-----

Baseball, Kain, DJblackbeer: In your research, what would you guess is the oldest occurrence of this problem? It seems pretty recent to me (less than 4 months for most people).

Are we dealing with a previously undiscovered bug that is carried on otherwise innocuous usb devices? I certainly alters the hardware somehow, because as I noted: even my Linux OS doesn't read the devices. There are regedit fixes out there that lead nowhere.

I wonder if there's a commonality in that some of us (Sophora, Kain) seem to trace the problem to devices purchases used (and perhaps wiped before we got them (?)).

I can't help but think that this seems to be getting bigger as more people encounter it (virus, trojan, worm? crazy ol' me...)

If that's the case, then a REAL fix ought to be forthcoming.

According to my research, this has been happening for a long time.
Infact, I have an article here dated back to June of 2005.
http://www.ntcompatible.com/Desperately_need_help_---_USB_Devices_Not_Recognized_t32356.html

I'm sure that it dates back a bit further as well, because some of the articles I've come across were having problems with their USB on Win98SE. Thats old... lol.

But yah, I'm really hoping a fix in is our future.

Not for anything, but have you noticed that this is the Biggest Topic in the forum right now? Heh.

Thanks Kain.

I have been experimenting a little bit and found some strange things. Now it looks like it wasn't my ipod.... well hopefully not. I did the whole cache release thing and prior to turning my pc on I plugged in my ipod and it worked. So I had three usb connections mouse, keyboard, and my ipod. I then tried to plug in an external hard drive to my hub and that was not recognized and also gave me a lack of power error. I wonder if this is a power issue? My hub has an external power supply so I wouldn't think this would be an issue. The really weird part is that I then unplugged my ipod from the usb cord and tried to plug it back in and boom it didn't recognize it. So now I have to go through the whole clearing cache again. This is really starting to get annoying. Hopefully a fix will be found soon.

Haha, welcome to my world, Baseball.

I've been ailed with this problem since a little bit before Christmas.

Well, at the moment the devices in question are working! I did none of the things Kain and others did, simply because of reading everybody's frustration.

Twice now the USB ports turned up functioning, both times have been under the following circumstance: I haven't restarted, hibernated, shut down, etc. for about 72 hours.

Yesterday morning I jumped bright eyed out of bed and checked and the "Safely Remove Hardware" icon was present in my tray. With mounting suspense I clicked My Computer and Lo! the Card Reader was present, the External Hard Drive was present! Yeeeha.

At any rate: I have until next restart to get a bunch of stuff done.

Baseball: my crystal ball says it was a combination of the ipod and the sauerkraut. Get it? Sauerkraut::Hot Dogs, Hot Dogs::Baseball. OK, somebody else take a crack at bringing some levity to this frustrating topic.

Unfortunately, I have the same problem as well, and it's killing me. I have a HP DV5020us laptop, and this problem happened to me about 3 days ago.

I set Napster to download a bunch of songs, and then went to class. I got back a few hours later and my computer had frozen up. I had to push the power button, and upon rebooting, none of my USB devices were recognized.

I'm at the end of my rope, here. I tried regedit fixes, turning off power and letting the capacitors bleed off, USB stacking, you name it, I tried it. I'm really frustrated, as I need to use my USB devices.

It's interesting to see how this has a. affected quite a few people recently, and b. affected a couple other people with HP pavilion laptops...

I think I found the problem.

I have a wireless mouse USB 1.1 on a USB KVM switch (between 2 computers) and a newer USB 2.0 external hard drive and when I plug them in at the same time, the two devices will not work correctly (i.e. I get the malfunction message).

If I unplug the external HD, the mouse/keyboard work fine. If I unplug the mouse, the external HD will work fine.

I disabled my onboard 1.1 usb ports (I have a usb 2.0 pci card) and tried just to use the 2.0 ports but the same problem persists.

I do not have a USB 2.0 mouse around to plug in & test it out. I need the external for back up, I guess I will have to purchase a new mouse.

I'll pick one up and report back later.

Not much to report as of now, means how I've just been working on my Vista laptop instead of my main computer...my usb works on this comp...heh. Later I'll try messing with my computer again and see if anything changes.

I'm pretty sure if you have 1.1 and 2.0 USB ports on your machine, or a 1.1 device... it's going to slow down the whole USB bus.

I didn't get a chance to get the mouse, I want to try my existing hardware (1.1 mouse & 2.0 ext. HD) on my Shuttle PC, it has all USB 2.0 bus, versus my other ASUS machine which has a 1.1 bus and 2.0 usb add in card (pci).

I hope this makes sense.

It makes perfect sense. But I don't know how to tell if any of my devices are 1.1...also, if I have a 3.06Ghz P4, I would assume that all the ports are 2.0, but I acknowledge that may be an unsafe assumption.
Scagnetty: your situation, while somewhat different, still has me blaming one device along the way for the origin of the problem. In your case it may have been the mouse...or it may have been the KVM switch itself. Are any of the devices in question used, by chance?
(Allow me to continue my paranoid skepto-phrenic vein: Is there a "design obsolescence" bug geared at causing us all to march down in frustration and buy new devices? Hence the prolonged silence from those who could fix it?)

I have another guess at it:

I moved my ext. USB backup drive off the top of the PC up about 12 inches onto a nearby table and the USB malfunction message has not returned since.

I think I read or heard somewhere if you have too many USB devices close together or too close to a USB wireless transmitter (my mouse), something is going to go wrong. It's been 10+ hrs. and the message has not returned.

I can monitor the situation this weekend and write back on Sunday evening.

I hope this helps someone out there.

PS. All my equipment I purchased new, nothing used. I have used it over several years though. The newest thing is the ext. USB HDD which I don't know how I got along w/o it. Greatest thing (along with Norton 10 daily automatic backup) since sliced bread.

Scagnetty: Man, if it's something as simple as spreading out your devices...mine have all been recognized since before my last post, and through a couple of reboots. I have wireless keyboard/mouse. These are the only usb devices never to cause a problem throughout this whole thing. Then there's the 250gb external hdd and the card reader. (I'm never going to stick that ipod shuffle in a usb port again.)

So I'll try to keep them all spread out all over the darn place and see if that keeps them all functioning. We're going to try your crazy fix.

BTW: I'm interested in hearing more about your auto daily backup. Is that all you use your external hdd for? How long does it take? How long did the first time take? Did you back up lots of media files? Should this be a new topic?

That seems to work for you guys eh? To bad I'm having problems with embedded usb ports, which are ALL 2.0.

And not using any wireless usb devices

Still a problem.

I removed the Logitech wireless mouseman (Circa 2000) and got a plain Logitech USB corded mouse for my KVM switch. I haven't had any difficulties since then related to USB.

My PC has been shutting down at random though since moving here to this new apartment, I may need a new power supply. I know this unit has been in operation for approx. 5 years.

Another quick thought:

Too long of a USB cable will produce the 'Malfuntion' or 'Device not recognized' message. I first ran across this years ago on HP's website when we employed too long of a USB cable for a printer.

We then had to get a USB extender cable and the device was recognized and worked again.

I hope this helps someone.

While I have not experienced the exact issue you guys are having, I am having a USB related problem that seems to have recently started. I think it is USB related anyway. The problem was crackling sound in Vista (and the usb keyboard and mouse would blink off and back on), or ocassional Video problems in XP where a game would goto 100% cpu utilization, and I would have to reboot to fix it. Both I think are usb related problems (The game problem in XP happens when moving the mouse quickly, and once starts persists until I reboot). I read elsewhere of users with crackling sound issues and it was an IRQ conflict (issue seen with 2 different soundcards, my X-Fi and their C-media chip powered card). Granted, IRQ conflicts are not supposed to matter anymore, IRQ's are supposed to be shareable. But I plan to try and experiment with this tonight. The things you mention about powering the pc off for awhile, sounds like something you do to try and get the irq's to reset. You can accomplish the same thing by going into your pc's BIOS setup screen and choose "Set all settings to default" or "Reset Configuration". The actual setting to change will vary depending on the make/version of your BIOS. Some custom BIOS for companies like HP may not have a reset choice at all. Also, if the problem is in fact an IRQ conflict (which is a hardware setting), reformatting will not fix that.

In short, it seems that recently IRQ's for USB hub/devices while supposedly shareable with other devices in your PC, do not seem to be playing well with other devices. My pc is dual-boot XP and Vista. The OS's themselves can move IRQ's around during bootup. I think I will try to give my USB port its' own IRQ, and set everything else to other IRQ's, see how it goes.

My pc uses and ASUS A8n32-SLI Deluxe mobo, an Adaptec XHub7+ powered USB2 hub (with a Logitech G5 laser mouse, Saitek keyboard, UPS, Printer, quickcam, external cdrw drive attached), and dual boots XP and Vista.

Someone should open a support ticket with microsoft, and let them analyze a memory dump to see whats going on.

GoodBoy

Scagnetty, the fact that your computer shuts off randomly w/o notice could be a heating problem.

Same thing just happened to me, apparently where I live now, dust collects a lot faster and it clogged up my processor fan which brought cooling to a halt. Basically when the processor reaches about 96 degrees Celsius (200something Fareheit!!) The computer shuts down to avoid burn out. So open your case and check for dust. If you end up having to remove the cooling fan, make sure you get some thermal paste to put on the chip before putting your fan back on.

Goodboy,

I've heard about adjusting IRQ's and such to hopefully make things work, but alas, I'm not quite sure how do to that...perhaps you can give me something else to try by telling me where to find the IRQ's, how to adjust them, so forth? That would be a great help.

Well, just try the bios resetting method first. Reboot the pc, press F2, F10, Delete, whichever key is to get into bios setup for your model of PC. Many home built pc's bios use Delete key to get in. Mine does. HP i think is F2, IBM is F10.

Anyway once you get in there, look for a reset to defaults option.

Now, thing is, since the OS can move these settings around, this might only be a temporary fix. But, if you try the reset to defaults right after experiencing the problem, and it seems to help, then there is a good chance we are on the right track. If the IRQ's are not sharing properly, we can look at your IRQ settings in device manager, see what devices are sharing IRQ's with your USB root/hubs, and go from there. I would start by changing the drivers for any devices sharing IRQ's with your USB. Likely it will be video, sound, or network that is sharing. If the suspected device has the newest driver already, then we will uninstall it and go find an older version. If the driver is not the newest for that hardware, we will try updating to the newest.

Something else to consider (not sure is already mentioned) is to make sure your motherboard is running the most recent version of its' BIOS. You mention an ASUS motherboard for a Pentium4, but you need to find out it's exact model number and current bios Revision. Should be displayed for a second or 2 right as you power it on, on the screen where it tells you which key to press to enter bios setup. This shows how to determine your mobo and bios versions: http://support.asus.com/repair/repair.aspx?root=110&SLanguage=en-us

Everyone,
This is Clueless reporting back. My DV8000 HP laptop came back from HP and the problem was fixed this time. They replaced the mother board.

Sophora,
My problem was that "none" of my 4 USB ports will recognize "any" USB device. Any USB device would end up with the unknown device message.

I just lifted this from another website, so if you haven't tried this yet... give 'er a shot:

Do you ever get the "USB device malfunction" message on your fully-patched Windows XP SP2 box? Sometimes, the 'Unknown Device' error still reappears under the "Universal Serial Bus controllers" category even after you've tried disabling the system as I suggested in my previous tip?

This is when it's time to use Registry Editor. You will need to use the modern Registry Editor, regedt32.exe, because you must give yourself rights to delete a key. (The usual caveats apply --if you make a mistake, serious consequences may arise.)


In regedt32 go to: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CCS\Enum\USB.

Look in each folder labeled Vid_Xxxx. There should be subfolders containing information about one of your USB devices in each.

Right click on the Vid_Xxxx folder that contains a folder labeled 'Unknown Device' in it and click Properties.

Check Allow Full Control, then right click on the same Vid_Xxxx folder and delete it.

Reboot and plug the device in.

Regarding heat issues, my server was running at 78 or 79C. I need to pull the heat sync of my other machine or buy a new heat sync for it. The other machine is running at 59C, not too bad.

I have since turned off the two other machines and am just using the Shuttle. It will have to do until we move again.

Probleme: USB Device Not Recognized
I have a USB Card Reader. Because the wire was too short, i replaced it with a longer wire. But the computer stop recognizing it .
Plz, help.

If your new USB wire is less than 10 feet in length, your machine should recognize the device OK. Longer than 10 feet and problems will arise.

Read pages 1-5 and see if any of those fixes can help you?? Report back please.

I lost my USB ports a few days ago and having tried everything I could find on the net (short of re-installing Windows) the following worked for me: Enter your BIOS during boot and look for 'Legacy USB Ports'. The setting was ENABLED and out of interest I changed it to DISABLED, my USB ports are now working again! I hadn't touched my BIOS settings prior to losing USB and 'restoring defaults' in my BIOS ENABLED Legacy USB. I'm running Windows XP Home on a Fujitsu Siemens AMILO Pro notebook. Good luck. Nigel

Hey all, sorry for the hiatas...
I've been in Florida the last week for vacation.

Thx for the replies on IRQ's and BIOs, I'll check into those possible solutions tomorrow and let you all know what I come up with.

*** Update ***

After one whole day with working USB ports I shut my laptop down and when I powered it up again they'd gone... 'USB device not recognized'! Grrrrrrrrrrrrr

I spoke too soon!

Nigel

On my system... the new shiny USB 2.0 card doesn't play nice with my aging ASUS mobo w/USB 1.1 built in.

I quit using the USB 2.0 card because it caused my system to shut down at random several times per day.

Since I am using the USB KVM switch in the native 1.1 slots, the system is running without any problem.

If in the 2.0 USB slot... problems occur within a short amount of time.

Good luck to all, I hope this helps someone out there.

Hello guys. I just joined the forums due this discussion which is the best I have seen of any other site on the topic.

I am having the same problem on 3 out of 4 USB devices on my gateway laptop computer running windows XP.
The problem might have arose from either a 30gig iPod video, a 2.4ghz logitech wireless mouse, or one of three external hard drives. I am pretty sure it was the iPod, however.

I have read all 100 posts on this thred (or however many there really are) and I have tried all the fixed that would seem to work. Unplugging the power cord (and the battery), restacking the usb drivers, um yeah that's pretty much it (as far as I remember), but I tried those many many times with all sorts of different combinations. I am about to reformat and install windows vista which I need to upgrade to anyways. I am hoping that will solve the problem even though you guys have said it doesn't. I just have nothing else to try.

