How to Fix USB Device Not Recognized in Windows

702 Responses to “How to Fix USB Device Not Recognized in Windows”

1. 07.14.08

   John

   I have been having this problem with my laptop for several months. One of my two USB ports stopped working. I tried your suggestion and it did not work. I did also remove the battery.

   John

2. 07.15.08

   Madhur Kapoor

   Thanks, some of my Pen drives gives this type of problems. I will try this method

3. 07.15.08

   nelson

   cool find. I'll remember this next time users show up complaining their USB drives don't get recognized. is a simple solution indeed. unplug it, babe!

4. 07.16.08

   Mayur

   Having same prob. even after i checked it with a new motherboard

5. 07.17.08

   DeAndre

   Had this same problem minus the error messages and works fine for desktops and laptops (remove power supply from replicator to wall or power supply) works great! Thanks!

6. 07.23.08

   Vlad

   Super!! So simple, just unplug the power cable and it works again. Thnx a lot !!!

7. 07.24.08

   Rod

   Wow! Glad I found this article! Thanks for the tip. It worked for me!

8. 07.27.08

   Jordan

   I read this article thinking "It can't be that easy, it must be a driver problem or something"… but I tried it for novelty value.. and it worked.. I love you!

9. 07.27.08

   Courtz

   OMG .. I have spent days trawling thru websites and attempting their solutions. THANX so much.. Your suggestion worked. Will remember that for future refrence

10. 07.29.08

    Henry in Melbourne, Oz

    You are an absolute whiz, my friend! I tried so many recommendations from so many websites ….. nothing worked. Then I found your solution and I thought no, that’s just TOO simple, it can’t work. Unplug the computer from the wall?? Surely that can’t make any difference. But it absolutely did! All my USB devices now work in all ports. You’re a lifesaver ….. THANX SO MUCH!! I’ll try to remember you in my will.

11. 07.30.08

    Dan

    I couldn't believe how simple the fix was!!! I use a laptop and having this balloon come up was not only annoying, but it also made the computer glitch. I tried other fixes that ranged from re-installing a driver to using the run command, but this one definitely takes the cake. Thank you for such a simple solution!!!!!

12. 07.31.08

    butthead2001

    WOW!!! THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU….

    I LEFT MINE OUT OF POWER FOR 30 MINUTES WHILE I PLAYED WII…WHEN I PUT THE POWER BACK ON…VOILA…YEAH BABY..

    THANK YOU AGAIN

    BUTTHEAD2001

13. 08.04.08

    Corporatetrainer

    I'm blown away. After spending the better part of the day on this, I unplug my laptop and usb suddenly works. I'm still confused since the problem has gone on for days and it has been unplugged several times with out the usb's working. But this time I start my laptop on battery only and the usb's are back. ???!!!???

    Hail to the poster.

14. 08.10.08

    Grateful Kiwi

    You're a saint. We think problem was caused because we plugged camera into USB while PC was in sleep mode and moved mouse to wake computer up. Tried a range of fixes and was about to start uninstalling drivers etc. but not feeling good about that as we'e sooo not techies. So we read a few more Google results, found yours and thought this is us. Worked a treat. And to think we were ready to send this 2 week old PC to fixer the next day, loss of income, self employed etc. Oh such a grey sky was instantly turned blue. Thanks again.

15. 08.11.08

    bocser

    wow….thanks!!! Seriously, I did everything from the registry to drivers to switching ports to almost intentionally breaking my mouse and all I had to do was unplug my pc. DUH!

16. 08.19.08

    Aeron

    Im running Windows Vista in laptop and the same problem occured to me.Can any1 temm how can i fix this bug.I tried to shut down the computer but it didnt work

    THNX

17. 08.28.08

    Matt

    The most useful tip I have received in a long while–becuse it worked! I had the same exasperating problem with my USB storage devices, went through all of the same "trouleshooting" procedures (probably causing more harm than good) with no luck. Unplug the *&%# thing for a couple minutes (while I poured myself a drink), turned it back on and now it works…go figure.

    Thanks!

18. 09.03.08

    Anne

    Thank you very much.

    Easy, simple & it worked !!!!

19. 09.06.08

    Dev

    OMG !!! its so nice to know theres so many of you going through the same problem ! i spent 6 hours trying to figure this out,uninstaling ,rebooting ,re-install , system restore ! surfing forums !!! i was so angry with my pc i just shut down from the switch on the wall plug ! now im at work ..and i thought ill just google the problem one more time..so glad to know that this might be a way to go ..will get home in 8 hours and check ,looking at the success rate from every1's response ! i should be positive that it might be solved anyways wish i found this site much earlier ! Thanks a bil

20. 09.06.08

    Ghazwan Naser

    Dear Sir

    you are the best of the best

    I didn't belive it firstly …

    how simple and easy….this solution is..

    three days of trying ..

    please Sir …accept my best regards

21. 09.17.08

    vineet

    Mine is still not working, when i first start my desktop in the morning then my microsoft USB mouse hangs, but as soon as i re start my pc then its works fine. then again after 5-6 hours i switch on my pc it hangs again and i have to repeat the same process again .

    pls guys help me i m bugged up ,pls give any solution.

    thanks in advance

    pls mail me suggestion at [email protected]

22. 09.18.08

    mohammad

    I cant thank you enough!

23. 09.22.08

    USBHELL

    Isnt there any other fix than switch it off, That solution doesnt work for me … its been 2 weeks now – with one week of that the machine was unplugged,

    After the week off , It did work for about 5 mins then stopped amalfunctioned)

    I wouldnt mind .. but its my wireless network card thats not recognized

    Ive tried absolutley everything i have read online… even rebuilt my pc and formatted, it has to be a mobo problem, it works in every other machine …..

24. 09.24.08

    janasheen

    Usb device not recognised.

    I have installed xp sp3 and vista ultimate both on different paritions but when i connect the extend cable of 3 metres which is silver coloured cable.

    i get a popup menu"usb device not recognised""one of the usb devices attached to this computer has malfunctioned, and windows cannot recognise it."

    But if i use the cable of 1 metre it works fine.But the same cable of 3 metres works on my friend PC.

    .

    Pc Specifications.

    Intel(r) Pentium(r) 4 CPU 3.40Ghz(2CPu's) 3.42Ghz

    Memory 1023 MB

    System Type 32 Bit

    Graphic Card :Nvidia GeForce 6200 Turbo Cache (256mb)

    Sound :High Defination Realtek

    T.V Tuner :Lifeview Dvb-S

    Wireless Adapter :Tp Link Wireless TL/wn620g 108mbps

    Modem :Creative

    Built In Lan :Broadband Netlink Gigabit Ethernet

    Motherboard : Gigabyte GA-81945PL-G

    UNIVERSAL SERIAL BUS CONTROLLER :

    INTEL 82801GB USB UNIVERSAL HOST CONTROLLER-27C8-27C9-27CA-27CB-27CC

    THE THINGS I HAVE TRIED FROM MY SIDE:

    1.INSTALLED AND REINSTALLED THE USB DRIVERS

    2.IN USB ROOT HUB I HAVE UNTICK THE (allow the computer to turn off this device to save power)

    3.UPDATED THE OPERATING SYSTEM.

    well if anyone knows how to solve this problem kindly help me out.The reason for using 3metre cable i get a free wifi at some height

    network in which i connect wifi device to catch signals.

    Now the question is to remove the power cord from the motherboard or from the powersupply…

25. 09.30.08

    USB-troubled

    Wow, that's incredible… after a computer crash not only did my USB devices not work, but the sound was playing all weird! I thought the computer was doomed and even suspected hardware damage.

    But lo and behold, unplugging the computer for a minute fixed everything! I still can't believe it.

26. 10.01.08

    MAvi

    Thank you so so much,

    i was having the same problem USB not recognized whenever i connect any USB,

    search on internet saw this page, nd tried it,

    it really worked, thanx so much,

    Hatts of to u

27. 10.06.08

    Chris

    Ok, I give, you are a genious, .. I just spent 45 minutes uninstalling drivers, getting all technical on it's ass.. and then came across your article.. Unplugged the power.. rebooted.. and whola. It worked.

    THANKS!

28. 10.08.08

    USBHELL

    Hardly a genius .. Microsoft help and support tells you to do that with everything that has a problem …That should be your first port of call ..

    Ive tried everything .. When I delete every registry key with the name belkin on it (the problem device) It recognises it but still doesnt work,

    There has to be a major problem somewhere, Its just that random a proper solution cannot be found

29. 10.10.08

    Peter

    I have tried this method of fixing my problem. Definitely not working for me. I had a Canon EOS400D dslr camera modified in Korea for astronomical work. This is the problem child. I also have an identical unmodified 400D which works fine on the usb ports. The problem also exists on my desktop machine. Possibly the usb on the Camera is faulty. Any ideas on this one?

    Rgds

    Peter

30. 10.13.08

    USBHELL

    Mine is slightly different as the problem device works on every other machine i have tried .. including both a desktop pc and a laptop

    …Im going to buy a new device – see if that makes a difference

31. 10.13.08

    stgarivs

    I didn't even have to turn my lap top off. I unplugged it, put my USB in and it worked. I'm flabbergasted. Thank you

32. 10.14.08

    Baldvin

    I have done all of these things uninstall drivers uninstall all kind of software, edit registry and also unplug the computer, but nothing works. I am justing waiting for someone to tell me "you need walk on water pal."

    Have nice day.

    Baldvin

33. 10.17.08

    John

    Remarkable, it worked. So far so good. (It was a USB port with an unrecognized memory stick in it that was my problem.) Very grateful. I looked at all sorts of complicated solutions, but decided to shy away from them. The only tweak I’d suggest is going through the procedure of turn the power supply off, but putting the memory stick back in BEFORE you turn it on aand it then just stopped copying).

    I had what I suspect is related problem with a laptop. The computer booted up (you could hear it) but the screen did not come on. Someone suggested similarly to the procedure above, disconnecting it from the mains AND taking the battery out. I put the battery back in and turned it on, the computer when through some longish rebooting process, and hey presto, the screen came back on. I suspect the same thing is going on here as with the USB port. It needs to reboot properly every so often.

34. 10.27.08

    Ghazi

    Thank you for this simple and effective solution, I had almost pulled out all my hairs.

35. 10.30.08

    Norman Speight

    Doesn't always work does it?

    What is REALLY required is a programme which 're-establishes' (searches for and connects) all USB connected devices whilst the system is running i.e. an icon to click on.

    I too have umpteen USB devices on an otherwise perfectly working system. Several of my external discs (HDDs) will only show up if the USB cable is un-plugged, then plugged in athen they work perfectly. USB does not search continuously for connected devices, what it does is to wait for a signal from a device being connected. Plug and Play.

    Anyone know of such a programme? I certainly don't. Is such a utility THAT difficult to write? Again, I don't know.

36. 11.06.08

    phil

    I have had this problem for bout six months now, tried everything, so thought what the heck. I tried your suggestion. Now it working again. thanks thnaks thanks

37. 11.13.08

    Marciano

    Great solution! I did it and it worked. Thanks very much!

38. 11.14.08

    Russell

    Thanks!!!

    spent all afternoon trying to fix this. Vista wouldn't recognise any of my mice – webcams were fine. Tried everything – System Restores, cleaning C:/Windows/Inf – uninstalling software.

    So found this page and unplugged. Removed my laptop battery and went and had a cuppa.

    FIXED!

    Thanks again!

39. 11.16.08

    Shyam

    Hi u r really genius… i think it worked… thanks a ton…

40. 11.16.08

    Henri

    Thank you! Worked like a charm!

41. 11.18.08

    Brenmoor

    Could not believe it was so simple, however, I have tried for 5 hours to fix this and so I went the whole way, unplugged it, removed battery and had a cup of tea, then plugged it all back in after 15 mins and crossed my fingers…and then…. IT WORKED!!!!

    Thank you.

42. 11.19.08

    Greg

    Wow, I read this and thought, I wondered if I unplug the mains on my laptop and replug my usb camera whether it would work, And it did! Thanks for the post

43. 11.20.08

    Jerry Humphreys

    Was up half the night with this one trying to get my printer to work (just repaired under warranty) discovered that half my devices would not work unless plugged in via usb 1.1 cheapo mouse mat/hub. Tried deleting devices registry entries, re-installing software, changing the stand-by 5v usb jumper on the motherboard etc etc, all to no avail. I can't believe that it was so difficult to find this fix, you have my most heartfelt gratitude. Cheers!!

44. 11.22.08

    max kent

    pls tell me what to do . i have my coursework stuck on the USB memory stick. i hav tried the following methods :

    1. taking the usb out and plugging it back in.

    2. editing the registry.

    3. taking the battery out and leaving it out for 5 hours.

    but it still comes up with the warning USB Device Not recognised. i looked at this post and read the comments and thought that i might be able to solve the problem but no. pls help me if possible. by the way i have an acer laptop travel mate 2310

45. 11.24.08

    Norman Speight

    Max Kent,

    Can I start by telling you that my suggestions may not help you at all.

    Firstly, Do not ever, ever, ever have a backup on only one type of device NOTE 'TYPE' of device. By this I mean a memory stick. These things are far from infallible.

    I am deeply involved in backups professionally, my areas being medical records (including Cancer records and heart surgery/treatment records) and leparticularly Fujitsu drives which have a special low friction bearing therefore low current demand from the USB port, therefore even quite dodgy USB ports i.e. incapable of providing sufficient current, can see them when other drive makes cannot be seen).

    In respect of your particular problem. I would firstly try the stick on other computers to see if it can be read. If it can, the problem is your laptop USB, laptop USB ports are notoriously flaky. If it can't be read on any USB port (on another computer) then, the problem is with the memory stick. Check whether your laptop USB port can read other devices. What you are doing is trying to pinpoint the problem area, once pinned down then, you decided on actions open to you.

    If you take my advice and use a 2.5 inch (Fujitsu remember, I do have other makes but they are nowhere near as reliable, nor do they necessarily work everywhere unlike the Fujitsu)make absolutely certain that you buy an enclosure to put the drive in which has two USB connectors going into one USB for the enclosure. Also try this in the shop if you can to ensure that it works, there are many rotten cable makers in China, I have a boxful of these which are highly resistant, so you get a voltage drop along the cable, hence lower current, and then the bloody drive can't get enough current to spin up and it starts 'hunting' you can hear this if you press your ear against the drive when its plugged in. So test in the shop, or, get an absolute guarantee that you will get a full refund (establish this before you hand any money over) should the device not work for you. Whether it works on another computer or for another person (ANY person) is immaterial, you are buying for it to work for YOU.

