How do I fix a USB Device Not Recognized Error

HOW DO I FIX A USB DEVICE NOT RECOGNIZED ERROR?

WHAT IS USB DEVICE NOT RECOGNIZED ERROR? Are you getting a “USB Device Not Recognized Error” whenever you plug in a USB mouse, keyboard, camera, or other device? I can’t live without USB ports and currently have 5 ports on my computer so that I can connect my mouse, keyboard, camera, phone, and printer to it all at once!

METHODS TO FIX USB DEVICE NOT RECOGNIZED ERROR. Method 1 – Unplug Computer So how did I finally fix the problem? Well, if you are lucky, it’s a super simple solution! Try this method first and if it works, you’ll have saved a lot of time. Simply unplug your computer from the power supply. Yes that is it! Note that this does not mean just turning off your computer using the power button because most modern computers don’t actually turn off completely and the motherboard will still get power. This is useful sometimes if you want to remotely wake up a computer, etc. The motherboard is where all of hardware of the computer connects to, including the USB ports. Sometimes the motherboard needs to be “rebooted” because things can go wrong, i.e. all or some USB ports suddenly stop working. The small microprocessor on the motherboard will reload the drivers and your USB ports should hopefully be recognizing devices again

Method 2 – Update Device Driver If Windows is not able to recognize the device, you may also see in Device Manager that the device shows up as an “Unknown Device”. You can get to Device Manager by clicking on Start and typing in devmgmt.msc or by going to Control Panel and clicking on Device Manager. In that case, you should right-click on Unknown Device, click on Properties, then the Driver tab and then click Update Driver. If this doesn’t work, you can also try to download the driver for your device from the manufacturer’s website. If the USB device is just a flash drive, then it’s probably not a driver issue. However, if you are installing a USB printer, drawing pad, etc, then it might be worth downloading the driver for that specific device. Method 3 – Restart & Disconnect USB Devices The next thing you can try is to disconnect all USB devices and then restart the machine. once you have restarted, try to connect the USB device that was causing the problem. If that particular USB port doesn’t recognize it, try another one. If the device is recognized by a different USB port, there could be a hardware problem with one of the USB ports. If no USB port recognizes the device, then keep reading because it’s probably something else.

Method 4 – USB Root Hub Another thing you can try is to open Device Manager, expand USB Serial Bus Controllers, right- click on USB Root Hub and then click on Properties. Click on the Power Management tab and uncheck the Allow the computer to turn off this device to save power box. If you have more than one USB Root Hub listed, you need to repeat these steps for each one. Click OK and then restart your computer. Try to reconnect the USB device and see if it is recognized. If not, go back to the power management tab for each one and check the box again. If it does recognize the device, then leave them unchecked. Method 5 – Connect Directly to PC A friend of mine ran into this issue and the cause ended up being his USB hub. He only had three USB ports on his computer, so he bought a hub where he could connect an additional 8 USB devices. I guess this proved too much for his computer and it just started sporadically not recognizing various devices. After removing the hub and connecting the device directly to the computer, it worked just fine. We haven’t really been able to find any other solution to this problem other than reducing the number of items connected to the hub. Actually, one other solution worked, but it meant having to buy a new USB hub with more power.

Method 6 – USB Troubleshooter If nothing has worked so far, you can download the Windows USB Troubleshooter Fixit tool. It’s a free tool that works with Windows XP, Vista and 7. You can either have the troubleshooter fix the problems for you or select the fixes yourself. I would just let it fix them for you since the choices can sometimes be confusing and technical for the novice user. Method 7 – Update Generic USB Hub If you are getting the Unknown Device error in Device Manager, you can also try one other thing. Open Device Manager and then expand Universal Serial Bus Controllers. You should see at least one item called Generic USB Hub. On some computers, you might see two, three or more of these. Right-click on the first one and choose Update Driver Software When the update dialog pops up, choose Browse my computer for driver software. Then click on Let me pick from a list of device drivers on my computer at the bottom. From the list, select Generic USB Hub. Normally, there won’t be anything else listed except for that one choice. Click Next and then click Close once it finishes installing it.

Method 8 – Uninstall USB Devices As a last resort, you can also try uninstalling all USB devices from your system and then restarting. I mention this last because even though Windows is supposed to automatically recognize the USB controllers, hubs and devices automatically, it can sometimes fail and you’ll end up with no USB ports working. I had a computer with 6 USB ports and only one port would not work properly. I uninstalled everything under USB Serial Bus Controllers in Device Manager and restarted. Instead of re-detecting everything, I was left with no USB port working, so be careful when using this method. Go to Device Manager and start uninstalling each item from under USB Serial Bus Controllers. Before you start with anything that is already working, uninstall the items with exclamation points or that are listed as Unknown Device.

Method 9 – Uninstall Hidden Devices By default, Device Manager doesn’t show all devices that have been installed to the system. It basically only shows the ones that are currently connected. However, if you installed a USB printer earlier and now no longer use it, it will still be installed, but won’t show up in Device Manager. Certain hidden or ghost USB devices can cause conflicts with current USB devices and therefore lead to this error. You can view hidden devices in Device Manager by first opening a command prompt and then typing the following two commands: Once Device Manager loads, you need to click on View and then click on Show Hidden Devices. Now you want to expand Imaging Devices, Universal Serial Bus Controllers and Unknown Devices. If you see anything listed there that is greyed out or that says unknown device, go ahead and right-click on them and choose Uninstall. Hopefully, removing the older devices will allow the newer devices to work properly.

THANK YOU