I really hope someone can find a solution to this frustrating problem.

*** Update 2 ***

Following a few days of experimenting I can confirm that in my case the problem is hardware. When I lose USB a firm thump on the left side of my notebook will restore the two ports beneath and also the two at the rear. My notebook is just over a year and well-travelled so something common to all of my ports is clearly loose or more likely in need of soldering. Nigel

Ive actually been avoiding my XP Computer recently because of the USB problems, I've been using my Vista Laptop lol, which is where I'm posting from right now. It has its own suite of NEW problems, but at least I've been able to fix all the problems I've found with Vista so far.

Problematic, to my knowledge no one has tried to fix the problem by updating to Vista, but its worth a shot, I'd be very interested in hearing how that turns out.

59Rocker, yeah, I know that most of the issues concerning this problem seem to be hardware. But I'm one of those hard headed *bleeps* that refuse to believe that lol. The fact that Microsoft knows about this problem and just can't seem to find a fix, lead me to believe that it is not a Hardware problem as it is a Software Bug in the XP code. Your computer companies and manufacturers are usually willing to jump the gun on 'replacing your mother board' because that puts money into their pocket.

I'm a firm believer that I should fix all computer problems myself. Theres enough information on the internet to find and troubleshoot just about any computer problem that may arise (excluding this one for some odd reason). The people who fix your computers are people just like you and me. They use the same Micro Tools that we do, the open the case the same way we do, and they replace your defective parts the same way we could. So why pay the outrageous price tag and drop it off to pay somebody by the hour what you could do yourself in a few hours tops at the price of the part you need?

All that aside tho, I'm totally stumped on this issue. I still need to try a Registry Default and IRQ fix.... But I can't bring myself to mess with my XP computer anymore. Perhaps tomorrow.

Anyway, I'm glad to know that this thread has turned out to be the most involved thread on the net about this problem. Because I started off on the same search around Christmas of last year, and found nothing that helped. Thats when I came here and started this thread. We are now 6 pages in and possibly closer to a fix. I'm sure that eventually someone will see this and be like "heres your fix".

*cough* Microsoft *cough* Pleaaaaase? Haven't we been good to you????

My ipod shuffe second generation (1 Gb) isnīt working with my PC, ASUS 2A7N266-VM, Slot A AMD Athlon, nVidia nForce chipset, Bios up-to-dated, and so on. The problem occurs both with Windows 2000 or XP. Any other USB device (MP3 player, pendrive) have been worked fine is this computer. The PC donīt recognize the USB device. The ipod blinks yellow light and nothing more. But I am sure the this ipod is working fine in other computers, like with ASRock K7S41 motherboard PC, as with Win2000 or WinXP. Is there specific problems with some kind of ASUS motherboard or I got a hardware problem with my PC? Thanks a lot for any help.

What type of USB ports do you have? USB 1.1 or 2.0.
Does your PC use UHCI, OHCI or EHCI USB controllers (see
http://www.computerhope.com/jargon/u/uhci.htm for definitions)?
Are all the USB ports enabled in the BIOS?
Do you have the Logitech drivers installed?

Hi,
You know, I've been reading this post and have had a problem where some of the USB are devices are not working while others do. And I have read stuff about people saying; "It will be nice when somebody can tell us how to fix it.", and you know something, I AM THAT PERSON! I think?

I just installed a Logitech webcam on one of my computers but decided to move it to another computer, and when I uninstalled it from the first computer, some of the devices stopped working. I didn't notice it right away, but when I did, I started searching the net and found this website. I tried some of the stuff here but none of that fixed it. But then I remembered reading somewhere that Logitech makes bad drivers. So I thought that maybe I'd try installing the webcam again, and guess what, it fixed it. When I uninstalled it, the problem started again, so I intalled it again and the problem went away.

After all I went through, I feel like there is a law suite against Logitech coming. Last time I EVER bye logitech GARBAGE!

Ambassador,

Could you be a bit more specific?

You say that all you had to do was uninstall and reinstall logitech software?

I was never really a big fan of logitech software in the first place, I love the product, but I hate the software. I currently use a USB Trackman Mouseball (by logitech). But ever since my usb's died, I've had it hooked up in the usb/ps2 converter.

Logitech software is something that never crossed my mind. I'll go ahead and try the install of logitech software (even tho i loathe it) just to see if it fixes anything.

Thanks for the input Ambassador.

Peterh,
I'm using Intel 82801EB USB Universal Host Controller - 24D2
'' '' 24D4
'' '' 24D7
'' '' 24DE
And
Intel 82801EB Enhanced USB2 Universal Host Controller - 24DD

If that helps at all.

Ok, I tried Installing Logitech Mouseware (current version 9.0.7 or something like that), but to no avail. I'm still experiencing the USB Malfunction Problems. I still need to try a reghack and a IRQ fix tho..so we'll see after that.

Ok, last update for today.

I tried the BIOS reset, did nothing.
BTW, I'm running ASUS Mobo P4C800-E, BIOS Rev. 1017, P4 3.2hgz 486 Pin Chipset.

I also investigated the IRQ thing. My Vid Card (ATI Radeon 9550SE), shares an IRQ port (16) with one of my USB Controllers. It says there is no complications, but I can't change it either, its grayed out. So no fix there either.

Lastly I tried the RegEdit thing where you look into HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Enum\USB\Vid_xxxxx
folders. Where I didn't find anything folder AT ALL labeled Unknown Device (yes I tried plugging in my usb devices while searching..nothing) Also, I never found the folder 'CSS' but CurrentControlSet was the closest to it.

I've exhausted all options on the thread at this point now.....still need help.

Well, I just bought a webcam and decided it would be better on another computer, so I moved it. But when I uninstalled the software for my webcam on the first computer, it deleted some sort of driver that the other devices require to operate. And when I installed the software again it apparently put the driver back, causing the other devices to work again. I did this twice to confirm.

My advice is this: If you uninstalled some USB device when your problem started, install it again. (If you ever had any USB device on your computer and you don't have it on that computer anymore then try installing it on that computer again, I think it's worth a try.)

Another thing you can do is to go in to the Device Manager and look for "USB 2.0 Root Hub" Or something named like that, and open the properties for it, click on the "Driver" tab, click on "Update Driver", click "Next", select "Display a list of known drivers", click on "Next", select "Show all hardware of this device class", and start browsing around trying to install different drivers.

I really feel for you all, I know what you're going through because it happened to me. I will do my BEST to help.

P.S.
I'm sorry if it's hard to understand what I'm talking about but I have a busy week, therefor I have to be quick when I write this stuff.

i made progress by starting to use the USB ports on the back of my Toshiba Satellite laptop. At least now I can occasionally get my laptop to recognize the iPod Shuffle for a few seconds. I read that the front USB ports don't have enough power. Seems like that might be true.

So, now i still usually get a "USB Device Not Recognized", but when I am able to get into iTunes and it almost recognized my shuffle, it says 'bad format', and then says 'error' when it attempts to format the iPod.

i have a new ipod and know i'll be able to use it at work computer. my laptop usb ports died a few months ago, so i sold my ipod. can't use my external hard drive, printer, nada - so it's something with the hardware/windows, for sure.

Hi, decided to join in, have read all of this thread, and have tried most things.

My problem is with my Trust 1200 Graphics tablet, which i have had since december 2003- no problems with it, ever.
But I got a new computer this january... and wahey, look what little message pops up when i connect it! bah.

(Some details...
Acer AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core Processor 3800+ 2.01 GHz, XP Media Center Edition, service pack 2, version 2002. Ask if you need more. Its brand new so i wouldnt think anything would be outta date, has all the updates.)

I tried the unplugging thing (30mins). Nope
Checked BIOS. Nope
Deleted Registry unknown file crap... and it worked!.... for a few seconds anyway, then i think it fixed itself back to unknown device.

Something to note- it workes fine on another, similar computer, no problems at all... so i thought Id try and export the registry files from the pc it works on and copy them into my unknown device registry file.... this time when i plugged it in, it came up 'usb human interface device' but sadly didnt work... it was a longshot, lol!

So yeah... if anyone wants to try that method they should... may work for them... and if anyone has any suggestions for me, yay!
Cheers, penguin

Alright so a quick update: as I presumed windows vista did not solve the problem.

I do have a logitech mouse just for the record but I never installed any software for it.

Last thing: if this was just some kind of driver problem, wouldn't reformatting have fixed it?

Well, I guess I had a unique problem if my solution didn't work for any of you. I guess you could always just harass the motherboard mfg or even Microsoft to try getting them to fix it.

I'm sorry but I can't think of anything else that would fix the problem.

I have a m audio midiman 4x4 usb and a logitech optical mouse plugged in to the usb ports on the mobo. I plugged my lexmark usb printer into the front usb port. The printer was turned on when I plugged it into the usb port. Suddently my mouse ceased to move the pointer, but still was getting power (the laser was still on). At this point my m audio midiman 4x4 was still operational. So I unplugged the midiman and mouse, then plugged the mouse into midiman's port. No joy. I then plugged the midiman back into its port, and it didn't work.

At this point I was getting the infamous "USB Device Not Recognized" bubble. So I proceded to update all my drivers, which was very hard due to the fact my mouse didn't work. No joy. I uninstalled all the usb controllers from the device manager window, rebooted the pc, the drivers reinstalled upon reboot but no joy there. I did make sure the mouse and midiman still functioned correctly on my laptop.

I then pressed cntl + r, for the run dialog, and typed in msinfo32 to run system info. I expanded the "Software Enviroment" and selected "windows error reporting." I pinpointed exactly when the problems began and saw a list of the same error over and over again.

"3/20/2007 12:53 PM MsiInstaller Detection of product '{C6F5B6CF-609C-428E-876F-CA83176C021B}', feature 'Complete' failed during request for component '{6EA56B47-0667-460E-A91B-53AA80E3616D}'
"

have no idea if this has anything to do with the problem, just wanted y'all to see what I found just in case one of you recognized it.

well after all that I finally found this forum (with my laptop). So I tried the "usb restack". But I didn't delete my usb controllers first. I just shutdown, turn off the power supply, and unplug the power cord. I left it like that for 45min, i went to mcdonalds, came back plugged the power back in, turn the power supply on, and booted. Joy joy joy my mouse works. but my midiman don't, but I think I just need to reinstall the drivers for that (the midiman has always been a little sensitive).

as a side note, if the power off thing didn't work I was going to go into c:/windows/system and delete the usbport.sys, and usbhost.sys files manually then reboot. don't know if windows would automatically downloaded new ones, but I told my self I would find new ones somewhere.

hope this helps and thank you guys so much, I was about to rip my hair out, and get a pci-e usb card

*sigh* my poor usb's lol.

Ambassador, I'll go ahead and try your re-installing ALL former usb programs, just as a last ditch effort...

I don't wanna spend the money for a new mobo, but I might be out of options.

Guys,

Here's my problem and the solution that worked for me.

As usual, I take no responsibility for what this does to your pc,
should you try this and screw thing up it's your responsibility.

DELL Precision 390 WindowsXP pro SP2, a brand new PC.
Sony Ericsson W300I phone.

I plugged the phone into the USB port and the USB mouse died and stayed dead - same problem as everyone else. I tried the usual fixes to no avail.

Next I tried booting the PC using Linux Knoppix (For those in the dark, Linux is an alternative operating system to Windows and dosen't use any Microsoft code or configuration settings whatsoever), thus eliminating WindowsXP and the c:\ drive from the equation. Result, mouse still wouldn't work, so the problem isn't with WindowsXP or the registry.

Next re-booted WindowsXP, went to the control-panel/administrative-tools/computer-management tool and selected the Device manager. I then deleted each of the Universal Serial Bus controllers until my USB keyboard died. I then shut down the PC, unplugged it from the mains, waited five minutes then re-booted.

Result - problem solved, the mouse now works and so does the phone.

I therefor suspect that the problem lies somewhere with the non-volatile memory that holds USB settings, I guess that if these settings are wiped by the computer management tool/power cut, they are rebuilt from scratch when the system is re-powered/booted.

Hope this helps.

Thanks Guys.

Andy,
The operation you describe is called "Restacking the USB Drives"
Which indeed worked for me once.

But the problem came back again soon after, and restacking the usb's a 2nd time didn't cure it.

Hi everyone. I've been having just about the same problem here. A while back I was using a Dell Pentium 4 PC and my iPod/iTunes worked fine with that (although the PC itself was horrid) but recently after building myself a new Core2Duo-based PC, I've not been able to get Windows XP to recognise my ipod. Every time I plug in the ipod the same "USB Device Not Recognized" bubble pops up and under device manager it shows up as "Unknown Device".

I've searched the web for 3 days already and I've done every thing suggested with the exception of uninstalling all my usb drivers. The reason I did not try this is cos I'm using a USB keyboard and mouse and am afraid that I will not be able to use the computer at all if they're not recognised (due to drivers being uninstalled plus I don't readily have a ps2 mouse/keyboard at the moment), although I'm not sure if this will be the case as my BIOS appears to support USB mice/keyboards at startup (it can be disabled as well).

The weird thing is that all my other USB devices work with absolutely no problem whatsoever, no matter which USB port I plug them into. Apart from the keyboard and mouse I'm also using a Canon printer, a Wacom tablet and at times I plug in my Playstation Portable to transfer stuff to and from my pc - all via USB, and with no problem at all. The only thing that seems to be causing this is the iPod.

I really hope that this is some kinda software bug that can and will be ironed out soon. I'm not a fanboy, but I like Apple products and I could have bought any MP3 player but chose the (generally more expensive) iPod cos I've never had a problem with Apple's stuff in the past. I'm not jumping to conclusions, don't get me wrong, but I would be really disappointed if this is something that's going to cause me to shell out more money to fix.

EDIT: I forgot to mention that I tried plugging the ipod into my sister's PC and the same problem persists. With both my PC and her's, the iPod charges thru the USB connection but refuses to be recognized, not even as a drive under "My Computer".

Thats definately a weird problem.

The problem we are all having doesn't appear to be a software problem like you might have. When we plug our 'defective' device into ANY other computer, it works fine.

I'm thinking that the source of our problems is a hardware defect in the USB ports...or maybe a bad motherboard, as some seem to have fixed their problem by replacing the motherboard, something I am not willing to do....yet.