    Anyway. These are just some thoughts based on my experience over the last 45 years-or-so in computing (I actually started, believe it or not, in 1958 on one of the only two mainframes in London, so I'm coming up for recycling).

    Best wishes for a success.

    Norman Speight

46. 11.26.08

    Erik

    Great! It worked!

47. 11.28.08

    Robert

    Thanks so much. Disconnecting the power supply power cord for 5 minutes fixed the problem with my new 5 port USB 2.0 PCI card. It's a generic card, has the label "For Best Ports Connection". It installed in WinXP just fine, but everything I connected to it came up as device not recognized. After the disconnect trick, it worked great!

48. 11.30.08

    Joyce in Connecticut

    Hi and God bless you for the solution! You stopped me from snatching my hair out and running down my street screaming… Thought I was going to have to buy a new computer. (:)

    Happy Holidays,

    Joyce

49. 11.30.08

    Mike

    I tried everything before this. It seemed too simple…But…it worked! My USB2.0 was gone, only 1.1 was working (mouse). After unplugging for a few minutes and rebooting, everything worked again!

    Thanks!!

50. 12.03.08

    Barry

    Great tip. My problem happened after I grabbed the end of my iPhone cable and felt a little zap. Phone was not recognized, printer lost connection, usb devices would lose connection, world was coming to an end. Found this jewel, world no longer coming to an end. Works great. Thanks

51. 12.06.08

    tom in Sydney

    Fantastic, after a few hours spent trying all the other suggestions, found yours… too easy

52. 12.08.08

    Frank

    Fantastic, usb port stopped recognizing the printer. ext. HD and memory stick disconnecting the power the way you suggest restored it all.

    Thanks

53. 12.13.08

    Ron Knee

    Great fix dude, did exactly what it says on the tin, cheers!!

54. 12.14.08

    Ms.thandar

    Dear sir / Madam,

    I have acer laptop. On this laptop, 3 usb ports have. 2 ports are not recognized , one is OK. Also re-installed windows and that is finished.

    Any help would be greatly appreciated

    with rgds
    ms.thandar

55. 12.14.08

    akishore

    Ms. Thandar, looks like your problem is with the hardware on the laptop. The USB port must be defective, especially if you reinstalled Windows and the USB port is still not being recognized and the other two are OK.

56. 12.22.08

    michelle

    this is genius!

    thank you soooooo much.

    genius solution! so happy!

57. 12.23.08

    Myrha

    Many months and many sleepness nights, not including the frustrations and wanting to smack my pc with a hammer.

    What a simple solution! You're a genius! Seasons Greetings!

58. 12.24.08

    Joseph

    Thx man, worked! This is easiest way to fix USB Device not recognized!
    Thank u very much

59. 12.25.08

    Same Spade

    Excellent solution~! I've been trying to fix a "USB Malfunction" message on my Versa s3500 laptop on Windows Vista Home Basic for hours and came across your page.

    I followed your directions; shutdown, unplugged the power source AND disconnected the battery. SUCCESS on the first try~!

    Thank you for posting this logical, elegant simple solution to a potential wild goose chase~!

    Merry Christmas~!

60. 12.25.08

    Patrick Ly

    Thanks, you're awesome =]

61. 12.25.08

    Kim

    This is about the third site I have tried. It was so good to see that the errors you showed were exactly the same as I was getting. I cant believe something as simple as turning of the comp at the power point worked. I did uninstall and shut down windows and none of this worked. Thanks for the weel explained simple fix. Now my printer is back to working and so is the NEW usb that seemed to cause the problem in the first place

    CHEERS

62. 12.26.08

    Andrew

    As for anyone else who is having this problem, give this a try. I had the exact same issue and I believe that it was due to a USB port overload from a defective device and a powered USB1.1 hub.

    I would plug the USB memory stick into the port and the light on the stick would never turn on. That led me to believe that it was a power issue and if you check device manager, look under the USB root hubs and check the power tabs it will list the devices and the amount of current they are using. If you have an unknown device listed and it says 0mA this will probably work.

    I spent 2 days of digging through the registry, downloading hotfixes, reading MS tech bulletins, uninstalling/reinstalling the USB ports and even with tons of reboots it never fixed it. Unplugged the power supply for 2 minutes, rebooted and its like new again. It is probably a protection measure at the hardware level and this reset it for me.

    Thanks a million!

63. 12.26.08

    ben

    this proplem is caused by unpluging a usb device while it is transfering data so just click the safely remove hardware (looks kinda like a keyboard with an arrow pointing left on xp)

64. 12.27.08

    Hannes

    I had the same problem. My XP SP3 PC did not recognize new usb devices, but it recognized all devices, which I had connected a few weeks ago. So I could not use my new external hdd and dvd writer. Unfortunately the here provided solution did not work for me.

    But finaly I found my solution which I'd like to share:

    my system lost two important files: usbstor.inf and usbstor.pnf. I just copied both files from another XP SP3 PC to the %systemroot%inf directory and both new devices are working as expected.

    Regards Hannes

65. 12.27.08

    LL

    OMG I LOVE YOU. previosuly i have had this problem twice but left it for months… and then miracles happed and it would work aturned it on and =O IT WORKS

    two thumbs up and hi-5

66. 12.28.08

    Peelarp

    Thank you for your useful solution. It is a very easy way, but it really works.

67. 12.29.08

    David

    Thanks, finally a solution that worked worked!! Now I can go to bed!!!

68. 12.30.08

    Joe Alva

    Great! I should find this article before I clean up my pc, I had to put a fresh copy of windows XP (anyway I needed to do it, a lot of crap in it) and nothing happenned,, until I found this forum, we shoudl spread this information to help a lot of people with this situation, I was frustrated because I could not use my external hard drives (4) even when i have another pc in home thanks a lot guys, microsoft need to learn some easy tricks like this….

69. 01.01.09

    Mothupi

    You're the man. Thanks.

70. 01.01.09

    Joe Takwish

    I am really shocked!!

    I wish I would have seen this a week ago. Thank you very much.

    My mouse, card reader and modem were all becoming unrecognizable, so I ended up re-formatting my PC and restoring from a backup I created back in June. The backup helped me for about 2 days until it started happening again. Now I read this, unplugged my power cord, and it fixed everything.

71. 01.03.09

    Steve Nichols

    i don't even HAVE anything plugged into the usb ports. I disabled it, in Bios, and STILL have this problem.

    XP Pro.

    frustrated in iowa

72. 01.04.09

    Martin

    Many many thanks, also spent hours trying to fix this problem and was about to call for help. Tried as you suggested and worked straight away, was having problem with the usb not recognizing a Sony camera memorystick.
    Happy New Year to you

73. 01.09.09

    Carrie

    After pretty much thinking a windows update broke all my USB ports (I am not very computer savy) I came upon this suggestion. Since unplugging, my printer, cam, portable memory sticks, all are working again. Thanks so much!

74. 01.10.09

    Patrick

    Amazing ….i formatted my Pc ,installed drivers ,but only your solution worked.Thanxs much

75. 01.13.09

    Lito

    hey guys…ive just read all ur comments and suggestions about "USB not recognized…" of which i have the same problem…however I don’t seem to have read about someone who has the exact problem as mine…well here’s my exact problem: I have bought a 1 GIG Apacer USB, and it worked in any computer. After a few days, it stopped working.. everytime i insert my USB in any computer, all i got is USB Device Not Recognized (Malfunction)take note its not only in one computer but in all computer i could rent, use or borrow. That’s my exact problem indeed… how can it be…? can any one help me…? does it mean my USB is really the problem..? do i have to replace it..? i cant replace it yet, not until i have recoverd my most important files… Please! Please! HELP ME! anyone.. please…

    P.S. Could this be the worst to happen to any memory flash drive? or could this be a caused by some VIRUS…?

76. 01.13.09

    Berlts

    hmmm… yoh lito… same problem here… i dont know how to fix it…

77. 01.18.09

    Wilson

    Hi dude.. thanks for that suggestion, it solves my problem.Thanks.

78. 01.19.09

    Nick

    Hahahahahahaha! Genius!!!

    I've had this problem for MONTHS!!

    Done all the usual tricks with drivers, checked registry entries, updated Motherboard Bios and drivers to no avail.

    Had come to the conclusion Motherboard was Fooked many months ago.

    Finally got sooooooo annoyed with slow ipod connection (usb1.1 hub was the only way I could connect) I thought I'd have a last ditch google for an answer and stumbled across this page…………………..

    Was very sceptical when I first read it but……………

    IT FOOOKING WORKED!!!!!!!!!!!

    GENIUS!

    I now have 480Mbits/second connection with my ipod for the 1st time )

    This is without a doubt the single most useful nugget of information I have found on the net in a long time.

    Many Thanks )))

79. 01.19.09

    Alex

    Thanks for the adice, i tried it but it did not work. I am on Windows Vista. And it is my Logitech QuickCam for Notebook Pro that i am trying to plug into my laptop. Im sooooo stuck! I NEED some help! Please someone! Im literally crying here! Pleasee someone help me if you know what to do or you have experianced this problem before.

    Well if anyone knows, please contact me on [email protected] thanks x

80. 01.19.09

    Web Design

    Wow. I had tried everything to get my USB flash device working. Uninstalls, re-installs, deleting files, registry edits. This worked a treat. Good work.

81. 01.20.09

    Amy

    Wow!! Thank you so much. It worked and you saved me a lot of time, money and hair pulling.

82. 01.22.09

    dp

    It worked.. Thank you so very much…

83. 01.22.09

    dp

    Thanks.. I was about to smack my laptop on the wall!

84. 01.25.09

    Barni

    You are like a Jesus – thanks a lot! It's working on my laptop. I had to unplug the AC Adaptor and the battery for the while and now its ok! Thank's a lot!

85. 01.30.09

    gotov

    Your my saver. Thank you so much!!!!

86. 01.30.09

    Pieter

    And every time I ask myself: why do I first start this trial and error search for the fix by myself… a smart google search for the error message will so often do the trick, and if the solution is so simple it seems extra rewarding Thanks ever so much!!!

87. 01.31.09

    Shubh

    Thank you soo much you are amazzzzzzzzziiiiiiiiiiiiiiinnnnnnnnggg. i frakin lovvvvvvvvve you!!!! thank you sooooooo much

88. 02.01.09

    simon b

    Thanks dude – you're a genius

89. 02.01.09

    tabish

    Hi everybody, I have a Kingston 4GB USB disk, last day when i finished my work, i tried to safely remove my USB but computer prompted that USB cannot be removed at this time. I thought it would be a virus or something in PC that is doing this and i pulled out my 4GB Kingston usb from USB port at back of my PC.

    I already have done this many times, but this time I was very unfortunate, when today i put my USB in port at back of my computer, the bubble at system tray appears saying:"USB device not recognized……….." and I have tried nealy all the possible solutions….upgrading USB drivers, power cord-off method, uninstalling and reinstalling all USB devices,changing registry and even formating my C drive and installing windows……all was of no use…

    My 4GB Kingston USB still shows the same problem. I also have tried it on several other computers, every computer gives the same problem. No icon of USB is displayed in My Computer.

    I am so desperate and I am so helpless…what to do, i had all very very important data in it and i cant even recover it.

    If some body can help me find out the solution, I would be very thankx to him/her.

    Please mail me at: [email protected]

90. 02.01.09

    myAnyName

    Great Thanks! It was so simple! )

91. 02.02.09

    Diams

    WOWWWWWWW. It worked. Had the problem for at least 2 hours. THANKS !!!!!!!

92. 02.03.09

    Johnnythefox

    Tried unplugging, reinstalling etc, etc,etc… All to no avail…Went into device manager (to get to device manager in XP right click on "My Computer", select "Properties", select "Hardware" then select "Device Manager" and double click on "Universal Serial Bus Controllers") uninstall "Enhanced USB controller".. This is USB 2.0..as soon as this was uninstalled the PC recognised the USB device which was in my case a wireless network card and it was working ashould automatically reinstall itself unless you disable it in Device Manager and the problems may reoccur…However going through the uninstall process of the Enhanced USB Controller again should render the USB device operable again. Must be some kind of conflict between USB 2.0 and USB 1.0…Hope this tip works for you guys where all other methods may fail

93. 02.04.09

    Ken Lewis

    Superb advice. Problem solved. A sincere thankyou from a very happy 76 years 'oldlewy'

94. 02.04.09

    chapapa

    Hey I have a laptop and it didn't work?

    Any help please?

95. 02.06.09

    kkebero

    Amazing. It worked for me!!! Thanks so much!!!

96. 02.11.09

    Suzanne

    Hey I tried this but the message still comes up! Its my J Drive it doesn't seem to recognise anything whether its my digital camera, my mobile phone or my usb pen! Have you any other suggestions because I'm at the end of my tether!

97. 02.12.09

    uptight

    Amazing! My mother's PC had all its USB's down like that and she was getting desperate, ready to take it to a store and have it examined, the motherboard checked, maybe they'd even tell her to change the motherboard. But thanks to your advice, it all works perfectly now. A million thanks!

98. 02.17.09

    Peter Pike

    Brilliant…makes you think though how many times you take your PC to the techs and pay $$$$ to have a problem fixed…when in actual fact the act of unplugging it and taking it there actually fixed the problem!

    Thanks again….

99. 02.18.09

    Sharon

    You're an Einstein!!! I've been at my wits end with all seven of my usb ports not working on my 2005 HP desktop for the last two weeks. I've tried most all of the suggestions (the least techy ones) I found on the web and not one of them worked. And to complicate matters, I had to get rid of 11 trojans — ugh it's been a nightmare.

    Your suggestion seemed way too simple but I tried it anyway. It was my last attempt AND IT WORKED on six of the ports!! (The 7th one stopped working a long time ago.) I'm so excited that you'd think I just won the lottery. Thanks a million. Thanks a bunch. Thank you from the bottom of my heart. You're my hero!

100. 02.18.09

     Raspal

     For all of you who are unable to make USB drives work or still are getting the "USB Device not recognized", try this method. It worked for me.

     I have two Windows XP SP2 on same PC.
     I had a Kingston 4GB DataTraveller that worked on one XP and "USB Device not revognized" error on other.

     I had tried the advice mentioned here but it did not work. I read all the comments and the one made by Hannes made me think to try it. I downloaded usbstor.inf and usbstor.pnf files and copied them to my windowsinf folder. (Had to overwrite)

     Removed it from the Device Manager – Other Devices,
     inserted my USB stick and lo and behold! It was recognized in a jify!

     usbstor.inf and usbstor.pnf can be downloaded from here:

     infdump.com/download-inf-files_new.php/inffiles/U/USBSTOR.INF/5.1.2600.0/download.html

     pnfdump.com/download-pnf-files.php/pnffiles/U/usbstor.PNF/download.html

     Hope this helps for everyone whose USB drives aer still not recognized.

     In case there is really some problem with the USB drive (like if it gets corrupted due to any reason), I can try helping with recovering the data without any fee. Since I know how it is to lose important data, I would love to help anyone who needs it.

     But you need to email me at this address:

     rsletters-downloadyahoo.com

     I have some remote data recovery softwares that can recover data.

     Regards,

101. 02.20.09

     alicia

     Oh thank god. This is exactly my problem for the last freaking week. i WAS ABOUT TO LOSE MY MIND, UNPLUG STUPID MOUSE, PLUG IT BACK IN, SAME WINDOWS YOU SHOWED above, I had,i WILL BE DOING EXACTLY WHAT YOU saID tonight.

     if i still have issues, can I contact someone here?

102. 02.21.09

     kim

     I've had this problem for weeks and have been unable to use my printer, memory sticks, or charge my i-pod. I know next to nothing about computers, so I thought, this can't hurt to try! And it worked like a charm on my old hp pavilion. Thank you so much for posting it!

103. 02.25.09

     Josh Johnson

     Luckily I found your website before I tore my computer apart. I want to buy you a beer by friend, actually I want to buy you a keg!

104. 02.26.09

     Bobby

     I was soooo skeptical about this, but IT WORKED!!!!! Thank you for taking the time to post it. I REALLY appreciate it. I've been looking for a solution for so long.

105. 03.03.09

     Volotao

     My system was working well until the message mentioned above popped up saying I had an USB device not recognized. My HP multifunction printer (PSC 1510 All-in-one) cannot communicate anymore with my computer. I can just use it as a copier. I tried several approaches but nothing made it work.

     I ask someone for help me find what may be happening. Should be caused by electrical instability? I´m afraid the hardware became damaged and this happens again when I replace the device. What makes the USB peripheral to stop communicating?

106. 03.04.09

     HisBrownSuga

     Oh my God I was so distraught and something told me to just google in the problem and yours was the first answer to come up. You are an angel for sharing this valuable priceless information. Thank you so very much.

107. 03.04.09

     Rebecca

     Absolutely brilliant, thank you so much I have been trying to figure this out for a week now without spending hundreds of dollars to get it fixed. Such a life/sanity saver, thank you!

108. 03.05.09

     Ron Hodge

     Thanks , removing the power cord did the trick and was able to use all my USB Devices again. Only problem is I continually have to pull the power cord out as they come back in use and may last a day or so and then go unrecognized again. Pulling the power chord brings them back each time but there must be some other failure associated with it. I am thinking more along the lines of Power supply maybe getting a bit wobbly?

109. 03.11.09

     PB

     D'oh – wish I'd found this an hour and a half ago!!!

     Thanks Perfect Fix

110. 03.13.09

     Gautam

     Thanks a lot!! Never believed that the solution could be so simple..had lived with the same problem on my last laptop. Should have saved me lot of trouble back then!!

111. 03.14.09

     Valerie

     Thank you so much!!! I tried your suggestion and it worked!!!

     Thank you, thank you, thank you. I was about to return the Microphone, but it's working now.

112. 03.17.09

     Rakesh

     Disable power management of the USB hub

     Note If you perform the following procedure, you may also reduce the battery life on a portable computer.

     To disable power management of the USB hub, follow these steps:

     Click Start, click Run, type Devmgmt.msc, and then click OK. The Device Manager window opens.

     Expand Universal Serial Bus controllers.

     Right-click a USB Root Hub in the list, and then click Properties. The USB Root Hub Properties dialog box is displayed.

     Click the Power Management tab.

     Click to clear the Allow the computer to turn off this device to save power check box, and then click OK.

     Repeat steps 3 through 6 for each USB Root Hub in the list.

     On the Action menu, click Scan for hardware changes.

     Windows XP recognizes the new device.

     Close the Device Manager window.

113. 03.18.09

     Natalie

     Worked thanks, just unplugged for a few minutes and USB back on!

114. 03.21.09

     Paully

     THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!!!! I've tried all other kinds of solutions!!!!!! and NOTHING WORKED. Thanks again

115. 03.22.09

     Mark

     It worked! I have an HP Pavilion dv7 that was getting this exact error due to an issue with my HP Laser Mini Mouse. Seems like I tried everything but unplugging (and removing the battery) was the only thing that worked. Finally I can go and do something else today. Thank you for the help!

116. 03.24.09

     Jason

     Thanks very much. Skeptical I was; No more.

117. 03.25.09

     rabunyak

     I'm sure you've heard it hundreds of times…but, Thank you! I called the computer store where I purchased my laptop a couple months ago. They said I might have to do a restore. I wasn't liking that idea at all.

     I turned off, unplugged, and took the battery out for good measure.

     Put it back together…perfect! ; )

     Now I'm going to call the computer store and tell them.

118. 03.28.09

     Mary

     Thank you, was thinking I would have to purchase a new CPU, as the USB's were all bad! Found this page after about 10 hours of wasteing time with command promps etc. (everything I could find, I tried, with no luck).

     Perfect and easiest, couldn't be better.

     Thanks again!

119. 04.01.09

     Owatarelief

     2 DAYS of deeply involved problem solving! SOLVED so simply THANK YOU!!!

120. 04.02.09

     Santosh

     Thanks a lot, it worked 4 me

121. 04.03.09

     Broth3R

     Turned off the computer and unplugged the plug on the wall. Did not work for me. Any help? Did it 2 times already

122. 04.08.09

     Emo

     Thanks a lot. Worked just fine for me. I would have never thought of that by myself… Thanks again.

123. 04.09.09

     Mike

     Brilliant – so simple & it worked. Thanks, M

124. 04.11.09

     Kelly

     WOW, sometimes the solution is so stinken easy it's impossible to find. I tried all the same things you did before finding your post then did just what you suggested and unplugged my computer. Sure enough it worked.

     thanks!!

125. 04.14.09

     Drew

     Holy sh*t, it worked.

     And that's from a computer service technician.

126. 04.17.09

     Slim

     Amazing. I tried everything too, was about to do system restore. Did a web search and found this site. Tried it on my laptop – nothing. Then I thought to take out the battery on the laptop, shut down and unplugged the power. Left it for about 30 mins. Rebooted and everything was fine…all USB connectors worked. Not sure how this problem occured but glad to know how to solve it if it happens again.

     Remember – if you are on a lappy to take the battery out for this to work!

127. 04.18.09

     armaghan

     Thanksssssssssssssssss , so usefull

128. 04.19.09

     Aric

     i have tried that several time and still no go any other suggestions?? please email me if you have any [email protected]

129. 04.19.09

     Gem/Karin

     THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!!! Tried everything possible and the most simple thing to do was turn the bloody power switch off!! We got so excited when it worked! Will know to do that all the time now. Awesome!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

     Thnx again!

130. 04.23.09

     Mark B

     This fully works – you absolute legend! Thanks very much!!

131. 04.23.09

     Chester Lee

     OMG! After tearing out my hair for two days I stumbled on your site. THANK YOU!!!!!!!! Works like a dream!

132. 05.01.09

     DB

     Thanks! Worked like a charm!

133. 05.01.09

     street

     Super!!!! This really worked.Thank you so much

134. 05.03.09

     Gregory

     Holy crap, it really worked!!! I've been fighting this problem for 2-3 weeks now and couldn't figure it out. YOU ROCK!!

135. 05.04.09

     Norman Speight

     What is REALLY wanted is a little utility which, when run, re-reads all the USB ports to, effectively, run the plug and play element which identifies that something new has been plugged in.

     Anyone out there knowledgeable enough to write one?

     Although your solution works in – probably – the majority of cases, there are still far too many cases where it doesn't work, for unknown reasons.

     That of course, is not to denegrate this really excellent tip.

136. 05.07.09

     Chris

     As many have tried on this post, I did as much research as I could possibly do to fix this same problem. I tried everything and unfortunately nothing worked. What happened was that a small little area on my motherboard burned out which controlled the USB hardware. The burn mark was only discovered after I removed the motherboard from the computer. My motherboard was an ASUS P5NSLI. So try looking for that. The burned out area on mine was close to the the I/O area of the motherboard. Very small, about the size of a match head.

137. 05.14.09

     Chipasha Songolo

     Wow!!! You are a SAVIOUR man!!! My USB ports are working again!

138. 05.15.09

     Bill_Gates_should_ha

     This solution "rocks"?

     Er, shouldn't that read "this solution is a crock"?

     Unplug the PC from the power supply!!!??? Are you SERIOUS!?

     So what if it "works"? This is the equivalent of thumping the side of your old black & white TV when you lose the sound or the picture.

     Windows Vista is a terrible piece of sh1t. A travesty. A fraud. A shoddy product sold to the public on false pretences.

     Bill Gates, or whoever is in charge at MicroSh1t these days, should hang his head in shame. Or better still, hang himself.

139. 05.15.09

     Jm

     Incredible… i tried another method, removing "Unknown devices" but it didn´t work, this method should have pagerank 10, man you saved my day!!!!!!!!

     Thanks a lot

140. 05.16.09

     Dominic

     Legend. One additional tip. I got the wireless mouse working immediately from this tip of unplugging the laptop but the printer would not work. However, I then just unplugged the printer USB (with laptop on) and re-plugged and it worked.

     Thank you so very much

141. 05.20.09

     Paul W

     Brilliant, so simple – even obvious!! Worked perfectly for my PC after days of frustration – I even re-installed XP. All USB devices now working 100%. Happy family and happy IT administrator (aka me).

142. 05.22.09

     CaseyS

     Thanks so much for publishing this tip. Worked great for me. I have an Acer laptop and all ports were acting balky for at least a few days, but just unplugging it and taking out the battery for a few minutes fixed the issue. Such a simple cure, yet it's amazing how many tech sites and so-called tech experts don't even mention this. They probably are not even aware of this. The simplest methods should always be tried first and this couldn't be simpler.

143. 05.26.09

     Tyler

     Thanks! It worked! My mom was on the phone for 2 hours with customer support, and they couldn’t fix the problem. I did what you said. Unplugged the cord for around 1-2 minutes. I started the computer, then plugged in my usb device, no longer unknown device, now recognized, but asking for a driver. Found the driver, installed, back to normal! Thanks!

144. 05.27.09

     Damián

     My genius graphic tablet is not being recognized by windows and I keep getting that damned “usb malfunctioned” message every time I plug it in any of the usb ports on my computer.
     I’ve been using it for about 5 month, and I don’t understand why it’s giving me so much trouble now.
     I’ve tried pretty much any solution I’ve read out there…I even reinstalled every usb driver on my computer, and I’ve tried unplugging every device from their power supplies. But nothing worked…
     I guess I need to go get a new one.

145. 05.29.09

     Chuck

     The solution to REMOVE power from the PC absolutely worked! Wish I had read it before I shelled out money for a new USB hub. Anyway, this fix saved hours of anguish on all the pseudo "solutions" out there. THANKS.

146. 05.30.09

     Aaron

     There ya go – THE PROPER FIX. I knew it wasn't in the registry after reinstalling the operating system. You sir are a gentleman. Thanks for sharing your knowledge.

147. 05.30.09

     theFATangel

     Genius of a solution. I spent several weeks trying to find a solution and came across this post. Worked like a charm! Much easier to try first than the other solutions of unplugging the device, uninstalling the drivers, rebooting, rebooting again, removing the remaining instances of the usb device in device manager, rebooting more, re-installing the drivers and the device. Thanks a million!

148. 05.31.09

     joerams

     wooooow!!!! thanks very much, it works for me. unplug power source and battery. thanks again very2x much. GOD BLESS!!

149. 06.06.09

     otto

     Thanks! I ran into this problem earlier today, but it would only not recognize my mouse, so I did all of this— and, because I have a laptop, I had to unplug the batteries as well.

     It's back to working now.

150. 06.08.09

     Jeff

     I hope this works for me too. I was at work and decided to google my problem. My issues is the computer not only doesn't recognize my devices, it doesn't even charge my devices like my iPods or iPhone. It will work with mouse though, so I'm thinking this may work for me too, would someone out there agree with me on this?

151. 06.09.09

     JehMykols

     Hey there, I tried that last night , still getting the same error messages on startup, yet if I restart the computer after the initial startup everything works again. I'm wondering if the power to the actual motherboard needs to be desconnected as well. Unplugging it from the wall just did not work for me, is there anything anyone can tell me that I may be missing? I'm wondering if there's a step I'm not taking. Thanks in advance!

152. 06.11.09

     Jimmy Kay

     Thanks, thats a really good solution but the error may also occur cos of a driver problem, I had been getting the same device not recognized error until I updated my drivers using driver detective, for those of you saying that you tried the solution above and it did not work, please make sure you update your drivers.

153. 06.11.09

     RubyLee

     OMG, you are a genuis!!! I absolutely adore you, thank you so much for solving this problem.

154. 06.11.09

     Lin Wonacott

     Fantastic!! This USB not recognized windows error message was sending me demented!! Did as suggested, turned off laptop and unplugged it from power supply for couple of hours. Bliss! No annoying message and beep!! I even contacted Sony support for a resolution to this problem and they were at a loss. Shall I let them into the secret?? No..don't think so! Many many thanks!

155. 06.12.09

     Carl

     I uninstalled the usb hubs before switching off my pc and disconnecting the power. This worked first time for me. thanks, much appreciated. I thought I'd fried the usb slots somehow at first.

156. 06.12.09

     Maranymph

     You are a freekin genius!! I have been having this problem for quite some time and nothing seemed to fix it. I mean, I tried all sorts of things and the answer was so simple! You just don't turn your computer off at the wall do you? (Although I do know some people who do, maybe they are smarter than I thought?).

     Anyway, I'm just amazed that no one else knew about this (countless other web forums, microsoft, hardware manufacturer etc). It has been a frustrating time. Thanks again!!

157. 06.13.09

     Karim Kadry

     Thank you very very much, it is a magnificent solution, it really works.