I hope you get yours fixed.

While I'm on the subject, has anyone in this thread fixed their problem yet? Or are we all still completely lost?

UPDATE:

I ran the HP scan, and it came up with nothing.
I'm going to go ahead and uninstall the drive from device manager and see what happens.

WHOOPS - THE PRECEDING POST WAS POSTED IN THE WRONG FORUM, IGNORE IT, I APOLOGIZE.

Hi, I'm an italian guy who is experiencing the same problem as you.
I bought a HP DV6276EA Laptop a couple of months ago and in the first one I never had problems with my usb peripherals.
After the first month, all new peripherals results as Unknown Devices, but the ones used in the past still work.
To check if it's an HW or SW problem, I download the Linux Knoppix 5.1 Live CD and booted my PC under Linux, and all peripherals works without any problem.
So, I exclude that, in my case and in the one similar to mine, it could be an hardware problem or a problem caused by the notherboard, it's just a bug of Windows Vista, so we must wait for a fix.

PS. Fix 925528 doesn't work on my system.
PS2. Sorry for my poor english...

My problem is on a Windows XP Machine.
I still can't solve this one.

If your vista update didn't work, try contacting HP, they will probably end up replacing your motherboard. So far that is the only solution for this problem that I have been able to find.

I don't think that replacing my motherboard will resolve my problem.
As I sayd, all works as well under Linux, so motherboard has not any problem...

Ah.

Well then, your stuck on the same boat I am
Join the club...

If for some reason you find a resolution, let us know.
Ive tried many many things to no avail. You can find a complete reference of things others and myself have tried on these 9 pages...

Good luck.

I've tried everything in the previous pages and nothing solved my problem.
It's very strange that the problem is present even on Windows XP, I thought that it was a Windows Vista bug... well, I hope Microsoft will do something for us, I payd the OS (it was pre-installed on the laptop) and I want to use it at all, not only with old peripherals...

Bye

If this problem is occuring on your PC, try a different power supply. The guy who's PC was crashing randomly is more than likely a PSU problem.

Adding the extra USB device could be the straw that broke the camels back, drawing that little bit too much power and crashing everything.

If the whole PC shutsdown, its probably that or overheating.

For laptop users, try faffing about in the BIOS for something related to USB. Turn it off, boot, turn it on, boot and try again. You'll find the option in Integrated Peripherals, Connectivity or similar. (Hammer F2 or delete during start up; straight after you switch on your PC).

If a USB device isn't recognised in your PC, try it in another to see if the same problem continues. If it does, the device is to blame not your computer. Newer USB devices ONLY work with USB 2.0 and not 1.0 or 1.1 which can cause Windows to say that its not recognised. If its a cheap USB device then it'll not be backwards compatible with 1.0 or 1.1.

My aging Sony Vaio loses the whole side connectivity if its on battery power randomly. That includes the USB ports and the sound card. It acts as if they aren't there, which sounds like a power issue. Sticking the power cable in and restarting fixes the problem.

Just to let you know, Microsoft unfortunately don't care about your problems as you have already bought their product. The Vista bug will be worked out by the motherboard manufacturer not by Microsoft. Check their site for additional updated drivers.

Hope this helps someone

In my BIOS there's nothing about USB peripherals, and I don't think that USB is the problem itself, because even SD and MMC cards suffer the same problem, only one works, the one used when everything was ok, all the others don't.
So, it's a Windows Vista problem because he can't recognize any new peripheral, or better he recognize them (if I put a pendrive he tells me that is a flash drive, if I put a SD card he recognize it as a SD card) but doesn't want to let them run, telling that no drivers was found.

Yesterday I flashed my BIOS with a new version but nothing has changed...

Italian HP customer care solved my problem.
I wrote them my problem and they asked me so:
1) go in the peripherals list, My Computer->Manage
2) right-click on the unknown peripheral
3) select Update software driver
4) specify the path C:\Windows\system32

I thought they were joking, because windows usually scan system32 automatically to find a driver for the device, and I even tried to tell the system to scan whole HDD for a driver in the past and nothing was found.

Now I tried what HP suggested me and... it happened, my pendrive has been found and installed correctly!

I don't know what to say, that ridiculous, a ridiculous Windows bug!

Now the only thing I must discover is how to tell the system to scan system32 directory automatically... someone knows?

You could try this:

Start -> Run:
regedit

browse to:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Setup

Create or edit data which name is Installation Sources (data type REG_MULTI_SZ)
add the "C:\Windows\System32" to it.

I made what you suggested but the path is already present.
Could it be a matter of access permissions?

Greystar, thats AWESOME!!
That worked on a Vista PC though, right?

I can't believe I didn't think of that myself.
I'm currently in the process of moving, but once I get my PC unpacked again, I'm sure gonna give that a try. Hopefully it works on XP PC's too... *crosses fingers*

Having recently had the same 'device not recognized' message after moving my XP machine, I have read this thread entirely and have solved my problem by simply uninstalling all of my USB devices in Device Manager, shutting down and unplugging for half an hour then re-booting as normal with all devices in place.

Win XP Home not only recognized all previously unrecognized devices but also found a driver online to make my aerial dongle work and told me how to make my Lacie external hard drive operate faster too! I have rebooted since and all is still good.

I don't know if it will last or work for everyone. I seldom have a good word for Microsoft but this time they seem to have come up trumps.

I think the key with most MS problems is to think as simply as possible. No need to format or fiddle with the bios or registry, just disassemble and let MS try to put it back together!

Hope that helps.

A slight aside:

Like politicians and most corporates, Microsoft is driven by marketing. They love catch phrases like 'plug and play'. What they actually mean is that each device will be covered by a driver that will make it work on their operating systems. What they don't say is that their operating system is actually more basic and less clever than the slogan that their marketing people devised.

Don't be fooled by words!

i have had this problem for about a year and a half now, i first bought my laptop 2 years ago, from IbuyPower.com (not a name brand). no problems whatsoever during the first six months, then suddenly my USB devices started not being recognised. ok no woop my USB device died....just to check however i try it on another computer on which it works fine...ok then. After this my ports fixed and died on and off i could not find a patern. i contacted the manufacturer none of their over the phone solutions worked i sent the computer in, they sent it back saying the problem was fixed. it was for about 10 hours then it came back, at this point my warranty was over (wonderful) since then ive tried every single solution ive found [including those found in this thread i hadnt tried before]..none have worked...however i have found some odd trends:

Global trends-
- This seems to occur Mostly on laptops
- nothing known will fix it but it often fixes itself temporarily
- turning off a computer, unplugging power/supply for 30 mins will make them work again sometimes (something about the Mobo getting too much juice)

personal trends-
Assuming they are fixed at the time
-exessive use of my Wireless card (internet) seems coreletated to when they crash
-Computer heat seems corelated to when they crash
-Computer 'power plan' seems to make diferences
-leaving a computer on too long and they crash
- leaving my hand on the laptop near the USB ports seems to cause them to crash (may be related to heat?)
-sometimes crash for a sec, and come right back, at this time my mouse's LED blinks wildely, shuts off, blinks wildely again, if my mouse comes back online the LED works again, if it doesnt the LED shuts off

Assuming they are broken at the time:
-leaving a computer on for extended periods of time *may make them work again
-turning everythign off, and unplugging any and all power supplies (battery included) for the night makes them turn on again fairly consistently (95% of the time), again this solution was suggested for Mobo getting overload of juice

other trends:
even though they do not detect devices, they provide power e.g.- my cooling plate USB powered works, even though none of my devices are recognized (this has been reported by diferent people over the net)

Solutions i have tried-
1) reinstalling all my USBS
2) restacking them
3)reformating (to my dismay this did Nothing)
4) upgrading to vista
5) all the registry things
6) all the BIOS things
7) IRQ things
8) and many other solutions

most of these solutions did nothing, and those that did are only temporary and eratic, the only one i can use fairly consistently is a complete shutdown and removal of power for long periods of time (over 12 hours) this will make them work again for short periods of time.

I am really hoping someone can come up with an actual permanent solution, as this makes gaming (and many other things Photoshop etc etc) extremlly hard

You may have already did this, but did you try to contact the company and ask what they did to "fix" the problem, also telling them that it did not work? If the work was done under warranty, then they should honor it and work with you.

Is the laptop always connected directly to a power outlet, or through a surge protector? Does it happen only when on battery power or anytime, regardless?

I would also appreciate some feed back. Because I am still having problems too =/

So I guess that the Vista upgrade didn't work?

aye i did ask them and i got no answers..and they didnt honor it

hmm well the laptop is connected through surge protector usually but at school or my freinds it is connected in normal plugs, and the problem happens regardless of battery power our outlet

nope it didnt...a solution that ive though of, may be to buy a PCI USB port card..it wont fix your actual USBs but itll let you use USBs...however ive seen reports where they work, and others where the same problem over with their new card.

another solution ive thought of bu not tried yet, again this wouldn fix your current problem but maybe allow you to use USBs, is if you computer has Printer ports or firewire or PS/2 ports...maybe find a converter/adapter so you can plug you devices into these ports instead?

i have not tried either of these solutions, as i dont have enough money to buy a 40$ dollar PCI card or adapter (expensive for laptops) and i havent found a converter/adaptor (i know there are ps/2 ones, but my laptop has no ps/2 ports

I also have the same problem.. USB DEVICE NOT RECOGNIZED!!!
I plugged my EPSON printer after I brought it in a repairshop,, and guess what??? The balloon pop-up and said that it didn't recognized my printer. What?? So I reinstall the cd, but it didn't solve my problem. I read all this thread about USB DEVICE NOT RECOGNIZED. I tried to shut my pc and disconnect the main socket. But nothing happened?! I also tried the BIOS thingy and it didn't help. I use windows XP.

Now, I can't use my mp3, digicam, and my nokia PC suite.

If you find the solution for this fiasco, just post it. Im desperate!!! Next week I'll try to reformat my PC, even though it didn't work for you. Thanks guys!!

Yeah, one of my USB Devices is a Logitech Mouse that runs through USB. I happen to have a USB/PS2 Converter (came with the mouse, yippee), all I did was plug the mouse into the converter, then plug that into the PS/2 port for the mouse, and the mouse works that way. But using the USB port directly into the computer does not work.

I kinda figured that upgrading to Vista wouldn't fix the problem. But thanks for the confirmation.

I don't see how adding a new PCI card with usb ports would work, means how it would still be running off the Motherboard which seems to be the cause of the problem. People have reported that replacing the Motherboard is a sure fire fix.

I have another question though, has anyone tried switching from Windows to Linux OS? Perhaps the usb problem is a M$ Windows Software bug??? The way I see it, is if you switch to Linux and your USB ports work again, we can start knocking on M$'s door.

in this thread itself, some people had luck with the Windows->Linux switch, others it didn't do anything for them. this is the only place where i have seen that idea considered so i don't have any other results to compare to sorry.

as for it being motherboard based...USB-ports on Laptops are part of the mo-bo, intergrated into it, therefore replacing the mo-bo as that gentleman had done in this thead for his laptop would have replaced the USB's meaning we do not know if it is mo-bo or USB oriented problem

OK. I have a pentium D 3.4Ghz machine with a 661GX-M7 motherboard.

I have a GForce FX5200 128mb video card, with 1.5 GB of ram. Recently upgraded.

I have Windows XP.

I have solved the "USB device is not recognised" problem, by going into the bios and disabling "USB 2.0 Support" option. (near "USB Legacy Support", and "USB Mouse Support"). Everything works fine. My 512k internet connection has no slow down in ping for games and everything works fine.

Yeah my data transfer will be slower on my 1G memory stick but who cares? I use it once a month for relatively small files so it's not like I need the speed.

No other solutions worked and I couldn't be bothered trying anything else.

So it comes down to only an issue with 2.0 on my system. If this works for other people, then the problem must have something to do with USB 2.0

i could find no such option in my BIOS sadly could you be clearer as to where you had to go to find it?

Borg22, what model number is this laptop?

I have had this problem on my Acer laptop for about 2 years. ACER advised me to reinstall Windows XP (I passed) and I ended up buying a PCMCIA - USB card. It was about $30 and has 2 USB 2.0 ports. Only now, my card is starting to act up. Could be the card going bad... I am now looking at Bluetooth USB hubs. Anyone tried that?

its a custom made ibuypower Battalion S-turbo laptop..not sure what he model number would be closest thing i can find is:

258ka0

Thanks to all who have contributed. My issue is similar but involves AT&T/Cingular's (HTC) 8525 model pocket PC using the USB cable to sync. Some days it recognizes just fine, and on others it does not.

I am on a Dell Inspiron 9400 using Vista. I, like many others, believe this is a Microsoft USB/Human Interface Device subsystem issue. BIOS adjustments, PC reboots, removing all other USB devices does not seem to work. The only thing that has worked for me is to reboot the PC and perform a soft reset on the phone.
It has worked everytime for me. My wireless Microsoft USB laptop mouse has never had an issue, but it is less complex. Think about it - iPods, Smart Phones, Pocket PC phones, and the like are running a separate mobile OS, so there is a much more elaborate handshake going on.

This issue would have already been resolved if large companies used USB devices as a common practice since they are the ones with the premium Microsoft support contracts (I used to work for AIG and we would have a top notch Microsoft developer on the phone with us of and on for weeks tearing into the guts of COM objects, hang dumps, the works). Unfortunately, though, this is not an enterprise software issue and will not have the same urgency. If anyone knows of a good .NET programmer with some spare time, they could probably get some detailed info through their IDE tools that would provide clarification in how the USB/HID handshake works.

I'll drop a post at some Pocket PC sites and others as well.

Wildman94

Wow...my eyes are bulging out of my head after all the "usb device not recognized" posts I've read. On my Acer Aspire 1804, I simply went to Device Manager and uninstalled the "Unknown device," as well as the Intel 82801FB/FBM USB2 Enhanced Host Controller - 265C. Then I rescanned my hardware and WinXP reloaded both items. Lastly, I unplugged the device and immediately plugged it back in again...and it worked. Every time! This only an occasional problem, but since this is a USB world, it becomes an even bigger problem when you need the device NOW!

Not sure about all the stuff others are doing with editing the registry and unplugging batteries for a half an hour. Seems like a waste of time. As an AV/IT consultant, I don't have that kind of time to be waiting around for a fix to happen. Hope a fix comes with USB 2.X or 3.X.