     I have been spinning around myself looking for a solution, I have tried alot of sophisticated solutions but only your's worked.

158. 06.15.09

     Herb

     Again this demonstrates the difference between a true professional and a merely competent amateur. After copying files to a CD and using my laptop to print because the PC wouldn't recognize the printer in the USB port for 2 weeks, this fix worked. God bless those smart enough to share their knowledge with others.

159. 06.16.09

     barry

     This happened on my notebook after installing Vista SP2. I uninstalled SP2 and IE8 but no joy. I left the machine at home today but will try remove the battery and see if that works. Hoping …

160. 06.18.09

     Steve

     So simple……..so effective! Can't thank you enough..have wasted an hour with other failed solutions involving registry and device manager tweaks – Brilliant!

161. 06.18.09

     k

     I use XP Pro on Macbook Bootcamp and this worked! I use my laptop on continual power as a desktop at home, so unplugging it was something I never even considered when troubleshooting. The USB alert showed up even when all the hubs were removed, leading me to believe I needed to take the laptop in for service on the USB ports! MACbook repairs aren't cheap!

     This solution saved time, trouble and money. Thanks for sharing it with us.

     I also removed the battery, but will put it back in as backup for power failure.

162. 06.18.09

     Elizabeth

     I've had this problem for absolutely ages, and I even bought a new webcam to see if it worked but the device is still not recognized.

     If i unplug it, will it actually work ?

     How long to I keep it off for ?
     x

163. 06.18.09

     Chris

     A great, simple solution to a very annoying problem. Thanks!!! I also took the battery out as well.

     Chris

164. 06.18.09

     barry

     No, didn't work. Removed the battery but no joy.

165. 06.19.09

     Donna

     Ok I think I seriously love you! I tried everything the lovely Windows troubleshooting program had me do and nothing worked. So I ended up on Google and found your solution to the USB device not recognized problem which WORKED!!! YOU ROCK!

166. 06.20.09

     OD

     All of those not working for me.

     I have a Gigabyte motherboard :

     ga-m61vme-s2

     I am trying to connect a usb remote control:

     vrc-1100

     its simply recognizes the remote on every other computer except the one I actually need the remote to be plugged to.

     when I connect the remote IR receiver its shows me the “USB device not recognized”

     I tried installing :

     win XP SP2

     win XP SP3

     windows 7 RC

     all the same…

     I tried the solution of unplugging the power and removing the board battery and wait 9 hours, and still same shit…

     I also tried to upgrade the BIOS , nothing there too…

     Should I give up about this machine?

     )-:

167. 06.20.09

     OD

     Hi again,

     I solved my problem in the end!

     I connected my remote control using a simple USB hub,

     and Windows recognized it and all ends well

     (-:

168. 06.21.09

     John

     This is the best advice I've seen for this problem.

169. 06.22.09

     Roberto

     This is simply unbelievable!

     I spent all this morning , trying to fix this problem, disable the usb on the BIOS, change my USB mouse and in the end yell outloud all bad words that i know…

     A deep, deep thanks to you.

170. 06.24.09

     zuddin

     Excellent!!! awesome… this suggestion really works..Thanks a lot..not getting the USB device not recognized error anymore!

171. 06.24.09

     Larry

     speechless…. if laptop, you have to remove the battery for a while. Great idea. I wonder how come those manufacturers do not give this kind of advise. When you call their support they tell you nothing except non-sense. Thanks a lot.

172. 07.01.09

     Kevin S

     All I can say is wow, Thank You for the easy solution, and your knowledge. Cheers!

173. 07.04.09

     Manish

     Pls give me solution for this error : bluetooth device has malfunctioned and windows does not recognize it . I format my computer but the error are coming again

174. 07.04.09

     RJ

     I tried this and it initially worked (recharging my Sony walkman). A happy chappy.

     Next time it didn't however. So tried

     Changing security settings for devises in Kaspersky. This didn't work.

     Updating the system Bios to the latest update. It's now charging again.

     I also deleted and reinstalled the driver. Unsure whether it was one or more of these but it's now working.

175. 07.10.09

     judgepax

     I was having this problem with just a single flash drive. Took a couple tries (inserting the stick in the drive between the "safe mode" startup prompt and true OS launch helped) but got all my files. Gotta love the KISS fixes. THANK YOU!

176. 07.11.09

     bt

     its really unbeleivable……after trying all the recommendations from different site……i was vexed and thought to call professionals to solve this problem….but your's worked like a magic…..i am really thankful to you

177. 07.14.09

     coosbaytv

     One year later and…still going!

     I tried this solution today and what do you know, IT WORKS!

     THANKS..

178. 07.16.09

     Chris

     Just want to thank the guy (or girl) that posted this fix – it worked and I am eternally grateful. Damn lost about three hours – and bought a new USB hub. Should have done my homework first.

179. 07.18.09

     Dave

     YAY it worked!! the problem was originally caused in Linux (Ubuntu) when attaching a camcorder (under webcam mode). this stopped all USB (2.0 devices) working but funnily enough my small capacity (256mb) USB stick was the only thing that worked. I have no idea why?? yet my sony 4GB USB stick would not work, neither would my USB DVB-T device or printer etc. But i did have power to all ports which was tested by using my USB powered light.

     Thanks heaps mate, problem solved =]

180. 07.26.09

     J.

     This solution of turning off all power for one minute made my USB ports work perfectly! Thank you so much!

181. 07.27.09

     springbok

     If its a printer, try to use a different usb cable!

182. 07.30.09

     bomo

     Thanks for the tip. I was terrified by the thought of reinstalling windows, but this was helpful!

183. 07.31.09

     Alvester

     Unplugging the computer from the wall worked for me! I also disconnected all the USB devices. I did all the unplugging and disconnecting before going to bed. I even cycled the switch on my computer's power supply just for good measure. The next morning I only plugged in my USB keyboard to get going for the Vista login and VOILA, it worked! All my USB devices are functioning properly again.

     Too bad after a week of trying to figure this out I had already done a complete Vista reinstall. Oh well, at least I have a fresh install…

184. 08.01.09

     Kallulu

     If that doesn't work, here is another option you can try:

     Disable power management of the USB hub. To disable the power management on the USB hub, follow these steps:

     * Click Start, and then click Run.

     * Type devmgmt.msc in the Open box, and then click OK.

     * Expand the Universal Serial Bus controllers' node, and then follow these steps for each USB Root Hub that is listed:

     * Right-click the USB Root Hub and then click Properties.

     * Click the Power Management tab.

     * Click to clear the Allow the computer to turn off this device to save power check box, and then click OK.

     Note: If you perform the following procedure on a laptop computer, you may reduce the battery life.

     Sometimes, simply unplugging the USB device and turning off the computer for twenty minutes and then restarting may solve the issue. If none of the above options have solved the problem, check the manufacturer's website for new driver information. It is possible that your drivers need to be updated.

     If the above doesn't work for you, go to the properties of USB Root Hub of that particular device, click on the Driver tab and disable driver. I did this and it worked for me like magic!

185. 08.02.09

     Daryl

     How easy was that, for a novice like me it is very frustrating when stuff does'nt work on my computer, so thank you very much, your on my best friend list now. Thank you again . Regards Daryl

186. 08.03.09

     morad

     you r the man

187. 08.05.09

     kaosteori

     thx man.It works flawlessly. I have Ubuntu and Win 7 on dual boot, and both went bananas because of this issue.I tend to put my laptop to sleep instead of turning it off completely, maybe that's the cause fo this problem.

188. 08.09.09

     Justin

     It works ossom, thanks dude

189. 08.12.09

     Kazandjol

     "Simply UNPLUG YOUR COMPUTER FROM THE POWER SUPPLY."

     MAGIC!!!

     THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!!!

     I have tried all possible and impossible solution with "running", blah, blah, blah… This is the perfection! Windows ))

190. 08.15.09

     krystlaspn

     Thanks a lot! I had this problem on my Laptop after my iPod crashed it. None of the usb ports worked after that and my BF spent a good part of the day uninstalling and reinstalling drivers, *#$%ing with settings etc. I can't believe this actually worked! I can't wait until he wakes up so I can tell him I fixed it all by myself

191. 08.17.09

     yawas

     "UNPLUG YOUR COMPUTER FROM THE POWER SUPPLY"

     i had stopped looking for a solution to this problem for a couple of months now. but then it come up to my mind to give it another try and search on the net and find a solution again. and i found this.

     NOW IT WORKS GREAT.

     THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!!!!!!!!!!!

192. 08.20.09

     Mr. Matt Grateful

     You sir, are my hero. Im fairly computer savvy, but this basic problem stumped me. My usb mouse worked in any port, however all my flash drives and external HDD did not, identical error message to yours. After doing everything possible on my own and working through the problem, then trying to research more online (only to find out i knew all that and none of it worked anyway!!) I stumbled upon your simple solution. Thanks so much. days of stress and complications and having random attempts at fixing it were solved in a minute as you suggested. You're awesome, i hope others appreciate it too!!

193. 08.24.09

     Rob Steen

     I was having this problem as well. I was getting the USB Device Not Recognized error when trying to plug in my HP Flash drive and my memory card reader. Oddly my MP3 Player would still work. I tried unplugging the computer and this did not work. This week I found the problem. I had to turn off my Epson printer. If anyone else has recently installed a printer, the kind that has ports for flash drives and memory cards, try turning off the power on your printer and see if that works. It did for me!

194. 08.25.09

     lauren

     I just had this problem on a laptop. I preformed a power reset. Corrected the error each time.

     powered off, removed the power cord, remove battery.
     Hold down the power button for 6 seconds.
     Replaced the power cord only and power on.

     Replace battery

195. 08.27.09

     Ghenti

     Can you please tell me any good places where I would be able to get my memory stick fixed and retrieve all the data. I live in NW2 London

196. 08.30.09

     Al

     Cheers to JohnnytheFox (reply 92)

     In my case, I'd bought a Kingston USB stick, to take my files from one computer to another. No problem in my home computer, as it was … but,on trying to plug into this older machine at college, … well, the body was just a bit to wide on the stick to allow COMPLETE insertion. SEEMED like it was fully in, but not so, on closer inspection. Hence not working. Teacher told us this was common, that students usb sticks would need an extension to work. Bought one, tried it on my home computer … message: 'USB device NOT recognised !'

     Read the solutions here .. unplugging power seemed too long winded /hit and miss for some, didn't try. Went into device manager (see reply 92), in MY case it was called 'Standard Enhanced PCI to USB Host Controller'. Well, instead of uninstalling as Johnny said to do, I simply chose 'disable', which means as long as I keep that tab open, I can re-enable it easily enough once I'm done. Anyway, 'hey presto' …I notice some pop up about my device running slower as a result (stick was already plugged in, but not working) … but that matters not, since I'm now in business … usb stick now seen !

     I expect the extension connector is USB 1.0, whereas the stick is USB 2.0 (incompatible?). Perhaps this solution is the way to go for some others here ?

     Good luck !

197. 08.30.09

     Shani

     thank you SO much… so simple I found your tip after of hours of frustration… you saved me an expensive trip to the PC doctor…. LOVE your work and thanks again for sharing your tip

198. 08.31.09

     Tank

     Works well, thanks!

199. 09.03.09

     Tom

     YOU ARE A LEGEND!!!!

     it was so simple! Thank you!!!!!!

200. 09.04.09

     Juan

     I tried to fix this problem disconnecting 1-5 minutes in several times, but it does not work; then i disconnect approximately 12 hours and WORKS!! SUPERB!!!

201. 09.06.09

     Bob

     Unplugging the PC did not work to establish my Palm TX sync, but posts #112 / #166 did. I really thought I had a bad cable.

     Thanks

202. 09.08.09

     David

     I must thank you! I have been reinstalling the device drivers and yet my mouse or other usb devices still did not work. Your fix was so simple! THANK YOU!!

203. 09.08.09

     danny

     I've been trying to sync my ipod now for about 2 months, now its finally working. its the most simple solution, i cant believe it worked.

     thanks for the tips, im truly grateful.

     THANK YOU

204. 09.11.09

     KP

     I'd like to join the chorus. Not all of my USB devices stopped working, but there were several. I did like others… researched. I couldn't believe that it could be this simple, but it is and it was for me. Kudos and thank you.

205. 09.13.09

     K

     Worked brilliantly, thanks!

206. 09.13.09

     double aey

     OMGG!!!!!!! THANK YOU SO MUCH

     NOW I CAN FINALLY FINISH MY SCHOOL HOMEWORK AND MY DAD CAN USE THE PRINTER AS WELL

207. 09.15.09

     john

     i can connect my cellphone before through usb to the computer but now nothing appears on the computer.. im pretty sure that my usb cable and cellphone are ok.. there a messege on my cellphone "USB mode: Data storage" but nothing appears on the computer.. what should be the problem? please help

208. 09.15.09

     Van Denny

     Thanks so much your simple solution worked perfectly for me! Now my USB device is recognized!

209. 09.19.09

     Duncan Martin

     Worked for me after spending 1 hour uninstalling etc. Great – thanks. We are all told that 'switching it on and off solves 90% of IT problems' but I certainly didn't think of turning the computer off at the supply. Thanks again.

210. 09.21.09

     DAVE THE NOVICE

     I was about to do something stupid to try and fix this but you saved me my friend, so simple but so good.

211. 09.23.09

     Nicole

     Wait, so this won't delete all my files on my computer or make my computer crash, and cause any problems to my computer?

212. 09.26.09

     chilibeanie

     Must add my thanks to this giant list of happy, relieved users. Spent all morning and much of the afternoon trying to get my wacom tablet to work. Just unplugged and removed my battery from my Sony Vaio for a few minutes — now back to normal. No other website offered this simple fix. Thanks!

213. 10.01.09

     Gibbs john

     Hi.. am using nokia 6233..while am connecting my phone to pc via data cable am getting the error message that usb cannot be recognized.. i tried the solution given here but its not wrking!!!!!! i have tried it a number of times…still the same issue..need a solution!

214. 10.01.09

     Nick

     i have struggled with this problem for a long time now and nothing has worked including this. do you have any more suggestions e.g. any patches? btw i use xp sp3

215. 10.03.09

     Raj

     i just loaded my ADSL driver and after this is started to show unknown device for everything like mobile, cam, flash drive. i hav tried the same thing… unplugging the computer but it did not worked in my case, i have also reinstalled xp, my all drivers are up to date, and i have tried all the method which are mentioned above, i don't know what to do now, any body plz help me………..i will be very thankful to you

216. 10.04.09

     dixan ms

     Hi

     This worked for me!!! I also removed battery in the process.

     Details of what computer I have and what I did before trying to sove the problem without success.

     I recently bought an HP Pavilion dv4-1465dx. Everything was OK until my daughter attached her MP4/MP3 player to one of the laptop USB ports, to get some songs copied to it.

     I previously was playing around with that device connected to the laptop without problems.

     Well, the error "usb device not recognized" started appearing after attaching any USB device (mouse, flash memory, etc) to one of the USB ports and none of the USB ports worked at all.

     I followed the procedure for USB restacking, detailed here, http://www.ntcompatible.com/Desperately_need_help… as follows

     ———

     Alternatively, removing all entries relating to USB in Device Manager and all associated USB drivers will force XP into refreshing the USB driver stack.

     Begin by unplugging all USB devices, then use Add/Remove Programs in Control Panel to uninstall any USB driver software. Next, boot up into safe mode and go to Device Manager. Once in device manager make sure 'Show hidden devices' is checked under the View menu. Uninstall all device entries in this order;

     1. USB peripheral devices (printers etc.)

     2. HID and/or Composite USB (Human Interface Devices) You're using PS/2 input devices so you may not have this entry.

     3. USB Root Hub(s)

     4. USB Host Controller(s) (Universal or Enhanced Host Controllers)

     Then boot back into Windows (not safe mode) and it should populate the Root Hubs & Host controllers again. Proceed to plug your USB devices back in, starting with your powered hub. Be aware that most USB printers and scanners need to have their drivers installed first before you plug them in.

     ———

     I also followed an HP procedure to get the computer at a previous state, where the laptop had made a check point, but the problem persisted.

     The problem was away after shutting down, removing power cable and battery, and starting again.

217. 10.06.09

     Ian

     Worked a treat! Thanks for saving me a lot of grief.

     Cheers Ian.

218. 10.07.09

     R.A. Lager

     Awesome! Thank you. You saved my night.

219. 10.10.09

     Robin Lozeau,Harlow,

     I spent 45 mins trying to solve this very problem (turned off PC, pulled out plugs, etc., etc.), but this method worked within 5 mins.
     Thank-you so much,
     Robin

220. 10.11.09

     jason meyer

     omg im stumped it actually worked i did not expect that!

     wel if your ever around nijmegen tell me i'll buy you a beer

221. 10.11.09

     MJAB

     Thanks man!! I tried and it did work!!!

222. 10.13.09

     bbbobbbo

     credit goes to the original poster, I can confirm too, after unplugging my laptop and removing the battery out of it, it all came back to normal and now all my USBs are listed nicely in the device manager, all errors gone.

     Oh, and this is for all those laptop users: unplug the laptop, take the battery out, and leave it AT LEAST 30 mins to 1 hour to do the trick, 5-10 mins is not enough in most cases – I left mine just a little over an hour, good luck

223. 10.14.09

     Peter14

     Worked for me too, many thanks!!!

224. 10.15.09

     Pralad

     i had already followed your solution about unplugging the computer, but still the USB not recognized problem is unsolved.

225. 10.16.09

     Mahesh Oberoi

     hey this solution workd for me…. i had spent more than 3 hours for this issue but after following ur steps, i was able to fix the issue in minutes… thank u so much… i avoided recovery which was my last option

226. 10.21.09

     stella

     tried this several times, and doesn’t work for me

     I have this Maxtor external hard disk which Ive plugged into another computer and it wasnt recognized either. and when i plug in another device on my laptop, other devices can work except for my Maxtor hard disk that is never being recognized.

     Help.. please :’(

227. 10.21.09

     Sherry

     After a week of trying to figure it out this solved the problem straight away! Thank you very much!

228. 10.24.09

     LD

     This works and solved my problems. I had tried all the above mentioned procedures to uninstall the usb drivers and reboot but none of that worked. Thanks for the post.

     LD

229. 10.25.09

     KenI

     UNBELIEVABLE. I literally spent an entire Sunday reading and trying everything available to correct my unrecognized divice issue for my Garmin GPS. In the process, I even started getting unrecognized USB device on my Canon scanner. I also didn't believe the solution could be as simple as unplugging my PC. But it WORKED. Thank you!! Sure wish I'd seen your suggestion sooner.

230. 10.27.09

     Julian

     I was so skeptical but it did actually work, thank you so much! I had done everything you tried before (system back up, deleted the USB drivers, uninstalled drivers, restarted my computer) and this simple trick worked. I googled everywhere and there was so much rubbish advice, but THIS WORKED. AMAZING, THANK YOU!!!!

231. 10.28.09

     Faith

     Shocked!! Did not expect it to work, but it did. Such a simple fix. My daughter will be thrilled to have her computer working right again. Thank you, Thank you, Thank you!!!!!!!!

232. 10.29.09

     Romek

     Thanks so much for your help. It really works. Just unplug and plug it back again. One more time thanks.

233. 10.29.09

     Chenghui

     Oh, you are god! It works!

234. 10.30.09

     cory blazer

     I just have to thank you for this fix. I had tried everthing just as you did and was about to take my computer in for service.

     Great job.

235. 10.30.09

     Jim

     Thank You! I am a novice and cannot begin to describe the frustration of trying to fix this problem. I have spent hours going through all the prescribed suggestions by the on-line support techs and attempting a system restore, all with no luck. Thank goodness for Google and your "kiss" advise. It worked the first time. For those with laptops, I would suggest removing the battery as well. Thank you again. My hair should be growing back shortly .

236. 10.30.09

     Greg

     A client gave me their PC saying it was broken. I plugged it in the wall and it worked as you said.

     Yay, thanks for this post

237. 10.31.09

     Mw

     Gosh… an hour& and half of fiddling around… one simple solution fixed all. You are my Guru!!! Thank you SOo Much!!

238. 11.01.09

     HF

     wow, initially i doubted that it would work, but it actually did! what a simple, elegant solution. thanks alot!

239. 11.04.09

     Aries

     So simple but very effective!!! I've been installing and uninstalling everything from the drivers to windows itself until I've read your post.

     Thanks so much, It worked perfectly

240. 11.04.09

     OT & JR

     First internet computer advice that actually worked.

     Thank you.

241. 11.04.09

     hfrmobile

     Nice idea but didn't work for me (similar problem).

     USB is working for keyboard, mouse, smartcard reader etc. but does not work for "MDA Compact IV" … (it already worked and I established a ActiveSync (WMDC) partnership but then it stopped working) – older devices like "MDA Compact III" worked …

     Windows 7 Enterprise (64bit)
     IE8
     Windows Mobile 6.1

     Really annoying that I am not able to sync the My Documents folder at the moment ….

242. 11.05.09

     hfrmobile

     Solution (for me) was very simple: The USB cable had a defect (sometime it worked sometime/often not). Replaced with a new USB cable and now it works fine!

243. 11.05.09

     Josh

     GENIUS !

     Thank you so much. My external HDD had this problem, and i thought i'd lost all my data (1000's of pics and 100000's mp3s!)

     Worked first time.

244. 11.07.09

     George

     Did this (the unplugging power cord) and it fixed the problem.

     Brilliant tip, thanks a million!

245. 11.07.09

     Mike D

     I could've wrote this post, exact same problem, tried updating BIOS, drivers, everything, nothing worked. It crossed my mind to kill total power after re-installing the BIOS, but didn't, should have b/c that was the problem. Finally did pull the power cord out after a shut down, waited a few minutes, started it all back up, and, "Wallah!" the USBs are alive again!

246. 11.07.09

     rich m

     Thank you very much for this effective solution. It saved a tremendous amount of time. I was getting ready to find a technician to help. Thank you!

247. 11.07.09

     ashley

     amazing! thank you so much…. my printer wasnt working and i needed to print some papers for homework. It said it wasnt recognized and i did this…..It worked!!!

248. 11.07.09

     Theresa

     OMG!!!!! Thank you !!! I was dreading the thought of having to take the laptop to be repaired. I did what you said, and YAY!!! it works !!!! I'm very happy !!!!

249. 11.10.09

     Shawn

     I can't believe how easy that was! Worked perfectly! Thanks for ending weeks of confusion.

250. 11.11.09

     Betru Yemane

     I tried to fix my Toshiba Laptop using the above method. Still my three USB ports do not accept any drive.More than a month. Please who can help me to fix the problem.

251. 11.11.09

     Sue

     Couldn't believe this would work but it did- incredible! I'd wasted many hours doing all sorts of fixes – I knew the device and cable worked as I'd tried it on another PC so it had to be my PC and this was so simple!! Thankyou

252. 11.12.09

     Poonam

     Thanks, this tip worked like magic… walla and problem solved!

253. 11.12.09

     mgsipa@gmail

     Surprisingly this worked perfectly well for me on a Toshiba Satellite. Thanks!!

254. 11.14.09

     Jack

     Hi,

     for those cases when un-plugging the cord doesn't help:

     As Kallulu said, try disabling the corresponding USB Root Hub in Device manager (you'll see your "Unknown USB device" under Properties > Power tab). This alone might get your device successfully installed but probably only in USB 1.1 (slower) mode, resulting in "This device can perform faster" msg. So NOW restart, unplug, boot and than try re-enable the USB Root Hub a

255. 11.14.09

     Ramson

     Awsome Dude! Tried it for about 2 mins, but didnt wrk. Then tried for about half hour. Poof! The message is gone! Great man!

256. 11.15.09

     ERICK

     Thanks, this tip worked like magic… walla and problem solved!

257. 11.16.09

     Mel

     Ive been having a problem with my USB for a while now. Whenever i plugged a USB in my whole computer would freeze, and have to be restarted to work again. However, recently my house has been painted, and my computer has been unplugged. since ive connected it again the USB ports seem to be working fine, but now i have this problem.

258. 11.19.09

     Cyril/Finland

     OMG! This really works for me. Using VERY old Acer with 512 memory and 40GB hard. Thanks man!!!

259. 11.20.09

     kengjung2528

     1. Click Start. Click Run. Type cmd and press OK.

     2. Type “set DEVMGR_SHOW_DETAILS=1″ (without quotation marks) and press Enter.

     3. Type “set DEVMGR_SHOW_NONPRESENT_DEVICES=1″ (without quotation marks) and Press Enter.

     4. Type “start devmgmt.msc” (without quotation marks) and click press Enter.

     5. Click View. Click Show hidden devices.

     6. Click “+” to expand Imaging devices, Unknown devices and USB devices.

     7. Are there any USB devices and unknown devices (including grayed out devices)? If so, please right-click it and click Uninstall.

260. 11.21.09

     makkandy

     Everyone is saying this method works but it doesnt work for me. I'm using an advent laptop with windows vista and everytime i put in my usb it always says the same thing. usb device not recognized. I have tried takin the battery out and leaving and putting it back in but it doesnt work. i have also trie using different PC's and laptopts but none of them recognized it. pls tell me if there is any other solution apart from unplugging everything!

261. 11.22.09

     Tony

     I updated to Windows 7 and thought that the USB not working problem to be related. However, I will say that the ports worked after upgrade but when I plugged in my ipod the ports all stopped reading devices. THIS is a GREAT FIX and it worked!

262. 11.24.09

     Jeff

     So I found this solution myself, but the problem reoccurs every 10 hours with a USB mouse connected. WHY DOES THE PROBLEM REOCCUR? It is a pain to have to shut down the computer pull and unplug each time it occurs. Seems like there is a defect in software or hardware, WHICH?

     This is occurring on a brand new DELL Inspirion. Customer support says to send it back, but is this a MICROSOFT PROBLEM or a DESIGN- problem with the HARDWARE?

263. 11.25.09

     oklahbah

     What a waste of time! I followed all solutions posted but it would not work! At last i changed the cable and @#$$%%^&…it worked! oh dear…this really drove me crazy la!

264. 11.25.09

     Jørgen

     Worked like a charm! Thanks! All USB devices now recognized!

265. 11.25.09

     boris

     OMG, thank you so very much! Never thought this would work, but i've been wrong before! All USB ports working fine…

266. 11.25.09

     Vikas Jethani

     Hi,

     Your solution worked wonders. It was AWESOME. In some cases it may not work. Why? Bcoz simply plugging out the power supply wont do. Thus once the power supply is cut off, press and hold the power button on the comp for about 10 seconds. This releases all the static current that might be stored in capacitors on the motherboard, that keep the motherboard charged. This will solve the issue.

     Regards
     Vikas

267. 11.26.09

     lynne

     OMG….can't believe it was this easy! I was about to toss my laptop out the window. Thanks so much!

268. 11.27.09

     Knox

     *** THIS TIP DIDNT'T HELP ME ***

     powering the laptop off and removing the battery didn't help. removing all usb devices in device manager didn't help. installing the latest intel chipset drivers didn't help.

     *** WHAT DID HELP : UPGRADING BIOS ***

269. 11.28.09

     Shantell

     What the heck!! I've been dealing with this issue for 2 days now and did this and whadduyaknow, it works!! Thank you!

270. 11.28.09

     Knox

     *** UPDATE ***

     updating bios wasn't enough. after half an hour the problem started again. I switched to linux for a day (ubuntu never had a usb problem), and I am now running XP for 8 hours without usb-problems.

     *** UPDATE ***

271. 11.29.09

     Derek

     For those that still have the problem, I have figured it out. The usb problem is caused by the external power pack. Updating the BIOS doesn't fix problem. It's not the OS because the problem can be duplicated in a dos environment.

     That's why running on battery works. All my USB devices worked except my external USB2.0 Hard Drive. Problem started when I bought a cheap replacement powerpack and it was causing the problem. Booting up using battery worked until I plugged in the cheap Power Pack.

     Immediately a Window pop up would say device is capable of running faster on a USB2.0 port. In device manager I could see my HD device literally switch from enhanced controller to basic usb controller. The pop up message is the key…every time I plug in the cheap power pack the system detects my device is capable of 2.0. How does it know this..I don't know if it's a voltage level that's detected or not because I just fixed my pc.

     If I unplug the cheap power pack and plug in my original laptop power pack I don't get that pop up message and my HD automatically moves back to the enhanced controller and everything is fine. I checked the voltage on cheap power pack without a load and it read 19.5v which is normal for a power pack rated at 19v / 4.74amp output. My Compaq laptop specs say I need 18.5v /4.75amp. The cheap 19v power pack normally should be ok. I notice that the cheap pk gets real hot and my good pk doesn't.