I have got the dreaded "USB Device Not Recognized" bug. I have tried just about everything in this forum. Nothing has worked. By the way, due to all the attention, my computer is running the best its every run. The only problem is, it will not recognize any USB devices. Device manager states that USB's are working fine. However, when I place a USB device in the port, it comes up with "USB Device Not Recognized." Everything works ok in my laptop so it's not my USB devices.

I have an AMD Athlon 64 Processor 3200+ with 2.1Gb of Ram and I run Windows XP SP2 Professional. The motherboard is a MSI K8N SLI Platinum. My dilemma is that I cannot find the same motherboard to replace it (that's if it is a hardware problem). I don't think they make them anymore. Anyhow, it's nearly two years old.

I would like to fit the problem because the computer still does the job. So, I look with interest for more solutions. By the way, I tried the PS/2 conversion to USB, but it didn't work. As I said, everything else works except for USB Device. It's a mystery.

I just discovered that if I have any USB devices attached to the computer when starting the computer, it will not start up. In fact, it locks up immediately. When I take the USB device out and press reset, it starts as normal. Still looking for some pointers to fix the the problem.

I gave up and found another motherboard. I will let you all know how things go once I put the new motherboard in.

Lawd, I feel so stupid. The problem (for me) lies with the drivers for the Intel 82801FB/FBM USB2 Enhanced Host Controller. It's not a hardware problem. It's a driver problem.

You can buy a USB 2.0 card or put in a new motherboard, but you would still be using the same drivers. So, you would still wind up with the same problem down the road. Some people on here have it right: The workaround is to disable USB 2.0 support. But I edit video and need the speed (until I switch to firewire).

I wonder if it's possible to use Linux drivers to solve this problem? Hhhmmm.....

Just today, I experienced the dreaded "USB Device Not Recognized" balloon. Great.

My Specs:
Dell Precision 380
Windows XP Pro, SvcPk2
2GB Ram
Pentium D 3GHZ

Here is a list of my USB devices that I normally have plugged in at one time or another:

SmartDisk card reader
Dell optical mouse
Maxim keyboard
Motorola Q Docking station
Iriver 4GB Clix

I had returned from a meeting and noticed that my screen saver was activated, as it should be. I always lock my computer when walking away, as I work in cubicle land. Sort like the movie "Office Space".

I docked my Motorola Q, and a second later plugged in my Iriver to charge the battery. At this point, the computer locked up. The screen saver no longer responed, and the keyboard and mouse were dead. I powered the system down with the power button and waited a few mintues. I then powered it back up and noted that ALL of my USB ports were not responding. Great.

After messing around with removing the USB devices in Device Manager, I found this site and read the entire thread. A few posts back somebody talked about going into the Registry Editor and removing any USB keys that had "Unknown" keys in them. I did find one key that had unknown USB devices. I deleted this one, and checked the rest of the registry entries. I then shutdown the system, and then unplugged it for about 5 minutes. When i fired it back up, I was not greeted with the dreaded "USB Device Not Recognized" balloon. I grabbed a USB mouse, said a quick prayer, and plugged in the USB mouse.....it worked. Amazing, well it has worked for now.

I have since plugged in my Motorola Q, Iriver Clix, keyboard, mouse, and SmartDisk card reader, and they all appear to be working fine. I have even plugged int a USB 2GB thumb drive, and it appeared correctly and is working correctly.

It appears that the ONE Unknown USB device was messing it up for the entire bunch of USB ports. All of my ports were not responding.

I did find an article on Mircosoft's site about the screensaver being on, then plugging in USB devices within 10 seconds of the screen saver coming out of S5 or S6, things would go bad. I followed their directions, but they didn't work (no surprise there).

I have concluded that my next computer purchase will be a MAC. Based on Microsoft's lack of interest in fixing their own operating system, massive security problems, problems with their new operating systems, disregard for the public's concerns, and an apparent inability to address the issues; I'm done with Microsoft's junk.

I have an MCSA and I provide computer support for a large population of Windows users. However, my own personal preference is now MAC. Since the Knuckle Dragging Goons at Microsoft have no interest in fixing their junk, I predict more and more people will be joining the MAC ranks.

ARE YOU READING MICROSOFT!

Omg guys, i tried plugging my ipod into the computer and it told me "USB Device Not Recognized" and i tried everything i could imagine to fix this, but nothing worked, and it's driving me crazy. If you kno the sure answer, plz let me know


e-mail: wilson_duarte@yahoo.com
aim: williedakid62389

thnxs

Wow, looks like we have some new people in the post.
Alright, well as promised a while back, I bring forth a new update.

I am still ailed with the same problem, and I finally got around to talking to Alienware Support (i have an alienware area-51 gaming pc).

I ran the whole problem by them, and even directed them to THIS thread. The AW Support guy told me to flash my bios to the most current revision that my motherboard can use (ASUS P4C800-E Deluxe motherboard), I was using REV 1017 by alienware, and I upgraded to 1024.001 Beta from the ASUS site. This did not fix my problem. I was further instructed to check the USB Connector heads on the motherboard, and if that does not fix it, I should replace my motherboard.

Seems like all tech support leads to the same place, replacement of faulty motherboard. That sux.

I have also tried disabling the usb 2.0 drivers in the bios menu, but that did not fix my problem either.

I am pretty much at my wits end on this one. Pleeing to M$ doesn't seem to help, and up to date, nobody has found a definate fix. I'm still looking though. Thanks to everyone who has been adding to this thread, and I hope that help and support keeps coming until we find a cure.

EDIT - I have never been able to find the registry entry that has the "Unknown USB Devices" in it, I have looked in every Vid_XXX folder I can find, but never find the unknown usb device entry...So that fix has not been able to work for me either =/

so that means that so far, there's no way to fix this problem

Kain;

I am not probably be of much help, but figure that I can throw some free floating ideas into the mix. You have a complex array of bios options with your motherboard. Since you upgraded the bios, did you check the bios settings for USB fully? Sometimes the default settings, if that is what you chose when you upgraded the bios, miss a few things. In the users manual for the Asus motherboard, section 4.4.6, note the options in the Advanced-->USB Configuration. Are all eight ports activated?

Is legacy USB support set to auto?

What do the other settings say?

Guys, I've been following this thread as I too have the USB issue with my brand new MSI P35 Platinum, and I'm on the verge of returning it.

While searching the MSI Forums, I found this article regarding the tenth pin on MB USB connectors creating all sorts of problems.
http://forum.msi.com.tw/index.php?topic=57472.0

Does anyone think this issue relates to our problem here?

Yes, yep, and yes.

I actually come here with some good news, for me at least.

After talking to Alienware Tech Support for the last few days, I have managed to resolve my problem.

At this point I'm extremely embarrased to say that the problem on my system at least was caused by a dirty USB Header. Also, my USB Header was not connected all the way on my front usb ports.

The AW tech support guy basically told me 2 things to help fix the problem, 1) update BIOS (which looking back now, I didn't really have to do), and 2) Check USB Headers and see if they are in working shape.

After checking on my headers, I noticed that one of them wasn't securely fastened, so I cleaned em up, fastened them, and crossed my fingers hoping that my USB Ports would work again. The time it took for my system to boot up, launch windows, and start my initial programs (a 30-45 second process) seemed like an eternity. I couldn't wait to plug a usb device in, I finally did, and JOY!

I pluged in a differnt MP3 player then the one I mentioned in this thread, and low and behold, I almost cried when Windows recognized the usb device, installed its drivers, and updated them. Holy cow, my problem is solved. After 7 loooooong months I can use my USB Ports again.

So for those of you who still have the problem, check your USB Headers! Maybe it will work for you.

For those not as tech savy, the USB Headers are the connection slots on your Motherboard that connects the wire from the motherboard to the front end usb ports. Unplug the wire on both sides, blow some canned air into the connectors, clean the pins, fasten the wire back in tightly. Experience joy, hopefully.

Lets just hope that this isn't a temp fix, I sincerely hope I won't have these problems anymore.

To all you out there who have the USB Device Not Recognized problem:

I was struggling with this issue for several days and finally found the ultimate solution (well not exactly a solution but more of a workaround - hey but what the hec? it works!!!)

I've noticed that many of you have taken extreme (and costly) measures such as formatting your hard drives and replacing motherboards - in most cases this was ineffective, so here's what I advise:

Laptop users: Go to the nearest computer accessory department and purchase a PCMCIA-to-USB adapter. There are many cheap ones out there that can provide you up to 2-3 USB sockets on them... if more are needed just plug in a USB HUB into this adapter and you're all set. (Let's face it - no one uses PCMCIA anymore but they still exist on EVERY Laptop)

PC Users: Follow the same procedure as Laptop users after buying a PCMCIA socket for your desktop.

Total cost: 60 USD

Good luck and remember that workarounds are often better than solutions :-)

Ari

Have you turned the computer off and on again?

I tried a lot of things to get rid of USB Device not Recognized. I was getting it on all USB devices except the mouse. All USB devices had been working before. I tried to update drivers, even installed XP on a second disk, then dialed a friend. I laughed when he said "Did you turn it off and on again?", but THAT'S WHAT WORKED!

After I shut down XP and pulled the plug out of the computer for a few secs, then powered up - all USB devices recognized, until I came to a camera. USB Device not Recognized. So powered off and on again. All USB devices recognized again (except the camera).

Theory? Probably unplugged the camera when it was switched on. This probably buggered the camera interface. Then whenever the camera was plugged in it put the USB controller into some funny state so that it rejected most USB devices.

Dear All,

In regards to "USB Device Not Recognized" after personally having tasted it and searching for solutions, i have found a way it can be resolved. The following is what i did to resolved this USB issue:

Unplug your USB Device first. You will plug it in again the final steps.

Before you do this, do a backup of your registry:
Start-Run- type in "regedit" (without quotations) and click ok.
registy window will pop up. Go to File - Export and save to a location of your choice.

1)Delete the follwing folders and its contents ( if found) in the :
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CURRENTCONTROLSET\ENUM\USB\Vid_xxxx
Note:You need to set permission to delete the folder Vid_xxxx
Right Click on the Vid_xxx and set permission and then do the delete.

2)Go to:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CURRENTCONTROLSET\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services

Check if there is a key name USB, if its not there then create a new key USB

If key found check for any DWORD value name as DisableSelectiveSuspend
if found then set its dword value as 1. If not found, then create a new DWORD value and name it: DisableSelectiveSuspend
Add the value as 1 to it.

3) Check for any chipset driver/inf update available for your motherboard. If found any, do a update them. To know what motherboard and chipset your system has, go to http://www.cpuid.com/ and download the cpuzid utility. a simple good utility to identilfy the chipset and etc. Using the info you can google for the chipset updates.

4) Restart your computer after all these been done. Restart even if there is no chipset drivers to update.
5) go to Start - Run and type in :"devmgmt.msc"(without quotation)and click OK. Device Manager will pop up.

5) In the Device Manager, scroll down to usb serial bus controller. uninstall everthing you see there.

6) now scroll to system devices ( pls note in the System devices, the names may not be exactly the same as listed below)You will be prompted at certain uninstallation to restart, dont restart, keep uninstalling all those in the system devices. At times while you are uninstalling, u will see some getting installed again. No worries. Here is the folowing to uninstall from the System devices:

PCI Bridge
SMBus controller
Microcode Update Device
PCI bus
Plug and Play Software Device Enumerator
System board


7)Once all these is done, restart you pc.
Let the system update and install for hardware found automatically.

8)Once all is done, restart your computer again

9) wait for the system to settle down with all the windows start up process. after a while, plug in your USB device.

10) Windows will detect it perfectly and you wont see the "USB Device Not Recognized".

I hope this will help to resolve the USB Device Not Recognized issue for everyone as it has done for me. I took this step after trying and failing on many solutions found in the net even ms soultions didnt work. But I have added them as a step so that every area is covered for this issue.

Thanks and regards,
chandra

This thread is so long, I am not a skilled writing or talking, however I am really interesting the daily news and try my best to read all posts

Just thought I'd contribute my experience. I started getting the "USB Device has malfunctioned" error only after I started using the Airlink101 802.11G USB adapter. However when the error occurred, only one of my USB devices is affected: my Microsoft USB optical mouse. Luckily I could still browse the internet using my keyboard. I typed the error message into Google and was lead here. I tried adding the HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\USB key and DisableSelectiveSuspend DWORD to no avail. What did seem to work is shutting down the PC and unplugging my power supply unit (Antec NEOHE 550w) for a few seconds. Plugged it back in and voila, the mouse works again. I think I'm going to leave that registry key in there even though it seems it didn't help. Here are my system specs:

Abit AW8-D Intel 975x chipset with current chipset drivers from Intel.com
Pentium D 3.0ghz
MSI Radeon x1900xt 512mb running custom Omega 3.8.360 drivers
1gb RAM
300gb SATA
Airlink101 AWLL3026 802.11G adapter with up-to-date "bare" drivers from their website (they have another set of drivers that includes a configuration utility but I prefer to use Windows to set it up so it automatically connects after I log in)
Microsoft Optical USB Mouse (this is the device that Windows was saying malfunctioned)

I have had this same problem too. I did the DisableSelectiveSuspend key trick, and it worked for a few weeks(sort of- everything functioned, but I would still get random error balloons). Anyways, as of this morning it no longer works. I noticed that the DWord value is set to Hexadecimal when it should be Decimal, but if I change it, nothing actually happens (the change to decimal doesn't save). Does anyone have any clue on how this might be fixed?

Just thought I'd chime in here and let y'all know what worked for me...

1) Shut down computer
2) Unplug power cable
3) Press button on computer to discharge power
4) Plug in and boot up

Problem fixed.

It worked for me.....

4 port USB HUB "Device Unknown - USB Device Malfunction."

I removed the HUB from the computers USB port I had it plugged into and plugged it into another USB port. (where I had my mouse plugged into)

It worked ! No problems.

The USB port that was causing the problem with the HUB is now running an external HD without problems.

The computers USB port the I had the HUB plugged into appears to be only able to handle one device and not a HUB.

It's worth a try.

Best of luck.

I'm starting to have this same problem as well with my laptop and USB printer. I don't think it's the USB ports themselves because I've tried plugging another device into the port where the malfunctioning device would always be and there are no problems. The thing is I've kept that malfunctioning device unplugged for a while which is what probably caused the problem. I've tried adding the USB key in the registry and that didn't work (unless I did it wrong?), and I've also unplugged my laptop and even pulled out the battery but still the problem persists. I haven't tried uninstalling the USB root hubs though. Do you just uninstall the ones that say USB root hub? I'm confused, any help is really appreciated.