     If I find a way to put a 4 amp load on the cheap pk I may be able to see why ehci controller has a problem. I'll put my scope on it. The reason I bought a replacement powerpack in the first place was because I had static on my external USB audio device. My scope showed I have noise spikes emitting from my good pk and replacing it with the cheap pack fixed the noise problem. By the way it was my second power pack replacement. The first one I got only lasted a week and they sent me a replacement.

     The cheap packs are cheap and get real hot. If running on battery doesn't work you probably will have to reset your mb escd or cmos. CMOS can get corrupted during thunder storms and need to be reset sometimes. The motherboard handles interrupts and remembers devices even after they are gone.

272. 11.30.09

     portia

     Thanks so much. Was almost desperate. It worked like magic.

273. 11.30.09

     Shaka

     Hey thanks. I did not think it was that simple but it works. My USB ports are recognizing my devices!

274. 12.01.09

     zEke

     it didnt work on my desktop. i've already tried unplugging the power supply and waiting it for almost 30mins. Can someone help me on this problem?

275. 12.02.09

     donzter

     OH MY GOD !!!!!!!!! Thank you sooooo much, this totally worked perfect on my old compaq w/windows XP. I have been fighting with this for two weeks so I could just charge my MP3 player. I downloaded tons of crap that did not work and gobbled up memory. I'll be fixing that next! Thanks a

276. 12.02.09

     swapnil

     This is a very different solution to the USB device not recognized error than other sites, but I will give it a shot!

277. 12.04.09

     Randy

     Thank you it worked now we can get our customers files. We actually unplugged the PC, unplugged the drive, rebooted, waited, then pluged in our external usb to the power, then plugged the usb into the usb port on the PC. waited. and now it works. No more USB Device not Recognized errors.

     Thanks again.

278. 12.05.09

     Frank

     I tried the unplug theory and it did not work. What did work was simply un-plugging my external HD from a USB. The error message was received when I plugged in my iPod while the external HD was plugged in. So what I mean is that there were 2 items plugged in at the same time. I simply un-plugged the USB from my external HD and my computer,the computer recognized my iPod.

     It may be a USB over-load problem. I have a total of 8 USB in-puts on my computer and only 2 are free but having them all occupied at the same time seemed to be the problem. I only plug in my iPod to update songs and I think it became too much.Now when I plug in my iPod I simply disconnect and external HD or my printer and it works fine.

279. 12.06.09

     Daniel

     Seriously man, you just saved my life, and my job. I've been working on this problem for a while now, and you seriously just saved it all with the simplest solution ever.

     I wish I knew your paypal account, cuz I would seriously throw you AT LEAST twenty bucks for this. Seriously. As a digital DJ with audio interface and two MIDI controllers that are USB powered, I would have lost everything.

     I love you. Seriously. I want your babies.

280. 12.07.09

     Jeff

     The problem is the USB device. In my case, a cheap mouse brought the USB driver down every few hours. Once down the problem cannot be corrected without pulling the power on the computer with it off. This masks other USB devices as having the same problem when they don't.

     Hence, my suggestion is to look for bad OEM equipment that you have attached to your computer as the True cause. Substitute and see if the problem still occurs.

281. 12.08.09

     sat

     I'm still getting the "USB device not recognized" error! pls reply with another method to solve my problem.

282. 12.08.09

     kl

     same problems after unplugging the power cords…etc….then it works, but dies aon again, same message shown….USB Device not Recognized…really driving me nuts. HELP ANYONE?

283. 12.08.09

     Chris

     I've been running my PC for 6 years and never had this USB problem. What a headache! All my peripherals, printers, etc refused to be accepted by my PC. Spent hours doing the usual stuff. Then I check this site, took your advice, turned off my PC and all USB was back up and running as before an hour later. God knows why I never had this problem before over 6 years but so many thanks, saved me a fortune.

     Chris

284. 12.08.09

     Jeff

     I think Frank's idea is getting to the right cause. In my case a cheap mouse may have had current spikes.

     The newer Windows operating system cannot reset the problem when the device is disconnected! This makes no sense whatsoever. Windows Vista and Windows 7 should be repaired.

     Sat, you should definitely not be getting the message if you don't have any USB devices connected after unplug and power up.

285. 12.09.09

     George

     I spent 3 days on this problem. Your solution worked the first time! My next fix will be to replace Vista with XP!

     Never saw an OS that made so many things harder. Bling is not the thing!

     Thanks Again

286. 12.09.09

     Shiva

     I tried the simple formula you provided, but it didn't work for me. I have Dell Inspiron, with Windows Vist Home edition and still get the "USB device not recognized" error. Help!

287. 12.09.09

     Tatjana

     Thanks, for help I tried to reinstall usb controller, turn off and on usb in BIOS, clean registry of usb entries, and finaly "UNPLUG COMPUTER FROM THE POWER SUPPLY". It works

288. 12.10.09

     Dakota

     I want to say to john the first commenter, I have it and it doesn't work for me either, but i later read that windows vista is having this problem and many methods for fixing USB Device not recognized, including this one dont work if you have vista!

289. 12.10.09

     Wow!

     ….unpluging worked great, thanks.

290. 12.11.09

     AL

     Thank you, thank you, thank you so much for the tip! I breathed such a huge sigh of relief when the USB ports worked…who knew the fix could be that simple?

291. 12.11.09

     Denise

     I could seriously kiss you right now! Thank you so much! USB device not recognized error killed!

292. 12.12.09

     marlene

     Thanks so much. I had rebooted several times & it didn't work. You're right, unplugging it from the wall was the solution and now my mouse is working perfectly. Weird!!

293. 12.12.09

     Phil

     Incredible! My operating system is XP and your solution worked like a charm. I'd spent hours trying other more comples fixes without luck.

294. 12.12.09

     hojo

     I fixed my problem by replacing the motherboard and usb mouse.

295. 12.12.09

     Vladek(LT)

     Thank you very much !!! I even wanted to buy a new USB ports

296. 12.12.09

     Charlie

     Thanks for this great solution. It worked perfectly. Windows 7 suddenly stopped recognizing my external Iomega hard drive today. I spend hours trying to find a solution, including having to download 88MB from Windows Updates, and this still did not solve the problem. Thanks to Google and You my problem was solved in a minute. Windows 7 is still far from perfect!

297. 12.13.09

     Jeff

     Hojo just needed to replace mouse. Cheap USB attachments can overload power on USB ports. Pitiful Microsoft operating systems Vista and Windows 7 cannot recover without unplugging.

     I did not have this problem with XP. Overall Microsoft sucks.

298. 12.13.09

     Paul in London

     After downloading update software for my LG phone I found that my USB ports stop working.

     Worked for two hours trying the usual fixes from Microsoft and other tech forums and got precisely nowhere.

     Found this website with this very simple fix, which I though was too good to be true, pulled out the mains plug and 5 minuets later all USB ports working again.

     You deserve a medal for this advice, thank you for saving my sanity

299. 12.14.09

     marcus

     Frustrated beyond belief. Found this post and now I am soooo happy. Always check this site for solutions. Thank you so much for helping those who are not technically savvy.

300. 12.15.09

     Radu

     Hello, everybody. I don't know if someone of you still read this topic, but I'm kind disperate about this usb problem.

     Case:

     1 month ago I bought an usb external hdd wd 1 TB, external power. I have W2k sp4 with all win updates, usb 1.0. Everything was ok, pc recognized hdd 931 Gb, ntfs formatted on other wxp pc.

     It worked around 2 weeks with no problem, write around 800 Gb and all was ok. Suddenly, it became not recognized, and after that when i plug in just the led is lighting on, switching few times on and off after that – silence. No device, no message, nothing new in device manager, no sign. On other pcs (wxp with usb 2.0 – it's working without problems)

     I tried to connect hdd on a new installed xp – but usb 1.0 – still not working. I tried to uninstall usb drivers and update from internet, w2k kit – nothing. I bought a new pci to usb 2.0 device and still the hdd-usb device not working. I put some back-up 2 years ago – still nothing. Please, someone has an idea how can I solve this issue?

     Thanks,Radu

301. 12.15.09

     W.H.MOK

     I tried this solution and it works, but now when I transfer files to my USB device, it is slower than before. Any ideas?

302. 12.15.09

     Matt

     Thanks so much. We were getting this message coming up over and over aI'm not bad when it comes to solving problems within Windows and tried everything else, then just powered down, unplugged the laptop, waited for 5 mins, turned it back on again and my mouse etc were recognised again and the pop-up disappeared!

     Genius.

303. 12.15.09

     Tom @ Hungary

     Wow! Lifesaver (I'm programming mobile devices)! Thank you!!

304. 12.15.09

     Zane

     This fixed my wife's problem immediately, it was the exact same problem as described and the simple solution worked – thank you so much : )

305. 12.16.09

     Josh

     So first turn off your computer using Shut Down or pressing the power button and then UNPLUG it from the wall outlet. Let it sit for about a minute and then plug it back in.

     A simple description like that, and I'm not that good with computers. Saves my life. AWESOME.

     Thank you.

306. 12.16.09

     Neal Alen

     Its funny because I stumbled on that bandaide in trying to deal with the various USB ports going out and then the whole system as started to freeze.

     I never had this on the exact same set-up with XP. There has got to be an underlying cause that is Windows 7 related. That is what I would really like to know as I have not had this kind of computer instablility in years!

     Thanks for your ideas!

     Neal

307. 12.16.09

     Frans

     Worked like a charm!!! Just disconnected the power and after that my usb worked again!

     thnx a lot for this solution

308. 12.17.09

     claudette

     thank you very much………………4 usb ports died,

     your method brought them back to life!! thank you again.

309. 12.17.09

     Ashraf

     OMG!! It works like a dream!! THANKS!! You're a life saver!! Thank you very MUCH!

310. 12.18.09

     RainDog

     Works! All USB ports are now recognized and working fine. Thanks!

311. 12.18.09

     Christy

     I went through 2 mice and about two hourse following all of the different methods and nothing worked..until I found this solution! It worked!!!!!!! Thanks so very much.

312. 12.19.09

     Abhiram

     Worked like a charm…. no more USB device not recognized…

     Thanks a ton

313. 12.19.09

     Jojo

     I've tried everything from uninstalling driver, downloading Microsoft mouse, to installing hp software and almost updating BIOS. They all did not help. But after following your suggestion, it works! thank you very much.

314. 12.19.09

     Katrina

     YOU ARE TOTALLY AWESOME!! IT REALLY WORKS!

315. 12.19.09

     perl

     dude! you are the man{ or woman?) really thanks for the post I was just about ready to format my pc i tried everything ! thanks a million

316. 12.20.09

     Gokay Sursal

     What else can I say simple is smart and beautiful. I was so lucky to see your article as the second hit on the list. So lucky that I saved so much of my time going into various sites. I will be back. Thank you so much.

317. 12.20.09

     leanne

     Can I just say a super huge thank you for this! How simple (and embarassing that I didn't think that just pulling out the power lead would sort anything)! It's been driving me crazy all day and all sort of complicated solutions were offered, none of which worked, and some were so far beyone me i thought i was doomed to listed to the beep-beep forever.

     Thank you!

318. 12.20.09

     rajender

     Sir,

     Whenever I connect my pen drive to the computer, the computer says "USB device not recognized". I have tried your solution, but it did not work. Please tell me what I need to do to fix this.

319. 12.22.09

     Savta Simcha

     I also want to add my thanks to the long list of people helped by this troubleshooting tip. I'm a newly graduated techie and I'll have to pass it along to all my classmates (and the instructor)! Thanks a lot.

320. 12.22.09

     mary ellen

     It worked! Thanks for the advice!

321. 12.22.09

     Sidónio

     I also got that problem today,and I was already planning to restore Vista. Thank god I red this post before doing it. I have unplugged my laptop from electrical supply for the suggested time then plug it again. Now it's working perfect. Thanks for the tip.

322. 12.24.09

     mjem

     This solution involves an attempt to remove old/unused USB device drivers that may be inadverdently causing conflicts with devices currently plugged in. It's basically an extreme version of the 'uninstall usb hubs in device manager' method. Download the following programs:

     http://www.nirsoft.net/utils/usb_devices_view.htm… http://www.nirsoft.net/utils/device_manager_view….

     Run USBDeview and go into the Options menu and check the first three "Display" options. Next, shift click everything on the list, and uninstall via the File menu. Vista/Win 7 should autodetect and reinstall any drivers for USB devices plugged in automatically. If you're on XP you may need to reboot.

     If that doesn't work, try DevManView and sort by the "Connected" column – ignore anything that says Yes in that column. Only uninstall USB related devices that are "No" in the "Connected" column. Do NOT uninstall any devices like interrupt controllers, ACPI devices, motherboard resources, or 'system' anything, or you will ruin your windows install.

323. 12.25.09

     Equinox

     Wow, I'm totally stunned, all of my USB ports stopped recognizing my optical mouse. Everything else worked fine and the mouse itself worked fine on another computer. After reinstalling drivers and uninstalling the USB Controllers and Hubs, I finally isolated the problem to the motherboard. I tried reinstalling those drivers to no avail. I didn't know you could reset it by cutting off the power supply! Shut down my Vaio laptop, pulled out the battery for 10 seconds, popped it back in, restarted, and everything works again! Thank you so much!!! I spent 2 hours trying to figure out a solution!

324. 12.25.09

     dana

     hi there, you are a genius! this worked a treat after I uninstalled all the USB drivers about 10 times with no success. many thanks for sharing this solution with everyone else.

325. 12.25.09

     applex9876

     My problem was with Elerror whenever i plugged into my Imac running bootcamp. I tried %#@*ing EVERYTHING with no luck. Out of frustration, i almost threw my usb tv tuner away! Decided to give it a last try, disabling my bluetooth Apple keyboard and mouse and plugged in again. It works! No more USB device not recognized error! So apparently some usb devices like Elgato hybrid usb tv tuner does consume lots of energy, just like my bluetooth devices.

326. 12.26.09

     John

     Has anyone tried a Ethernet to USB adapter for a temporary fix? They sell them on Ebay for .99. It looks like if all the fixes don't work it's probably your motherboard.

327. 12.26.09

     Jonathan

     Thank you so much! I've been getting the error messages for several weeks now but ignored it because my flashdrive still worked. I got a printer for christmas and it didn't work, so I followed your recommendations by shuting down my toshiba laptop and pulled out the battery. It works fine now! Thank you so much!

328. 12.27.09

     Johnni

     Well done. After I got another motherboard it did it again. Now I saw your tip and averything works now. A big thanks from Denmark.

329. 12.27.09

     Leo

     Thanks. First time I've seen that error message and your solution worked for me.

330. 12.29.09

     mark

     Thank you so much for the clear illustrated answer to such an irratating silly problem

331. 12.29.09

     Calvin Coley

     Listen my friend. I had just about thrown my laptop across the room in anger, when my GIRLFRIEND who is absolutely NOT computer savvy, found the answer on 'Ask.com' a site I normally would avoid like the plague. But your solution, as easy as it was, worked. I applaud you. If you don't work in the IT Solutions industry you should. I'd like to hire you for MY department!!!

332. 12.29.09

     Faris

     Unbelievable results. Many thanks to you. i have tried evrey thing including restoring the whole vaio system but it did not work. then i came across your advice and it worked like magic.

     Many thanks again and you saveed me a lot. happy new year

333. 12.30.09

     Wayne Sexton

     Thank you very much for this quick and easy solution!

334. 12.31.09

     Neverbalnost

     Thanks a lot! You saved my new year night! Owing to you my web-cam is working again!

335. 12.31.09

     mihai

     Hello,

     I had this problem today on my hp laptop with windows 7. I tried all the things i thought worth trying and they did not work. Basically, all my usb ports weren't working. Then, I found your site and I tried your advice, I've shut down the laptop, plugged it off and removed the battery and when I started it up, all the usb ports worked !!!

     Thank you for sharing with the community your experience and your adivce.

     I wish you a Happy New Year
     Myke.

336. 01.01.10

     ayfer

     USB Device Not Recognized, always is showing in my laptop, can you tell me what is the problem??? because I tried your solution, but it did not work. Please help.

337. 01.01.10

     YB

     Sir, you are a top of the line tech, such a simple fix but a life saver, nobody else considered this action to fix USB problems. Thanks a lot!

338. 01.01.10

     MetzLyov

     Very simple fix… thank you very much for the suggestion… My HP notebook started acting up with this problem an hour ago… I found this post and followed it properly. I turned the machine off, unplugged the power supply and the removed the battery… and turned everything on few minutes later… and it works!

     Again, thank you for all the participants and their suggestions.

339. 01.01.10

     Sam

     Thanks for the article. I reinstalled windows, tried system restore, hours or reinstalling s/w but nothing worked till I red your fix. Sure was a live saver!

340. 01.02.10

     jeff randel sasot

     when i encountered this problem, i tried to reset the cmos on my mother board. but did not work, and i even reformated my pc, but still did not work, when i tried your solution to the problem, it worked!!!! thanks men. some times, simple things can cure the big problem,very simple,but yet a very good solution. thanks again. happy new year.

341. 01.03.10

     K Orlando

     Thanks for your tip. I had buit a new computer desk so I had to turn off and disconnect my PC and related h/w. When I was finished setting everything up, the printer didnt work. I tried all the driver-related methods and they didnt work, as many posters have said. I did try your method, and while it didnt fix the problem at first, it tipped me off to unplugging the PC AND unplugging the printer – the actual USB device not being recognized. That did the trick. Thanks again! Saved me lots of time!

342. 01.03.10

     Adamq

     Can't believe how simple that fix was, I was up in arms this morning when I plugged my mobile phone into my laptop running windows 7 and all my USB's went to pot!

     I unplugged my power cable first, then did a standard shutdown, unplugged my battery, waited a few minutes, put back in with the battery and power lead then turned it on. It had to install all my stuff again, portable hard drive mouse etc , but all's well.

     Thanks a lot!

343. 01.03.10

     Chris

     Just wanted to say… I love you Thank you for this tip! I was ready to throw my laptop out the window

344. 01.03.10

     HappyCamper

     Amazing tip!! It works. Thanks for saving me HOURS of time trying to figure this out and saved me $'s. Thanks for taking the time to help all of us!!

345. 01.04.10

     Marietta

     Man did I get lucky, like everyone else I was ready to jump in with both feet and start tearing things apart but saw your post and it fixed it!!! Thank you (tears welling in my eyes as I speak.) For what it's worth I had just plugged in my camera and may have unplugged it without shutting it down first like one post suggested. Just HAPPY it worked and so simple hoda thunk it.

346. 01.04.10

     JoAnna

     I too was having the problem of USB's not being recognized..thinking I was going to have to format my computer to get whatever nasty bug was in there off, I decided to google the problem. Yours was the first one on the list…Skeptical I tried your solution and IT WORKED!!! I was so excited…THANK YOU!!!

347. 01.04.10

     Jason

     This worked for me to I tried it 3 times without results I have a windows vista gateway 2007 computer (laptop) it kept giving me the same errors over and over as above (device not recognized) but, the trick for me was to unistall all USB drivers then disconnect ALL power sources including the battery. Then I left off for about 5 min then I put only the main power cord to my laptop in computer left battery off and turned the computer on and wha la…it fixed my USB not recognized error and im in good shape now!!!

348. 01.06.10

     Allie

     Thank youuu so much . I had this for three days and it was getting on my nerves . And for a minute I thought I had a virus . But I saw this and it WORKED ! Thank youuuuuu ! (:

349. 01.06.10

     Geoff

     You, sir, are a genius. Thank you thank you thank you! USB ports are working again!

350. 01.07.10

     MMM

     I just had this same problem on a notebook PC that is less than 3 weeks old. I was dreading troubleshooting this problem and calling tech support. When I found this web page during a quick Google search, I figured this is too easy, I might as well try it before I try anything else. It worked like a charm and I'm back in business.

351. 01.07.10

     riggers

     I have had the same error 2 or 3 times which on my computer means what it says! USB not recognized, malfuntioned= MOUSE NOT WORKING!! Has every1 else had the same problem, trying to troubleshoot just with your keyboard? Nightmare! I feel silly now because every time it fixed itself was when I had given up on it and unplugged it, Anyway thanks for the fantastic tip which worked straight away 2nite!

352. 01.07.10

     Emma

     THANKYOU!

     I have had this problem before with my external hard drive and had tried all the solutions you originally tried to no avail. The situation was only resolved when I had to purchase a new computer after a theft.

     I just tried your solution and it worked. I also disconnected the battery.

     Thank you again for taking the time to post this solution.

353. 01.09.10

     jp oso

     do you mean only usb ports??? what about my usb(flash drive)? when i insert my other flashdrive on the usb ports, its working fine.. but when i tried the other one, it says "windows does not recognize it.".. need help

354. 01.10.10

     A little old man

     I daren't look. I tried it and now an external hard drive that 'disappeared' and one that was starting to disappear both seem to be working athanks for posting. Even if it doesn't work for me it makes a big difference when people try to help by posting solutions that might work without destroying the registry or opening upo the pc to malicious attack or some such. Thx

355. 01.10.10

     Dennis

     I plugged my phone (LG env3) into my computer (Dell Inspiron 1545) using the phone's USB cable, and suddenly my computer kept throwing the dreaded "USB device not recognized" message. I'd previously had my phone connected without any problems, so I'm not sure what happened this time to cause the problem. My USB cordless mouse also stopped working at the same time, so apparently all my USB ports were hosed. I first shut down the computer then turned it back on, but the issue persisted.

     I turned to my favorite troubleshooting tool, Google, and came across this page first. After reading the simple (seemingly too simple) solution, I shut down my computer, removed the battery, then waited for a couple of minutes. Inserted the battery, plugged the AC adapter back in, booted it up, and voila! The USB error was gone and my devices now work again. Thanks!

356. 01.10.10

     Morris

     Thank you, you're the best! This instantly fixed my USB not recognized problem!

357. 01.11.10

     Surgio

     THIS IS A BAD BAD BAD… BAD JOKE!

     IT WORKED -

     I just reloaded the whole computer…. and this worked?

     Man, wow…

358. 01.12.10

     Andrej

     This worked for my HP laptop, saved me so much trouble, thank you!

359. 01.12.10

     victor

     WOW…….YOU ARE THE MAN……….WORKED FOR MY P.O.S. HP DESKTOP

360. 01.13.10

     Laze

     Great job MAN! It worked for my sony vaio. THANK U VERY VERY MUCH!!

361. 01.14.10

     davebremmen

     Worked for me! Unplugged my laptop, removed the battery, then pressed the power button a few times to dissipate any energy.

     I put the battery back in, plugged in the power cord, turned everything on, and it works great.

     Thank you.

362. 01.16.10

     noah

     thx my laptop has had this USB device problem for 2 years and now that i found your site it works great it even made my laptop faster because those pesky popups thx

363. 01.17.10

     bright

     i have being using my pen-drive for months now.i plug it into my computer one day,only to report that "usb device not recognized"i have tried many time,plugging and unplugging,but it still dont work.please what do i do.

     Thank you.

364. 01.17.10

     Guest>Curry

     I shutdown my laptop and unplugged it waited about 20 seconds then started it on only batter power after it was booted and logged in i then plugged it back to the wall charger and it works just fine. i did have to unplug my Iphone charger and my optical mouse so that it could reinstall the drivers that i had uninstalled from trying to fix it other peoples ways. but my keyboard works fine now along with my other accessories, thank you very much for this awesomely simple fix. =D

365. 01.18.10

     Jason

     You are an ABSOLUTE LEGEND! THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!

366. 01.18.10

     Paul

     Had a HP Laptop hooked up to docking station and this worked like a charm. This was unreal that this fixed what was a very annoying issue. Cannot thank you enough.

367. 01.18.10

     Peter Hudec

     Took me two days trying to solve the USB problem until I came across your suggestion. It worked! Thanks much.

368. 01.18.10

     RoN

     Works like a charm, well done. No more USB problems!

369. 01.19.10

     Chris

     Thank you very much for this tip which worked axactly as you have written! You are a life saver!! For what it is worth, I have a feeling the problem was caused when I unplugged a USB hard drive while the laptop was part way through entering sleep mode.

370. 01.19.10

     Kristen

     This same problem was happening on my daughters laptop….Windows Vista. She charges her ipod through the usbs. She also uses the Verizon usb 720 modem. When we turned on her laptop this evening we started getting the error "usb device not recognized". So I started to search the net for fixes and started writing them down.

     This is the fourth site I looked at after a google search. At first, I though ya right! It cannot be that easy to fix. But I decided the easiest option is best to start with.

     So…. we turned off the laptop using shut down. We unplugged the power cord from the wall and from the laptop. Then we removed the battery and found something else to do for about 15 minutes.

     FIXED!! We inserted the battery back into the laptop, plugged the power supply back into the laptop and then into the wall and rebooted the laptop. Once the laptop was finished booting up, we plugged the ipod in and it started charging and then we pluuged in the usb modem and now that is working as well.

     Thank you. You saved me money and a hue headache.

371. 01.19.10

     Fil

     Thanks for that. Worked perfectly. My USB devices are all working well.

372. 01.21.10

     Syoum

     Thanks dude, You are the man! It was simple and effective!

373. 01.21.10

     Aaron

     Another happy reader.

     My daughter tried to plug in our camera to download photos of her school project, and we got that dam message. Yesterday was OK, today it's broken. So google for fixes, yours is the 12th listed, fourth I looked at, first I actually tried. And it worked just as you predicted.

     Why can't the support pages for USB products include this as first step. Sony, Canon, Epson, etc are apparently dumb. But you're a genius. And, incidentally, my computer was unplugged yesterday because I had to plug in another one to get some old files. So this fault happens sometimes even on systems that haven't been plugged in continuously. But the fix is the same.

374. 01.21.10

     biju

     great:) worked like a charm:) thanks for this tip.

375. 01.22.10

     Luis

     Great fix, had the same USB device not recognized issue, worked like a charm. Thanks.

376. 01.22.10

     josh

     THANK YOU!!! I've been having this problem for ages. Thanks again!

377. 01.22.10

     Rich

     Awesome. Your suggestion fixed my USB device problem. Thanks.

378. 01.23.10

     Shebey Thomas (Kuwai

     Thanks for the hint really we were strugling installing drivers and trying system restore, but your small trick has done wonders Thanks for the help posted on web.

     Regards,

     shebey

379. 01.23.10

     Jay

     When I saw this solution to the problem I said "uh?" I first unplugged the computer only for a few seconds and restarted it — no difference. I went looking for other answers, but kept seeing people talk about unplugging their computer for a minute or two. I finally cut off the power again to the computer for about 2 minutes, and when I rebooted the computer, the USB devices were once again recognized. It worked for me!

380. 01.24.10

     John P.

     Thank you so much!! This was a great tip and surely saved me HOURS of time. Thank you again.

381. 01.25.10

     RZ

     Your recommendation worked. Thanks for the simple but effective fix.

382. 01.26.10

     Peter Jones

     Great tip. I really didn't this would work, but it did! All my USB ports are functioning properly now.

383. 01.27.10

     Ron

     Thanks. This fixed my Dell laptop running Vista. My cordless mouse worked sometimes and not others. Now I finally know how to fix it.

384. 01.27.10

     Hugo

     Man, I need to tell you that I spent about a day trying to fix it with no luck until I decided to check in the web and I'm so glad I saw this recommendation.

     It works for me; thanks a bunch! you're the man.

385. 01.28.10

     Debbie Urban

     OK…this worked for a while but all of a sudden, it did not work. My laptop is in Bestbuy right now and it checked out when they ran a diagnostic and I have no virus. So…what now? Obviously they do not know what to do either. Is there a way to connect USB things without using a USB port…like is there a USB hub thing that connects via some other connection? That is if they don't find the problem. Even though the fix seems easy, should this be happening at all???

386. 01.28.10

     Debbie Urban

     What I mean is…I did this for a while and then it stopped working…as if my computer figured it out and changed the rules…LOL!

387. 01.28.10

     George

     Sorry man.. I also spent days looking for solutions.. now i see your blog.. and i was very happy…and I tried your solution to fix the USB not recognized problem, but it didn't work! What should I do?

388. 01.28.10

     Pavel (Slovakia)

     Thank you very much. It's simple and it works! You saved my computer and hours of my life.

389. 01.28.10

     Steve

     HOLY CRAP — This worked on a Sony VAIO Win XP. One day all of my USB 2.0 devices stopped being recognized (printer, ext HD). I suspected something rotten when the very same devices worked fine through a USB 1.0 Hub.