USB Device Not Recognized. I had this problem after installing driver/software for SAMSUNG YP-F1 XB. Worked fine as memory stick previously. You name it, I tried it - all failed to cure problem.
Then I shut system down, unplugged it and shorted the L to the N on the plug, an old trick but worth a try. Power back on and start up - problem solved.
The SAMSUNG does not like being removed when powered up either - some devices don't seem to mind! So if you do this out of habit or just plain forget, this might just get your system reset.

I have a similar problem with my USB Crystal Optical Mouse and the mouse is working erratically only and frequently is not recognised by Windows.

I tried the option with the USB key in the registry without any avail.

Are there any other options one could try?

System Information:
MSI Megabook GX700 Notebook
Intel Core2Duo T2300 2.0GHz
DDR2 RAM 2GB
Windows Vista Home Premium

Regards

Pete

I found this forum after experiencing the same issue and I think I've found my problem. I have a Samsung CLP-510 Laser Printer and an external LG Super Multi Drive GSA E10L. At first the samething would happen my dvd writer would bring up the USB malfunction error, well I decided to try and unplug the printer and that appears to have caused the issue or so it appears. If it comes back again I'll let everyone know.

System Info:
Dell Dimension 4700
Intel Pentium 4 2.4 GHz Dual Processor
Windows XP Media Center Edition

Thanks,
Luis

One more post won't hurt.

Dell Inspiron 700m running WinXP Pro SP2. My Garmin Quest has not been recognized off and on for about a year. In August it stopped being recognized at all. All other USB devices (USB Flash Drive, Sansa e250 MP3 PLayer, ATT 3125 Smartphone, flash card reader) work fine.

Interestingly, the Quest DOES work on this machine using a Targus USB hub. It DOES NOT work using direct connections to either port or to my IOGear hub nor my Startech hub (they may be the same internals)

This weekend I'm going to try the following in the order listed:

1: Spray some contact cleaner into the USB ports
2. Do the complete list compiled by amrita.
3. Buy another Targus hub.

My belief is this a combined hardware/software problem with neither side assuming the responsibility. Garmin tech support tried but it was over this fellow's head and they haven't had enough complaints to justify a full scale research project. They wrote the drivers. Somewhere along the line something is sitting on the margin and is just too damn sensitive.

I'll let you know how the weekend work goes.

Thanks to everyone for their input to this very useful thread. It's helped to know I'm not alone. :-)

I know it has been two months since any1 has posted on this topic but I had a problem similar to this my computer would freeze whenever I entered a USB device, after re-installing drivers, windows and among other things, had no luck. Then i opened my tower up and cleaned everything and unplugd main power cable and that as some1 ealier suggested, and also saw the small cables for the power for the usb and unpluggd and repluggd them back in. Restarted the computer after my problem was solved. It may just solve some people's problem. So i suggest you try it.

I've had the "USB device not recognised" problem with USB hard drives, and after struggling for some time tried the extremely simply solution suggested by someone here- turn off the PC, UNPLUG FROM MAINS, leave for 30 mins and re-start. I could hardly believe that it would work, but it did. (However, see PS at bottom of this post.)

More details of my case:

XP machine with service pack 2.
Problem first occurred when I had been using a 500GB LaCie USB hard drive happily from port on front of PC, and plugged a pen drive into an adjacent USB port. Suddenly Explorer showed the folder I had been working in (containing large number of folders containing a very large number of RAW & jpeg pictures) as empty- disaster!
On re-load, PC reported this USB hard drive as an unrecognised device.
I tried the drive in other USB ports on the same machine- same result.
I tried another LaCie USB hard drive in the same ports- also now unrecognised.
I tried other USB devices (eg mouse) and they worked fine. Seemed XP had turned against this particular device type.
I tried these hard drives on my laptop- no problem, worked fine.
I went into Control Panel / System and deleted all USB devices and hubs. Re-loaded. Problem unchanged.
Then found this forum, and the various suggestions people had had (like re-building system from scratch, and editing catalogue). Found the one about switching off, unplugging, and leaving for 30 mins (actually I left it a couple of hours).
Did nothing else (eg didn't this time delete the devices).
It worked! And it continues to work- the machine has been off and on since with no problem.

Two of us who have worked in computing all our lives are left amazed, and thankful to the person who came up with the idea. Still don't understand how it worked, but it did.

PS. However-

In a spirit of testing that everything remains fine, I've just now used "safely remove hardware" and unplugged the original drive, left a couple of minutes, then replugged and switched drive back on. I have the dreaded "device not recognised" again. Hopefully I now have the solution (will report back!)

Following on from the post above, I've now again recovered from "USB device not recognised" by switching off my PC and unplugging it from the mains, leaving it for more than 30 minutes, and switching on again. This has now worked twice and with two different USB drives. After recovery I've used the drives quite intensively to top up my backups.

One conclusion I've drawn from this experience is that unplugging and re-plugging USB hard drives (even when using XP's "Safely remove hardware") is a risky business. So I've ordered a PCI USB card which will give me four more USB ports, and mean that I can leave my USB drives permanently plugged in and leave vacant USB ports for plugging in stuff like my photo card reader and USB memory sticks.

Hello everyone. I am very frustrated with this issue and I hope someone can help me.
After my laptop caught the dreaded New Win32 virus, I realized that it was beyond my control and so I reinstalled my OS. Now I tried to install devices that used to work before the reinstallation. Now they don't work.
(The only devices that work correctly are my Western Digital external HDD and my IRiver mp3 player.)
////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
Before I move on, here are my Laptop specs.
I have a Dell Inspiron 9300 laptop
with Windows XP Media Center Edition version 2002 with
service pack 2

Intel Pentium M processor 1.60 GHz
1.60GHZ, 1.00 GB of RAM
///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

Ok so, I follow installation guides correctly but these usb devices still don't work. For example, with my Dell printer, everything goes well with installation (its recognized correctly) until all of a sudden, the Found New Hardware wizard appears. I try to follow it but that doesn't work. I try to exit out of that and when I did, I get the problem with the Device occured. and that the device has malfunctioned and its not working properly. Now, the printer shows up as Hid instead of Dell 922 printer.

With my microsoft wireless mouse,you are supposed to be able to plug it in, sync it, and it starts to work. Instead, the found new hardware wizard appears (when it should not have) and it messes up the mouse by giving me the malfunction message. (In Device Manager, it shows up in Other devices as the correct mouse name. But there are no drivers on it (When plugged into my brother's Dell desktop, it works correctly and has two drivers on it). I copied those drivers into my laptop (one was not found on my laptop) and then tried to set those drivers up. Now I get Device Could not Start Code 10."
Other devices that required the software install first and then, when plugged in are supposed to work without the found new hardware wizard do not work.Once I plug it in, the laptop freezes for a good 2 minutes and the the Found New Hardware Wizard pops up.
I talked with Dell twice and installed the BIOS and Chipset and tried updates too. But my devices do not work even when I uninstall and try again. I tried everything that other people on the topic suggested but no luck. (I have not replaced the motherboard or bought a usb hub though).

I'm sorry if this was very lengthy, but I do hope I can get some help with this. I am very worried and stressed out. ANY help would be tremendously appreciated! Thank you ^_^

UPDATE:
I was searching the web some more and I found this post by n10city
that I believe fixed my usb problem. (except for the microsoft mouse that was plug and play). Had to buy a new mouse but no problem.^^ I hope this helps others as this vital solution has helped me.
http://www.daniweb.com/forums/thread7700.html

Hi everybody!

Boy, YOU ARE A GENIUS! It also worked for me. I had the same problem: inserting two pendrives simultaneously to the front ports on my computer. They worked fine for years, and yesterday they became unrecognizeable by inserting the second one. I also tried everything else you mentioned, and then I switched off mains. After 20-30 minutes my USB recognized my pendrives!

I think I have the explanation: frequent use of pendrives causes an electrostatical load to go through the USB port, that cannot be lead to the grounding. By switching off mains this electrostatic load can disperse to the body of the tower. A genial solution!

Thanks again!

one more this if it does that sumtimes u will need to returne it and get a new one my wife took my pc in the car with a usb hooked in for my gamepad and brok it i put back together but did that so just for ur fyi

My problem was almost exactly the same as Kain Bloodstones's with one exception his fix did not work on mine. Tried everything listed here.
Everything gets recognized in my USB ports except any drives (USB and Freegate Back UP)
Been fussing for 3 months trying everything. Then today for some reason I tried..

Using an expansion adapter - that goes from 1 USB input to 4
Plugged that in and plugged in my USB stick and VIOLA - recognized..
Tried it in the same thing with a different USB port and same results..

Catch - the adapters is only USB 1.1 So for some reason by restricting the USB port down to 1.1 it will recognize the USB drives, if left at 2.0 I always get error message.

I know this is not a real fix, but it must tell me something. (I'm not computer savy enough to really know what)

If someone here knows what that means and how it can be really fixed I'd love to hear.

For now I am happy with USB drives at 1.1

PS my wife has exact same computer system both running XP Pro, and hers never has had a problem - I can find nothing different on her system from mine.

I've been having the same problem that so many of you have - my USB devices are suddenly "not recognized" or reported as "malfunctioning." I have an iMac with the Intel processor, running Leopard on one side of a partitioned drive (this is also known as "the side that works") and Vista on the other side. Having been raised to be polite, I won't say what I call that side. I have an HP LaserJet 4100 as my workhorse black-and-white printer, an HP Photosmart 8450 to print photos, an HP ScanJet 4070 scanner, and a Maxtor external drive attached to a USB hub. Although everything seemed to work together quite well to begin with, recently I've been having constant problems with my USB devices. Since they work reliably on the Mac side, this has to be a Windows problem in my case. I noticed that the problem frequently occurred after the computer had gone to sleep and been awakened, so I turned off "sleep" and that seemed to help, but it didn't cure the problem completely. I still have trouble sometimes after I've re-started the Windows side. I have read all of the posts on this topic and tried your suggestions. For what it's worth, the only thing that seems to work reliably for me is:

1. Shut everything down.
2. Cut the power to all devices (which I do by shutting off the battery back-up to which all of my devices are connected, but unplugging them also works).
3. Disconnect the USB hub from the back of the computer.
4. Wait a minute or so, and then turn the power back on.
5. Re-start Windows, and WAIT until it is completely operational. I find that this is a good time to spend a minute or two contemplating the utter injustice of having spent good money to acquire the hunk of junk that is Vista.
6. Cross your fingers, and plug the USB hub back in.

This seems to reset everything that needs to be reset after Vista does whatever damage it does. I hope it helps someone else. If any of you who know more than I do can figure this out and come up with a way to prevent this problem entirely, my blessings on you and all of your descendants.

Hi everyone,

Seems this problem has hit me. I came home on Saturday to find my screen frozen. After a hard boot my external HDD was coming up not recognised.

Tried all of the remedies, turned off for hours, restacked the USBs, etc. with no luck. Now here's the thing - all my USB ports work at USB 1.1, just not with my HDD which is USB 2.0.

If I plug the HDD into the front port I get the message "this device will perform faster in a USB 2.0 port", but it does work. Unfortunately, I don't have the years necessary to transfer hundreds of gigs of data at USB 1.1 speed.

Any ideas how I can make USB 2.0 work again or do I just have to buy a new PC?

Regards,

Antony

I have a PC running XP, 3.0 Ghz P4P800-SE with 2Gb RAM

I believe I may be entitled to a 5th of tequila from every XP user who reads this post...hee hee.

The problem with the "USB device not recognized" error lies with one or both of the following security updates from Microsoft:

Security Update for Windows XP (KB931261)*
Security Update for Windows XP (KB905749)

When I uninstalled both of these updates, my usb drive started working again. I put an asterik by the 261 update because you maybe able to get functionality back just by uninstalling that one update.

To uninstall the update, go to Control Panel and access "Add or Remove Programs." Once your pop-up populates, check the "Show Updates" box at the top of the window. Scroll down the list and find Security Update for Windows XP (KB931261) and
Security Update for Windows XP (KB905749). Uninstall one, then try your usb device. If it doesn't work, uninstall the other one.

Good luck!

Okay this morning my external drive just suddenly wasn't recognized any more. I recvd the messages just as above. An unknown device is not recognized. Malfunction. I did the key entry but so far it has not helped.

I'm at a loss.

Inspirion 531
Amd Dual core processor
3070 Mem
32 bit OS

Man I'm scared I won't be able to access it.

thanks vitalviking..my usb is working now..

Ok. I too have had major issues with my HP with Vista Home Premium. At first, I was having the problem of the computer doing a hard-shut off by itself. After many hours on the phone to HP, they decided it needed some work. I mailed it in, and within a week I received it back with a new motherboard. Everything was fine for 3 days. I then started receiving the "USB Device Not Recognized" error message. My only USB device was my HP printer. So, after many more hours on the phone to HP, it was determined my printer was the culprit. I was sent a replacement printer the next day. However, that too triggered a "USB Device Not Recognized" message. Figuring that the problem might be with the HP printers, I went and bought a different brand of printer. This too brought the same messenger of nonrecognition. After approx. 20 hours on the phone with HP about this, I am giving up. They keep telling me they'll call me back, and they never do. Please help me! If you have any advice, I'm willing to listen. P.S. I have also disabled the Legacy USB, and done several sysytem recoveries. Thank you.

I have struggled with the same problem for six hours. An HP printer would systematically give me "USB device not recognized..." as soon as I plugged the USB cable in ANY port. None of the other peripherals would do that. The printer is a reliable piece of hardware, however we have several of those in this compund so I replace the printer. Same problem. Logic told me it could only be the cable.
So I changed the USB cable for a new one and.... BINGO !! that was the definite solution.
So change the USB cable. Maybe this solution works for others. Good luck

Change the USB cable for a new one.

USB Hell, I'm using a HP DV8000 runs XP, was using 3 of the four USB ports, worked great for the past year or so, never a single problem, even use the 4th usb daily but unplug that one mostly (IPOD / Flash drive) the other three run a WD 250 Externalhard drive (s) and a Tascam 122 audio interface unit and a RocketFish usb mouse. All worked flawlessly until yesterday. I was listening to music outside
my house listening to online material, run from its webpage to my interface via usb on to my stereo components, which I do often without a single problem. Noticed the music stopped thinking it was
The normal website chatter disconnects which does happen occasionally, refresh and normally it does the trick, up and running. But not this time, USB D N R an usb device has malfunctioned etc... That is where I am and where I found myself setting up this account in hope of a little extra insight from you the forum readers...so let's see what the hell is going on here. Already checked the units they all work fine when attached to any of my other laptops / pc/s so...NEXT... I've just run the battery down, unplugged the power source and let sit for about 15 minutes in hope of the before mentioned ( in postings ) to allow the over voltage to bleed down provided this is even a possibility to start with. Okay ready to set system back up for try #1, reboot ( go or no go) Hmmm! well no go people, NEXT!!! Let me hear from you! Thanks

Me again, I can only come up with some sort of hardware failure which leads me to believe this is a mother F board failure at the USB chipset due from an over voltage problem much like a lightning strike causes household appliances to react poorly too! In some cases it fries them as it did many of mine about two years ago, a tv two amps and so on, all due to a power surge on very low voltage components, such as the 5 volt USB out put, although you would think it was a freaking matter of national security seeing you can't find zip on MS , HP websites concerning this matter, with little to no real fix on this subject posted anywhere that works 100% of the time. It does however work well for their sales figures seeing most will in time simply purchase a new PC so they can use their USB devices, nice work MS. Why fix what in the end spells big bucks here, millions to say the least.
Now since MS created the OS and HP purchased it and we paid them both, as well as anyone else using this system, it's time to go to the root, that is who the hell made the boards that this crap is running on? Apparently there is a reason why you see more and more PC's being built with less USB ports and more powered USB devices, they are apparently faulty thus they are causing US a number of problems to say the least. Let's post what we can find out collectively, about what is being put into our PC that simply doesn't work as it should and let the companies know that we know what's going and and they MUST fix it, NOW! It isn't hard these days to send and email or post a blog about anyone saying anything you wish, within reason of coarse, so provided you have legitimate complaints, let's do some serious complaining and get this ball rolling. I've waited a day of my time and that's more then I wish to waste, period! Thanks, I'm listening,

Last one, my laptop is HP DV8000, purchased F/Best Buy Dec 2006, Running XP, system never leaves home, stays stationary 100% of the time, used to run audio equipment 90% of the time, web surf and watch videos, no games or high volume programs running to overload system. System normally runs great very fast and very reliable, problem USB ports (4) no longer recognize any usb devices! Can send audio video via wireless to other remore devices (Wireless USB HUB, PSP.S3, other laptops and desktops, no problems. USB ... Not working YET. Will watch for your replies, thanks, hope we can resolve the issue soon! For GOOD this time! I'll post as soon as system is repaired 1000%. Thanks for listening!

By the way, this isn't a USB cable problem or a vista problem or a device problem, it is a OS problem that I believe has to do with the low voltage (A Polyfuse (sometimes green in color, and located near where the port is),
is a protection device used on the motherboard. If the Belkin tried to push +5V
up into the motherboard, the difference in voltages, across the low resistance
of the wiring, could result in a relatively large current flow. That could
cause the Polyfuse on the motherboard to open. The Polyfuse will recover
automatically, once it has had a chance to cool off. Which is why I'd suggest
checking the hub, to see if it is emitting +5V on the upstream port.) as read on another thread, I think this guy is onto something...what do you all think?

i had this problem for 3 months and thank to GOD it finally work and here is my solution but may not work on your.now what i did was i defrag my computer with jkdefrage,when finished restart your computer and connect your usb devices to if it may work.

Children, please. Listen to Starbat. When in doubt, blame Bill Gates. USB cables the culprit? Oh, Please!

I got the dreaded DNR message. Read these posts. Tried the unplug trick. Heh.

Finally, I did a System Restore from back before trouble started. Plugged in USB drive. Everything good. Then - a second later - the Device Not Recognized balloon popped up!!!

Of course - WINDOWS UPDATE! Windows restored me to before the trouble, USB worked fine, Windows sensed I was behind on updates due to the Restore, went out and got the Update - USB failed!!

SO, yeah, I disabled Windows Updates ... Restored again ... All is fine.

F-ing Microsoft.

OK - This is how I fixed this problem.

The root of the problem is with the USB Device (you can find it in your Device Manager). You have a problem if it has a caution symbol with an exclamation point. This needs to be updated, but it will give you an error when you try to update it. It will try to update the printer driver associated with it and give you an invalid data error message.

So, I installed windows service pack 3 (SP3), hoping it would have a fix. It did actually. I went back to the device manager and tried to update my USB Device. It updated and I was able to install a virtual printer port through my USB port to connect to my printer. It worked out fine and I just printed my first test page.

Hope that helps someone.

Looks like I finally got hit by the virus eh?

Ok so I have this laptop since the past one year, and have been using the optical mouse on the USB port happily since. I have 2 USB ports on this machine, one on each side. Being a right handed person, I've always plugged in the mouse on the right USB. Today I tried plugging it in on the left one.

Alas! I should have known that it was a real bad move. The mouse did not work, and the DNR bubble has been coming ever since on BOTH the USB ports whenever I try using my USB mouse. (Flash drives and iPod shuffle works fine).

I already tried restacking the USBs and shutting down the laptop for more than an hour. This thing is bugging me for the past 6 hours...grrr.....

Will try going into BIOS. I'm avoiding the registry edit as for now (have had some bad experiences on that one)

I'll get back on any updates.

My system specs:

HP-Compaq Presario V6000 Laptop
T2080 1.8GHz
1 Gig DDR PC2-5300
Windows XP Professional SP2

PS. Its not a Vista specific problem, obviously. Its Microsoft Windows.

Went into BIOS, and could not find anything related to USB there.

Also tried shutting down the laptop for more than 12 hours.

Did not help.

Ok guys am new in this , but i have a problem , i have a G-tide cell phone , and it has a USB cable, this phone has both MP3 and video player ,and it has a memory card, but when i plug it into a computer, the computer tells me that the USB has a malfuction, so i dont know want to do , any assistance please!

this may be not neccessary , but its charger is also dead

Ok guys am new in this , but i have a problem , i have a G-tide cell phone , and it has a USB cable, this phone has both MP3 and video player ,and it has a memory card, but when i plug it into a computer, the computer tells me that the USB has a malfuction, so i dont know want to do , any assistance please!

this may be not neccessary , but its charger is also dead

katorymnd

Okay I had this problem and here was my solution!

My external HD wasn't being detected and I was getting the malfunctioned message. I simply unplugged it, shut down my PC, unplugged my computer from the wall, turned off it's power supply, and then reconnected everything and booted up. It has something to do with shutting the power supply to your mother board and then restarting. I highly suggest everyone try this even if it seems too simple to work, since it worked for me

Good luck guys.

And what if its a laptop?

Ok I tried it with a new mouse and its working now.

I'm guessing changing the USB ports messed up with the hardware inside the mouse (caused due to a sudden surge in the voltage).

All's well now. All USB ports working fine.

Peace

Hey guys,

I went out the other day and bought a brand new 8 GB SanDisk Cruzer Micro and had it hooked up my computer for all of 2 days when it stopped working. During most of which however I also had just installed ActivSync for my AT&T Tilt phone. I thought maybe the flash drive just came out so I wiggled it around with no luck. Finally, I unhooked my phone to call some people and came back and hooked it back up and the only thing my PC was telling me was a generic serial was hooked up. Finally I figured I was having problems with my usb drives and started surfing the net.

For the last 3 hours I have been sitting on my phone looking for support on my USB devices not working. Unfortunately I had to use my phone as I dont have internet for my pc. But I tried everything I read on this forum with no luck. Finally about 30 mins ago I ran across a post about talking to alienware and cleaning the usb headers. I was up for anything.

Alas, it worked. I'm writing this using my phone as the computer copies about 6 GBs worth of music to my flash drive. I'm so happy now. I need the flash drive for my car bc my stereo has a usb hook up and supports up to 10000 songs. I cant believe I didnt think of that sooner. The comp is about 5 yrs old with no to minimal maintinance. It loked like a dust storm went through there. And I am very embarassed writing that bc my major is in computers lol.

If you have not tried this yet, do it now. If it doesn't help I am very sorry and wish you luck. I really want to thank all of you guys. You kept this OCD freak reading something for about 3 hours without losing interest lol. Good luck to everyone and thank you again.

PS: I am using my phone's keypad, please bare with me.

OK, PEOPLE-------IT'S CONFIRMED.
If you have a Samsung MP3 Player, or possibly any other MP3 Samsung built music device (mine is the Juke Samsung phone)-
IT WILL CRASH YOUR USB. I have called Samsung and Verizon on this issue, and of course "deer in the headlights" when asked about this problem. So far I have tried the usual fixes,and the only one that seems to be working so far is disconnecting the PC from the power source for about 10min. Has to be completely off. We'll see if that will hold for now. And I will not be pluggin in the Juke ever again.

I'm pretty sure the problem doesn't come from a certain type of mp3 but just one of those that are cheeper. The reason I am saying this is because one of my friends bought an mp3 called missil and when I tird to install in on my computer my usb ports started to malfuntion(well 1/2) and the other one reads it for about 2 secondes and then malfuntions... I have no clue what to do. Also when I plug in my psp and try to put in music it starts downloading for a seconde and then the usb isn't recongnized anymore?

Any help?

Wow, this post started in Dec 2006 and now (Feb 2009) people (including me still have this problem!

I am using an HP pavillion DV4 laptop running windows Vista64. All of a sudden I was having the same USB problems everyone else here had. I cant say exactly which of these USB devices stopped working first:

Logitek wireless Laser mouse nano
SONY MP3 walkman
Garmin Forerunner 305 GPS

After these stopped working (they still get power from the USB ports but cant transfer information) my Scan Disk micro cruzer flash drive had the same problem.

I have tested my mouse and my flash drive on another computer and they work fine-i suspect the same will be true of all these usb devices.

I then tried a very old wired mouse and had no problems using it.

So far, I understand from my tests and from these posts:

its not vista, logitek, or hp specific (but logiktek usb devices may be more likely to lead to this problem?)
it seems to affect usb 2.0 not usb1
the usb2.0 devices show up as unknown devices in device manager but i dont get the yellow symbol with an exclamation point



There are several fixes posted and I haven't tried most of them. I'm going to try deleting the usb devices from the device manager and let windows reinstall them and if that doesnt work i'll try a system restore to last week (its been a problem for a few days only).

Did anyone else try a system restore? I didnt see that mentioned in any post (although i did see that reinstalling operating systems didn't help!)

Tarek
flat_soda@hotmail.com

[please email if you develop a clear understanding of what causes the peroblem. The 2-3 magic bullets posted so far seem to work temporarily or only on some systems]

when i removed all the usb stuff from the device manager and windows reinstalled the drivers, I got the same message before i even attached anything to my laptop!

upon closer inspection I realized that the built in webcam is a usb device but I dont think that is the problem.

When i double click on the conflict, I get the "USB device not recognized" window listing:

USB Root Hub (2 ports)
Unused Port
Unknown USB Device

...but there is nothing plugged into my 2nd USB port!

This makes me think its a hardware problem and something got fried inside my laptop

when i plug in a flash drive and my wireless mouse receiver, the listing above changes to :

USB Root Hub (2 ports)
Unknown Device
Unknown Device

sometimes one of the 'unknown device' is in bold, sometimes the other

any new thoughts on the problem?

Tarek
flat_soda@hotmail.com

Tarek: I have a repair job here that is having the same issue:
(v6000 laptop vista home premium 32bit)

I tried a virus scan
Bios to default settings
Uninstall USB & Re-install

I even did a erased everything and did a factory restore. NO LUCK!! If you find a resolution. Please post and if I find an answer I will do the same for you.

Ok, this is good but annoying. I turned on my laptop and it began installing usb drivers for the built in web cam at the top of my laptop screen. The drivers should have already been there because i erased them previously and then windows vista64 automatically installed them.

Since my laptop seemed to be rreinstalling USB drivers on its own, I tried plugging my Forerunner 305,my logitek wireless mouse, my Sony mp3 player, and my ScanDisk Cruzer-all are recognized. In short, my computer fixed itself after having this problem for about 8 days.

What does this mean? @#$@% if I know. My current guess is that there was (and still is) a loose connection in my computer that is causing USB errors. The only way it would install a driver when i booted up is if it suddenly recognized hardware that was invisible before hand. My webcam is built in-there's no way for me to physically remove it. Maybe something wasnt connected between my motherboard and the webcam (which is a USB device even though it doenst plug into a USB port)and it caused other USB detection failures.

To everyone else who has this problems-do you have any USB devices built into your computers thatare not attached through a physical cable? If so, you might want to try disabling, running diagnotics on, or talking to your computer help people about internal usb devices that could be malfunctioning.

I'm still interested to know what this problem actually is, (especially because it could just as quickly go wrong again)so i will keep reading posts here

Tarek

I have got the same problem as you before.

The solution I have done is that I removed all the usb stuff from the device manager and then power off the computer. Once the computer is turned off, I also detached the power cord connected to the computer. If you are using a laptop, I suggest also remove the battery. After a short while, I attached the power cord to the computer again, then turn it on, and the problem is gone!

I hope this would help you to solve the problem.

Try this:


(disable that driver)

P.S. the name of that driver could be different on your system but the USB2 could be the same.

Hi,
Guess what? I have the same problem but has progress to more of a problem. It is my daughter's laptop (compaq V5101US). The problem started when she was downloading a movie to her ipod. She wasn't at the computer at the time but when she checked the status, the computer had shut down. When she tried to start up it gave her the fatal blue screen every time she tried to start the computer. I picked it up a couple days later and it booted up but neither of the usb ports would work. Same message you guys are getting. Like you I tried all the things that others have tried with no results. After several days of trying I was prepairing to call it a night after running an antivirus scan. The computer froze causing me to manually power off the computer. Now when I turn the computer on I get a few seconds of the fan and then a few seconds of DVD (optical) drive then nothing but a black screen. I am at a lost. I strongly believe the original problem has cause the current problem. A couple of techs say motherboard, but I am not convinced. What are your thoughts. Sorry for the book I just wrote.

Hello fellow frustrated friends,

I too had this problem and after many days of reading different ways to get my USB memory stick working enough to retrieve all of my important work files, purchasing software that "claimed" would help, I have found a simple solution that worked for me!

Hold down the "SHIFT" key while inserting the memory stick. You will get a prompt asking you if you want to turn on filters. Click yes and VOILA, you will hear the little ring of the hardware detected. After files are retrieved to a safe place, reboot the system.

I simply moved all files from the USB stick to my PC and then discarded the memory stick making sure everything was deleted. I do not know if the stick was repaired to function properly or not, it was not a chance I was willing to take for a second time.

Hope this helps.

Good Luck!

Add me to list of people having this stupid USB issue!!!

I have no idea why this started but here is the jist of it: About 2 weeks ago I started getting the pop-up "USB Device Not Recognized" and when I double clicked I get the following: One of the USB devices attached to this computer has malfunctioned, and Windows does not recognize it. Below that is:

USB Root Hub (2 ports)
Unused port
Unknown USB Device (this is highlighted)

I kind of ignored it for awhile but when the pop up kept coming up about every 2 seconds it began to frustrate me.

I have double clicked the "malfunctioned" device and it is listed as port 0. I have checked the Device Manager but NONE of the USB devices display a red X or a yellow triangle. It is like I have a ghost USB device.

I have tried detaching the USB devices, uninstalling them and then rebooting and having Windows reinstall them, didn't work. Tried reassigning the ports, didn't work. This happens with both the USB mices I have and occassionally my USB wireless network card from Dell and they will stop working. The strange thing is I can start the computer and be fine for 3 hours and then it will happen. I have cleaned the USB connections and still nothing. I have the latest BIOS edition too.

I have attempted to see what would trigger it but have come up empty handed.

This is our main computer at work and I am at a loss. The computer's stats are:

Dell Dimension 9150
Intel Pentium D processor
Microsoft Windows XP Home with SP3
3 GB Ram
ATI Radeon HD 3400 Video Card

Between the Monitor and the CPU I have 11 USB ports and 4 right now are empty and I am still getting the pop up. All the devices seem to be functioning though. Anyone have any ideas?

Thanks alot, this worked for me, but the only problem is that all devices are now using USB 1.1, which vastly limits their speed, trying to transfer songs onto my iPod, christ it's taking ages. But at least I can now actually use my USB devices. So maybe if this also works for other people, your clever little minds could maybe come up with another fix to use USB 2.0! :p

Good luck guys

This is sad sad sad - I am having the same issues and as another poster said - it has been happening for years. I have a rather new Sony VAIO with 64 bit vista. My daughter plugged in an HP digital frame to charge it and I can no longer use any USB port - except of course for the HP frame : (

I need a mouse but I really do not want to reinstall to factory settings because I do a ton of software development and ... it would take weeks to get back to my current state.

I bought a mouse today that uses its own drivers thinking that may help but to no avail. I am going to try the suggestion to power down, unplug, remove battery and so forth. I will let you know how it goes.

OHHH YEAHHHH thanks to jingle for suggesting powering down and removing the battery. This is of course not a real fix but I am thrilled beyond belief to have my mouse back. THANK YOU TO THIS FORUM - this was a life saver!

I guess this problem is widespread and there's no clear solution for this whenever we go for questions. Even in Microsoft.com or any other gadget-troubleshooters guild we can't find any damn answers.

I have the same problem as with you guys. It started when I had installed my SAMSUNG D900 installation software. After using it for my cellphone then our video cam that we always used for me and my brother's favorite hobby: chatting in Friendster, just didn't function. We thought it was just a minor computer lapse but as weeks go by all 4 USB ports just reads: "USB DEVICE NOT RECOGNIZED". What the f***?

I tried to find solutions but I just couldn't find any. I doubt even Bill Gates can't solve this problem. Or if there's already a solution, would it be suitable to all computers out there?

What say ya people?

I have the same problem as with you guys. My 4 USB ports just reads "USB DEVICE NOT RECOGNIZED" after I had installed my SAMSUNG D900 software.


I guess this problem started when we installed softwares that uses USB ports? like mp3, cellphones, digicam, videocam.....

What do you think guys?

HI Guys dis is Erick Gipit from the Philippines

I hope my solution would be appropriate for all of you. But first let me tell you my problem.

My computer started to read "USB Device Not Recognized" after I had installed my SAMSUNG D900 Software which I used for downloading pictures, video,music from the Net to my D900 Cellphone. Unfortunately, my computer didn't recognized my 4 USB ports. And it was a real pain in the arse coz I wasn't able to use my videocam for chatting - which is my fav past time. So, I tried to find answers from forums on the net and found out about "compatdb.com"...

There was a tip where It told me to unistall other USB program in my Control Panel - Add/Remove Program. And then to uninstall all the USB devices in my Device Manager in Safe Mode. And turn off my computer and unplug all power cords. After few minutes I turned on my PC in windows and bhwala.... It worked again... Now I can use my favorite webcam for chatting.

What I learned is that maybe if we've installed a software for our cellphones, mp3, digicam, videocam in our PC it installs other USB ports and software. This probably blocked other USB ports and cause them not to read your USB Device/Hub. Just like what happened to me; Samsung installed other port in my Device Manager - Universal Serial Bus Controller. I forgot the exact name of that port that Samsung created. But after uninstalling it, my 4 USB ports started working again.

I hope this would help you guys in your problem.

Check out the other stuff this guy said, I think he might be on to something. The reason I say this is because I'm running Vista 64bit and hadn't installed any new devices for a few weeks, hadn't altered any other device drivers in any way, nor had I downloaded any software updates from MS recently.

The issue seemed to happen only after I got a new pair of headphones. These headphones (non USB) have a significant amount of exposed metal, and a couple of times that I've been sitting in my chair in a rather dry room with very cottony sweats on, I have moved around rubbing a blanket or removing it from my lap. This caused a rather painful static discharge IN MY EAR as the static arced from my body to the headphones. The headphone jack for my computer is right next to the USB jack so I wonder if there could have been some electrical discharge into that...?

So if anyone is sharing their issue please try and remember if there had been any special electrical disturbance lately. I.E. solar flares, local DARPA experimentation, paranormal activity, or other related particle physics anomalies. No but really, anyone else notice problems after some sort of electrical disturbance?

Today I spent most of the morning and into the afternoon trying to get her USB ports to work (Xp pro Desktop). Uninstalled all USB ports, rebooted, No Luck. Reinstalled the mobo mfg provided Drivers. Fumbled around in the Registry, ran various registry tools, but still in Device Manager, I had one USB port with Unknown Device on it and a nagging windows popup saying that the USB stuff had a problem (Gee, I iddn't already know that, You Stupid @#$%#@$. The port would not delete or uninstall and caused the computer to "freeze" during shutdown.
After reading the posts in this forum, I unpluged the power cord let it sit for 30 minutes, and fired that puppy up. I'm proud to report she's purrin' away and momma bear now has moved on to other things to crab about. Thank Ya Lord, and you Good Folks!!

Good Luck
EBates

Just wanted to add that the above fix worked for me also. I only uninstalled all USB ports, then powered down, unplugged, and took out the battery. Left it overnight. Booted up this morning and it's working perfectly again. Many thanks to the posters here who contributed!

I had another computer I serviced in the past that had this issue and I successfully repaired it, but don't quite recall how. I have another one with the same problem that I'm working on right now (remotely) so as soon as I narrow down the solution I'll post.

I'm pretty sure what fixed it for me was resetting all the registry and file permissions in windows. The directions are at http://www.winhelponline.com/blog/reset-the-registry-and-the-file-permissions-in-windows-xp/ (under SubinACL) but you need to add the following two lines to your command script:
net localgroup Administrators Local Service /ADD
net localgroup Administrators Network Service /ADD

Otherwise you could have some strange problems. Right click on the command file you made and see if there is an option to "Run as Administrator" (vista) or "Run as..." (xp). Choose either option; if running XP, click that and in the new window that pops up uncheck the "Protect my computer..." check box.


I think the problem is that some part of windows locks the registry to access it and won't let anything else change those keys afterwards; thus, when you want to remove or add a device you can't remove the configuration info in the registry.


Other than that, I do recall right clicking on all the USB devices and uninstalling, but also checking the box to delete the driver (which removes files on the PC and deletes registry info) - but that's vista only.

I may have also manually gone into the registry to delete all the keys matching my USB device ID's, but not sure if I followed through or if it worked or not.

You can also try running Dial-a-Fix, and maybe downloading and installing DriverMax (check bugmenot.com to bypass their annoying registration process). DriverMax will check for updates available for drivers on your computer.


And here's a summary of other people's fixes:

I am having the same issue also. The source of my problem was a lexmark all in one printer. It froze during a scan and I was forced to end the program, ever since then all of my usb stuff other than my mouse has that annoying bubble pop up.

Ive tried everything on that link, but to no avail. Ill soon follow the most recent instructions on this post just above me.

this sucks, no ipod for me

I will definately follow this topic... because my laptop is no longer under warranty AND i dont have a completely legal copy of an OS if you knwo what I mean... lol

After replacing the motherboard and reinstalling Windows, I still had the error. Then I found the trouble: The Das Keyboard. WTF? With it plugged in, USB Device Not Recognized every time for any other USB device. With it NOT plugged in, everything works perfectly. And this is perfectly repeatable.

So one thing to check right away, maybe first: Unplug all unneeded USB devices, and change out the keyboard and mouse.

The problem is NOT in your operating system ! (that is why reinstalls of the O/S, or changing this or that in the registry, unistalling things in device manager or redetecting them, etc, have not consistently worked).

THE PROBLEM causing repeated "usb device not recognized errors" ORIGINATES WITH YOUR MOTHERBOARD !, specifically the USB chipsets or I/O controller there.

I know because I had this problem a couple years ago and tried everything (like the kinds of things in this forum) to no avail. Finally, completely by chance I was on the phone to an Intel support rep about some other question or problem (I have an Intel DG965WH motherboard), when near the end I mentioned something about this - he told me do to something, and that cleared up the USB problem completely ! Unfortunately I do not remember what that something was (it may have been changing some setting in the bios (maybe disabling something there) - I don't think it was reinstalling chipset drivers or flashing the bios).

Now, 2 years later, plugging in my HP printer (which has worked fine many times), the problem reappeared, which brought me to google things and to this forum. (note I did find a post I saved from 2 years ago where along with some instructions similar to what I've seen on this board, someone said "there is a problem with intel usb chipsets going flaky", which supports what I am saying - this does not mean the problem is unique to intel though).

So that is the very valuable info I am giving everyone here -it's not a software problem in your O/S, but a motherboard problem ! Like I said, unfortunately I do not remember specifically what was done before, so I am the same boat as everyone else. But hopefully this can encourage people to look to the motherboard instead of the operating system, and post some of their experiences and possible solutions.

I just dont understand why this happened though. What could possibly have changed due to a program using a USB device freezing?

It does not make sense. Ive yet to try and fix this problem again since USB isnt the most important thing I have on my laptop (now if my wlan adapter was messing up that would be a different story!!)

This is just one big headache, but I am glad this thread is still alive. My one hope is here.

Woofer, you should call someone up (me being the lazy bastard I am) and try and find out what you did to fix the problem. I am somewhat experienced in normal software/settings and stuff, but when it comes to bios and firmware and all that other stuff I am completely lost in tryign to trouble shoot it myself.

Alright guy's heres my update.. I havent even tried using any new things, nor have I even tried using usb... Well I JUST tried my flashdrive and it works again so I guess the problem fixed itself.

cool

nevermind, everythign works but the ipod... but when i had my flashstick in, I took it out and put in my shuffel really quick and all it told me was taht if it was in a 2.0 usb port it would go faster, so I guess I can trick it to make everything work.

Hello everyone, i've got the same issue, but its been like 6 months since this issue came up, i remember it started after i updated the bios, i did it directly from the hp web page, i've tried everything. removing the unknown usb from device manager, the hiden and non present ones, system restore, i even bought an expresscard with usb as output but happened the same sh...t when i tried to plug in the usb it said device not recognized!!!! last thing i tried was to remove all unknown usb from device manager and then remove all of the usb vid registry keys all of this under safe mode and then i turn off the laptop, unplugged from energy, removed the battery and left it the whole night like that but when i woke up and turn it back on !!!still the same sh..t!!!! i really dont know what else to do. Please someone help me.

Also the pc came with this webcam and it stop working at the same time this started, and it is the first device unknown my computer displays so maybe this has something related to as it is usb, the hub says 8 ports and i just have 4 visible.

HP Pavilion dv9428nr
AMD Turion x2
Windows Vista Home Premium

PLEASE HELP..!!!!!!

the power in my house was recently turned off, when it was turned back on my computer wouldn't turn on. i took it to a pc shop and they opened it up to take a look. they did a test on the power supply and it failed, so i bought a new one. when i brought my pc back to get the new power supply installed, the old one pasted the test. the guy removed all the wires running from the power supply, and then reconnected them. when he hooked everything up the computer would turn on. now whenever i put something in the usb the error "USB device not recognized, one of the usb devices attached to this computer has malfuctioned and windows does not recognize it." comes up. not only that but it will come up even if nothing is plugged in. under device manager two unknown devices are always present. it happens to every usb device i have and on all the usb ports. also when the computer is off it does not turn on right away when you push the power button, i have to push it, let go, hold it in, let go, hold it in, push again, and it will come on (not the exact sequence, but about). i have tried all the things i could find on the web and nothing works. i have vista 32 bit, mci mother board, intel d core 3.0ghz. i dont much about computers and cant speak greek.

Anything???

Hullo! Hope people still read this thread.

I am a new member of this not so exclusive club where the price of admission, sadly, is a non working USB device.

Was running a four year old generic Xp Pro machine 2.4Pentium with 768MB RAM on an Asus board. Have a year old HP laserJet 3050 running smoothly until last week when I got the "USB device not recognized" message. Tried to reinstall the software, installation would not continue. Tried installing on a Toshiba Satellite running Vista Basic laptop same thing.

- Got the updated drivers for vista, no go.
- unlplugged the machines a few hours, no good
- copied and recopied the USB inf files on system 32
- made a new entry inregistry with the key on both machines
- tried fixing the XP with the fix me patch on microsoft, no good
- deleted the USB control panel entries manually in safe mode

I've done just about everything short of getting on my knees and praying for it to work. If I had bottomless pockets, I'd take a hammer and a blowtorch to the machines and
FeEex the remains back to Microsoft.

Also checked out the windows MSDN dev't site, none of their fixes worked!

I have used the same HP printer on an old Compaq 5423 US series with USB 1.1 ports running Windows XP for over a year without any problems. had to migrate to another system since the old Compaq crashed and WINDOWS REFUSED TO BE REINSTALLED, but that is another story.

had a replacement USB cable on hand just in case. Printer works fine and detected sans any drama on another PC with Linux Puppy 4.2 and Kubuntu 9.04.

The funny thing is, I tried the HP printer on a Windows 98 Compaq circa 1999 machine and it worked! All other USb devices such as USB modem, camera, flash disks, so far ( but I'm keeping my fingers crossed) still work.

This is obviosly a windows XP, Vista and USB 2.0 problem. Those top level employees and developers at Microsoft probably just buy new hardware when they encounter this and sweep it under the carpet. Everyone knows MS software is full of bugs but this is unbelievable!

Of all the forums I have screened in researching this problem, this forum is the most up to date. After spending 5+ hours searching the internet, it seems that this problem has been around for about 4 1/2 years and Microsoft still hasn't addressed it.

The problem appeared on my computer last month (June 2009) after i tried to install a new TrekStor MP3 player. This was the 4th MP3 player i have installed over a 3 year period. Now none of my MP3 players will work on my main computer running XP SP3. However, they do work on a laptop running Windows 2000. This tells me it has to be an OS related problem.

Now today, the XP computer stopped recognizing flash drives and my digital camera.

I had this problem, but only with one device, my USB mouse. It happened no matter which port I plugged it into, and other USB devices - such as my keyboard or external hard drive - worked fine in all USB ports.

I tried a lot of different things, including most of the things suggested in this thread, but none of them worked. I was inspecting the USB connector on the cord to see if it was dirty, and compared it to the USB connector for my keyboard to see if one was dirty and the other wasn't. I saw that the metal part of the connector for the mouse was slightly bent outwards on one corner, and figured this may be causing it. I got a pair of pliers and squeezed that bent section back in. The connecter fit more snugly into the port and now the DNR problem was gone.

I think for most people this is not the problem, since most are saying that the problem is for all devices and in all ports. Some people have posted saying it's only for one device though, and in those cases you may want to compare the USB connector to a USB connector for another device, and see if the one that isn't working is bent or broken in any way. If it is, you may be able to use pliers to squeeze the dent in or pull it out.

Hi,

Just wanted to add my voice to the chorus of dismay in this thread... I've had exactly the same problem. Can't believe it's been going on for so many years with no fix.

I don't know if it was a surge of electricity, but for me it could well be that something got "fried". Last night I plugged in a new mp3 player and my laptop froze up. Usually when my laptop freezes it comes back to life again after a while, so I decided to just leave it be and went to bed. After a while, though, the speakers began making a weird crackling noise I'd never heard before, so I got up to look at it, and the laptop was really hot to touch - I mean really hot, I had to snatch my hand away when I touched the mousepad because it almost burned me. Never seen that happen before either. I immediately shut the machine off and left it overnight. I thought it was working fine the next morning... until I realised none of my USB devices were recognised.

It's hard to tell if it was the mp3 player as many people here have reported or the overheating. I've read the whole thread and nothing has helped as yet (though I'm going to try leaving my laptop off overnight - I've tried removing all the power sources for a half hour, though, and that didn't work). It's a Packard Bell machine running on Vista, and I can get the other specs if they would be useful, though I doubt from reading this thread that they would be.

All the same, if anyone happens to have any advice I'd be grateful.

I have this problem and have experienced some interesting things with it recently.. here's my story:

It all started with a USB mouse, the Steelseries Ikari laser mouse. When i got it, i had a weak computer that just didn't seem to be able to supply the power this tank of a mouse required. I eventually got a new computer, and things were great... for a little while.

It has a function where you can press and hold down a button on the mouse, and change the CPI setting by increments of 1CPI. no need for drivers for this function, but you do need drivers for a few other options, such as setting special binds to M4 and M5. NOW, when i got it, i felt the need to use this function a LOT to find my correct sensitivity. I also used the software to do these changes occasionally. After a while, i began having these problems... at first, if i moved the mouse too fast it'd sometimes skip, other times it'd turn off and then back on and resume working. it seemed that messing with the cord would fix it, but who knows, could have just been a placebo.

Now after a while i began getting the "device not recognized" problem. id unplug it then plug it back in and it'd work fine for a little while. Little bit down the road, it wont work at all, ever.

Jump ahead a few months. I install windows 7, reinstall counter-strike, and dont even bother with my mouse. until i decide what the hell, why not... i wasn't doing well with my ball wheel mouse, was worth a shot. i plug it in, and holy crap, it works! i go and unplug my PS/2 ball mouse, then unplug my USB mouse, plug it in the back, and it stops working again. a little bit more give and take and it begins not working at all again. then i figure maybe if i install the drivers it'll work... i install the drivers and just for kicks i try to apply some changes to the mouse without it plugged in, it says plug the mouse in and try again... i plug the mouse in, click "apply" and... it works!! for like a minute then it freezes up. now i press apply, and it tells me to plug it in whether or not it is.

I am so confused. it doesnt seem to be a problem with the mouse, since it CAN work occasionally... I have read this entire thread and have tried everything i understand how to do (i'm afraid to mess with registry after last time.. lol).

what i want to know is, what direction should i be looking in to start climbing the steep slope of fixing this problem? mouse manufacturer? gateway? microsoft? is it a driver problem? power? registry?

it hurts my brain thinking about it. computer problems are the most frustrating crap ever!

Maniak79's suggestion to disable the USB2 driver worked for me.

I recently got a new printer for my laptop. The printer is an HP Deskjet D4360 and the laptop is a Toshiba Satellite A series running Vista home.

When I first installed the printer it worked fine, but the next day I started getting this USB device not recognized error. I searched the internet for a solution and ended up trying most of the suggestions in this thread as well many suggestions from other sites.

Disabling this driver is the one that worked for me. Thanks for the solution, this problem was driving me crazy.

guys, i m nu to the thread. so, m sorry if i cause any trouble. i'd like to suggest that may b upgrading to a newer os like windows 7 can solve this problem. cuz it would be having a set of new drivers. pls comment.

I am working on the same problem on a Toshiba A300 laptop and I was given this as a fix... I am going to put it in as soon as I make the changes in Vista from French to English, so I have more things to do before I get to the point of deleting a file...

http://smokeys.wordpress.com/2008/05/31/windows-vista-usb-device-detection-problems-how-to-fix/ I hope this helps

Very much the helpful information for me, thanks.

Hi everyone,

I have reviewed this thread over and over for the last couple months while I tried to tackle the problem on my HP DV4170us laptop. I wanted to share my experiences so hopefully they can help some of you.

For me, this was an intermittent problem until one day it was permanent. The USB ports were working fine, then they started acting up, and finally one day, just quit working all together. I tried just about everything imaginable in terms of a SW fix from virus scans to many things posted on this forum. I never performed an OS restore because I did not believe that was the problem at all.

My solution: I purchased a new motherboard on eBay for $75 and swapped mine out. This completely fixed my problem!

I am not sure at this time of HOW the USB ports on the motherboard went bad. Connected to my laptop are two external hard drives, optical mouse, and an M-audio FastTrack recording interface. It may have had something to do with the M-audio device, but I am not certain. I never liked the fact that the unit was USB powered. I have since purchased a powered USB hub so that it will have a separate power supply.

I am wondering, how many of you with the USB problem have experienced other problems as well. I am particularly interested in the people who have had luck simply taking out the battery for 30 mins. For myself, I had also noticed intermittent keyboard functionality, problems shutting down the computer, and battery charging. Lastly, when my computer first boots, the screen had a red/pink tint to it until the windows XP logo appears and then the colors were normal. Many of these problems lead me to think it is a power issue. Has anyone simply tried replacing the AC adapter and/or battery? Even though my computer is working again, my battery still doesn't charge. I would like to determine if this issue is related or not.

Best of luck to you all.

I have a possible workaround to try and it worked. I am running Vista 32bit, but the problem sounds essentially the same. The workaround is simple. Disconnect all usb devices. Then you must disconnect power to your computer for around 10-30 seconds thereby erasing any volatile memory on the MB. Reconnect, now reboot. After I did this the usb devices were all recognized like normal.
Here's some suggestions that did not work. Reformatting your HDD and reinstall OS. REinstalling USB controller drivers. Replacing the MB. Sending it off to be repaired. Putting in a new usb card. Doing all those trick with the registry. While I don't know the actual cause of the problem it seems it may be do to a conflict with the OS Device Manager and the hardware(USB controller). After you have it working, don't just yank out usb devices. Choose the remove hardware safely icon in system tray and actually stop the device before removing. This will likely prevent re-corrupting device drivers. Anyway, Hope it helps.

Have to be very careful about unplugging one device and then plugging in another. I fixed the problem of the unregonized device by shutting everything down and then disconnecting the power supply and then restarting - plugging the device in I wanted to use - my camera - then turning the device on and it recognized it _FINALLY_ and then I safetly removed the hardware properly and then I plugged in my Printer and then turned the printer on and then it recognized it too...I'm flying now.

Sometimes the USB ports build a static charge and malfunction. By disconnecting the power supply (when the system is shut down), hold the power button on the case down for about 10 seconds,release, then reconnect the power and start the system.

Folks usually recommend using the USB ports on the back of the case. This is recommended as there are a lot of systems out there that still have USB 1 ports on the front of the case and USB 2 ports on the back. The latter support newer hardware build to run on USB 2 ports.

The other situation is where one installs a new piece of hardware, say a printer, without un-installing the old printer drivers. The old printer drivers attempt to load and the USB connection fails, due to the old printer driver conflict.

And yes, switching out hardware on different ports also confuse Windows. Try to plug in your hardware into the same USB port each time.

I had a similar problem on a ~2-year-old Alienware desktop running WinXP Pro: most USB devices were working fine, but the WiFi adapter spontaneously started dropping the connection. When I tried to reset it, it seemed to become incompatible with the mouse-- that is, the mouse cursor would freeze when the WiFi was plugged in. I worked that problem a bit using some of the techniques described above in this thread, and pretty soon Windows simply refused to recognize the adapter at all, or even another one like it, even though I had tested both successfully on another machine.

Anyway, I grew fed up and decided to assume the problem was the USB hardware. I bought new 4-port USB PCI card for about $8 via Amazon. Problem solved in record time.

There are lots of cheap USB cards:
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=usb+pci

Not much help to notebook users, I know, but if you have a PCMCIA slot, you could buy a card for that:
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=usb+pcmcia

My solution was so cheap that I didn't mind giving it a shot even if the problem turned out to be OS- or driver-related. Maybe it was. But now it's working, and I'm happy.

I have a same problem but i resolved it by shut down my PC, unplug everything, do not forget unplug battery too. i think most people forget unplug the battery and then this method does not work for them. Remember unplug everything.

Did not work for me. But i figure it out eventually.

In my pc is a card reader who is messing with my USB hubs. If it is enabled, non of the hubs is working, constant DEVICE not recognized balloon is popping. When i disable it all of the hubs instant start to work properly.

I have been messing around with a belkin mouse that stopped working just after I decided to do the vista update for my Toshiba laptop A215-S4757 I have only had problems with my Belkin mouse every other product hooked to my laptop is made by a company that Microsoft recognizes. I have installed a Belkin wireless card before and got a message not a Microsoft compatible product but it worked anyway. Finally I got a chance to borrow a microsoft mouse and I had been playing around switching ports to get the USB mouse working again for half the day. The computer immediately recognized the Microsoft usb mouse and installed drivers for it.

I am not saying some people don't have actual hardware issues.
I am only posing the question how many of your problems started after and update and how many have products microsoft may not wish to take the time to make sure their software works properly with.
my usb extras
A t-mobile dash that came with with a microsft install disk.
A seagate 40gb removable hard.
for some time I thought it was the dash conflicting with the mouse, but why did the drivers install right away for the micro soft mouse and not even installing belkin drivers helped the belkin work. you tell me.

(PROBLEM) my problem is...i plugged my usb midi piano into my PC USB port.it always DID say that it wasnt recognized (when i upgradded to windows vista) but now i ran acros a gam,e thats like guitar hero but you use your piano...i HAD to try it! soo i plugged in my piano and hoped it would work (it didnt) and then i said "tah hell with it" and put my piano away and was GONNA get back to playing my games (which i use a USB port to do) i tryed plugging my microsoft wireless receiver back into my front usb port and IT DIDNT WORK D:


NOWsomething ELSE you all should know:I HAVE 6 USB PORTS____4 in the back___2 in the front___2 in the back never did work (when this PC was given to me)___and i use 2 for my mouse and KEYBORD (not piano keybord)___ i NEED atleast 3 because i use my pc for gaming for now soo its ussless as of now to me because i only play with joysticks___after doing that piano thing to my 2 front ports,they dont work any more!they ALWAYS say that the usb device is NOT recognized

I THINK THAT THE CAUSE OF THESE PROBLEMS ARE THE DEVICES WE PLUGG IN TO OUR USB PORTS




hey dude ive been reading this forum and just wanna say YOU ARE INSPIRING! i love how u didnt give up. i had my fingers crossed for you the whole time reading this thread. and was estatic to see that you actually fixed ur problem.

and the solution you used MAY work for me also...but i still dont understand what you mean about the USB HEADERS.ive googled "USB HEADERS" but other stuff comes up and ive done the same on youtube...i gets nuthin...but i AM happy to see that yours worked you really deserved it xD...the USB hero lol

*sigh* its a shame that this kinda stuff has to happen..its like microsoft DESIGNED these things to break...as they did the same for the xbox360

but dude ill try your method and see if it works...and if it DOES
i wont be like you and "almost cry"
ILL FRIGGIN CRY

*fingers crossed* wish me luck and "ILL BE BACK"
and thankx soo much for this thread its the most accurate ive come across

Go to Device Manager view devices by conection. Plug in your divice that is not recognized and find it in the list. Uninstall the unknown device and uninstall the usb rot hub and then disabel the Intrl(R)82801G(ICH7Family)USB2Enhanced Host Coontroller - 27CC. I did this and then my flash started to use the Inel(R) 82801G (INCH7 Family)USB Universal Host Controller - 27C8. It is slower but it works so I hope it will work for you too