     I'll stick a pin in the voodoo doll of whoever is responsible for this design flaw.

390. 01.29.10

     rich Jones

     OMG! This was driving me crazy for a week. Thank god I came across this! Have been trying all the reg and inf fixes, etc. With no luck. Just unplugged and VOILLA!

     Thanks again….

391. 01.29.10

     szar

     Brilliant, brilliant. One of the rare times i found a solution to work so fast and easily. Also one of my first posts to a site like this…great. thanks again.

392. 01.29.10

     Jeroen

     wow, this probably saved me a whole weekend of annoying reinstallations (which possibly still wouldn't have worked). Now i fixed my problem in 30 mins. Great! Thanks sooooo much.

393. 01.29.10

     Markus

     thanks, it really worked for my usb mouse!

394. 01.29.10

     Amber

     OK… sooo, this is the first time I've ever posted a reply to any kind of blog. I have an Iphone and tried to sync today and was confused when I got the USB malfunction message. My first thought was search the Apple site. I followed all of their un/re-install suggestions for itunes and drivers… no dice! Then I realized this might be a windows issue… googled "USB malfunction" and this tip was on the top of the search.

     Like almost everyone else, I didn't believe that it could be this simple. I unplugged the computer for a minute or two and restarted it — no difference. I was going to continue looking for other otions, instead I continued to read other responses to this tip… glad I did!

     The second time I shut down my computer, removed the battery, then waited for about 15 minutes. Inserted the battery, booted my computer up, plugged in my Iphone… and like magic… my phone began to sync!! I'm back in business!!!

     Thanks so much!!

395. 01.30.10

     dragster

     perfect! works as a charm ))

     thanks for the solution!

396. 01.30.10

     rick davison

     It worked for me. I tried a lot of things, all of which did not work, but shuting down the computer and uunplugging the power cord indeed did work for me.

     Thank you, thank you, thank you!

397. 01.30.10

     Ahmed

     Thanks for the nice tips.

     Actually, Andrew's reply number 62 helped me solve my problem. For everyone that the fix of PC shutdown does not work with him, here is a fix that works.

     In device manager, look under the USB root hubs and check the power tabs, it will list the devices and the amount of current they are using. If you have an unknown device listed and it says 0mA, just disable this USB root hub. Then plugin your USB device again, it will work fine.

     Hope this helps someone out there.

     Thanks again!

398. 01.31.10

     Pete

     Man, I can't believe it was that easy! I thought I was pretty geeky but was scratching my head on this one. Some of my USB devices were working and some weren't. I spent all day yesterday messing with this thing: reformatting, moving backup files to a readable location, and pumping in the backup – to get the same problem. Prior to cracking the case and exploring the USB connections, I was about to declare the PC a boat anchor. Incredible! Unplugged it for a minute; plugged it back in and – Voila! Good Lord, I feel like such a moron. Thank you thank you thank you. I'd promise my first-born but, at thirty years old, he'd be pretty pissed.

399. 02.01.10

     Linda

     Thank you!!! This worked perfectly. No more USB not recognized problem!

400. 02.01.10

     Dianne

     OMG! Thank you so much. I just spent half the day crying and wanting to pull my hair out (I'm such a girl). I do a lot of graphic work and was working between two monitors using my touch pad because my external mouse and keyboard weren't being recognized.

     Thanks again.

401. 02.01.10

     Uber

     You truely deserve a nobel prize for the peace of mind you have unleashed among those tortured by microsoft Windows!

     For those who did not succeed, another option is to switch to Linux!

402. 02.02.10

     Yan, Zheng

     u are genius! it works! my vaio vgn-aw120j often cannot find USB devices, e.g. bluetooth, fingerprint. It's a big pain for me, but this worked!

403. 02.02.10

     chheber

     Thanks. I was just about to reinstall Win7 before I tried this. I had no problems with any USB-devices though it was annoying seeing the damn popup after every "sleep".

404. 02.02.10

     Pete

     I would never have believed it! Toshiba Tecra M4 – Logitech Trackman USB mouse. Stopped working and was no longer recognised in "normal" boot mode. Reinstalled drivers etc., no change. Funnily enough, it worked in "safe" mode…Just unplugged the power supply so it was on battery. Unplugged and re-plugged the mouse.

     Now it works! Who'd a thunk it…

405. 02.03.10

     BFish

     Golden article! Works like a charm!

     Thank you!

406. 02.03.10

     altin

     Hi everybody, I have a Kingston 4GB USB disk, last day when i finished my work, i tried to safely remove my USB but computer prompted that USB cannot be removed at this time. I thought it would be a virus or something in PC that is doing this and i pulled out my 4GB Kingston usb from USB port at back of my PC.

     I already have done this many times, but this time I was very unfortunate, when today i put my USB in port at back of my computer, the bubble at system tray appears saying:”USB device not recognized………..” and I have tried nealy all the possible solutions….upgrading USB drivers, power cord-off method, uninstalling and reinstalling all USB devices,changing registry and even formating my C drive and installing windows……all was of no use…

     My 4GB Kingston USB still shows the same problem. I also have tried it on several other computers, every computer gives the same problem. No icon of USB is displayed in My Computer.

     I am so desperate and I am so helpless…what to do, i had all very very important data in it and i cant even recover it.

     If some body can help me find out the solution, I would be very thankx to him/her.

407. 02.03.10

     Jimmy

     I love you! I even brought my computer to be fixed twice and they didn't try that.

408. 02.04.10

     Jeet

     I CAN NOT THANK YOU ENOUGH…I called Microsoft techs and HP techs and they were taking over the control of my pc…no one could figure out what was wrong with my desktop…why USB was not recognized…you are the man…all i had to do was UNPLUG and every thing is working fine! THANKS AGAIN!!!

409. 02.05.10

     Doug

     WELL…… What can I say?

     Just spent quite a while thinking my scanner was broken or the driver was corrupt, but then I tried it on another machine and it worked fine. However then the problem seemed to start spreading around the different usb's on my machine and with more and more differing pieces of equipment. It would give the error with a flash drive in the first say 4 slots then work in the fifth but then it would start on another piece of equipment… The problem got worse and worse all day and I was just about to start taking drastic…. and I mean drastic action……lol

     Then I just happened across your article…

     Thank you Just doesn't cover it…….

     But

     Thank you.

410. 02.06.10

     Ross

     Great tip – solved the USB problem on Windows 7 on a new laptop! Cheers

411. 02.07.10

     Dofx

     I tried all of this, but it wont work , maybe my psp usb port is bad?

412. 02.07.10

     DOLÖ

     Dude! Your the man!

413. 02.08.10

     Backeer Maideen

     I dont know how to thank you. This saved me from a big trouble as I was near the deadline to deliver the PC to an exhausted customer!

414. 02.08.10

     Amanda

     Thanks! I checked out some of the other fixes, but really didn't want to do anything invasive, as I hadn't done anything at all when my mouse just quit working! I shut it down, popped the battery off the back, counted to 20 and turned it back on and it's fixed!

     This happened to me once before. I called Dell to get it fixed. At one point, they told me to turn it off and pop the battery off. That seems to be the fix.

     I'm starting to think there is something up with the power supply in my computer.

     It is a Dell Inspirson 1545 running Windows Vista 64 bit

415. 02.08.10

     Ryan

     Sir…you are a gentleman and a scholar. That worked perfectly! Saved me from having to ship my notebook to Dell!!!

416. 02.08.10

     Andrew

     Thank you soo much for this advice.

     I would have been a huge inconvenience if I had had to take my computer into a computer shop because I'm a college student and the only fry's (who I have a warrenty with) are on the other side of the city. I don't have a car. Thanks!

417. 02.09.10

     Sue

     OMG! I've spent hours trying to fix this! I also chatted online with Tech Support for 2 hours to no avail. THANK GOODNESS I found this! It was super simple and WORKED like a charm!

418. 02.10.10

     igor

     thank u very much, i've spent days trying to fix problem, an i did what u told and it worked…

     tnx,

     igor

419. 02.10.10

     Jon Baks

     So simple, yet does exactly what is said! Thank you for saving me time and headaches!!!!!!

     Cheers!!!

420. 02.11.10

     Brooker

     I want to say thank you to the advice about turning comp off when usb not recognized comes up. I am not a comp expert & if there is a problem with comp I usually have to get my son in law down to fix it. This time I did it myself thanks to your advice. I was amazed when it worked thanks

421. 02.11.10

     Katie

     oh my goodness! it worked! i was so skeptical, but it worked! thanks a bunch!

422. 02.12.10

     Damian J. Sanchez

     I always appreciate good help and your tip helped me tremendously everything is back to normal I also went ahead and uninstalled all the USB root hubs before I shut down, removed power and battery and hit the power button on the empty laptop for about a minute let all the power drain from it, then let it sit for awhile and when I turned it back on it reinstalled the usb root hubs then i plugged in my mouse and it recognized it like magic again. Thank you so much and I will keep your site handy!

     Damian J.

423. 02.12.10

     king

     #

     Hi everybody, I have a Kingston 4GB USB disk, last day when i finished my work, i tried to safely remove my USB but computer prompted that USB cannot be removed at this time. I thought it would be a virus or something in PC that is doing this and i pulled out my 4GB Kingston usb from USB port at back of my PC.

     I already have done this many times, but this time I was very unfortunate, when today i put my USB in port at back of my computer, the bubble at system tray appears saying:”USB device not recognized………..” and I have tried nealy all the possible solutions….upgrading USB drivers, power cord-off method, uninstalling and reinstalling all USB devices,changing registry and even formating my C drive and installing windows……all was of no use…

     My 4GB Kingston USB still shows the same problem. I also have tried it on several other computers, every computer gives the same problem. No icon of USB is displayed in My Computer.

     I am so desperate and I am so helpless…what to do, i had all very very important data in it and i cant even recover it.

     If some body can help me find out the solution, I would be very thankx to him/her.

424. 02.12.10

     Keith R.

     After much hand wringing and web searches your I came across your site. A simple solution to a major problem! I simply powered down my laptop and removed the battery. Made a cup of tea, powered up and USB problems disappeared. Thank you.

425. 02.13.10

     T

     Using Vista and have done everything short of standing on my head. All solutions I have found do not work nor did resetting the computer. Oh Well, guess it is time for new machine

426. 02.13.10

     Boaz

     I want to say thank you for the advice…it was simple and fixed my USB problem…We appreciate your help…….

427. 02.14.10

     Debbie Urban

     I did all this, worked for a while but slowly got worse. Looks like a new motherboard is on the agenda. Since I have someone to put it in, other than the Geek Squad, it will be more reasonable that getting a new computer, like they told me I needed to do. However, if the new motherboard does not work, a new computer is next. It is a shame that this problem is not fixable since my laptop is working in all other areas.

428. 02.14.10

     Geoff

     Had this problem today with my printer, althoug all other usb devices were working as normal……Brilliant, printer is functioning again as normal…Thanks

429. 02.15.10

     Sheryl

     Didn't work, and now it won't load my local profile. Grr…..

430. 02.15.10

     Alan

     i did this, it starting working for one minute, then seemed to fail again? any ideas?

431. 02.15.10

     Susan S.

     AMAZING! 2 days with Dell tech support could not fix this problem. What a simple, but very effective fix. Thank you!

432. 02.16.10

     Henk

     Thank you for this information! I just had the same problems on my Sony Vaio. Even other mice didn't work but now my original ones works perfectly again! ^^

433. 02.16.10

     Prakhar

     Thankyou dear….It really works…!!! I am thankful that I visited this link and got solution to this menace saving time…Very very thanks a

434. 02.16.10

     Steve

     Wow…Thank you very much. I was facing this problem for 2 days and I was not able to use my mouse. This solution solved my problem now.

435. 02.16.10

     Jake

     Genius! too simple, my portable hard-drive stopped working so I called seagate support who eventually concluded I should send it back with the warranty because its damaged, then my thumb drives stopped responding so i spent 2hours reading forums, mucking around with Tweak UI, the USB Drivers even disabling firewire to no avail. Until I happened to come along this post and everything's working once again..Thank you If i had of replaced the portable drive like tech support suggested I still would have been stuck with the same problem.

436. 02.17.10

     Shannon

     Worked like a charm on my Windows XP desktop! I was struggling for a couple of days trying all kinds of tricks before I stumbled on this site. Thanks for the solution!

437. 02.18.10

     Lenghonre

     The front ports on my system units were recently reconnected to the motherboard. However each time I plug a usb device in it, I get the message "USB device not recognised"; the USB devices work fine at the back of the PC. The front port had seriously damaged my flash; It is not even recognised from the back ports.

     What or how can I recover the data from the flash drive? It does not even ligh up any more.

     Thanks for the help.

438. 02.18.10

     geeohh

     WOW!!! thanks for this post. left for lunch and came back to this issue. tried a number of things… this was it!!!

439. 02.18.10

     Vishwas

     Absolutely brilliant! It works. Your a genius! Struggled with this issue for hours before I found this webpage!

440. 02.19.10

     Ashnil

     "AMAZING", Simple but superb.

     You saved so many people's precious time.

     I wish that more people find this solution without going through so much trouble.

     (If everyone write this solution to relevent product manufacturers)

     I will write your solution to the manufacturer & will suggest them to put this in Bold Letters on Troubleshooting

     page.

     Many Many Thanks.

     Ashnil

441. 02.19.10

     Sarath

     I cant believe the solutions so simple. I have been struggling for the past 4 hours with this and finally after just unplugging the adapter and removing the battery as an extra precaution, the message stops showing up and i am able to use my usb mouse again.

     Thanks a lot.

442. 02.19.10

     Steven Pfeiffer

     I, too,spent hours on a fix and research. Then, stumbling on your fix, it worked! At least, so far. I was ready to replace my hardware. Great fix. Thanks so much.

443. 02.19.10

     Craig

     I had the same messages and tried the "unplug wait", this didn't work. I managed to fix this by opening the Device Manager and uninstalling the "USB Mass Storage Device" under the USB Serial Bus Controllers. Following that I simply plugged in my problem device (ex-z1000 Casio digital cam) and I was back in business!! I have a feeling this problem was a result of an iPhone device update for the onboard cam.

444. 02.22.10

     Furio

     So simple you would not believe that this is the solution to the problem, but it is! Thnx!

445. 02.22.10

     Jackie

     That solution didnt work for me, tried that on 2 pc's as well as a laptop. My TB drive is nhot being recognised at all and I think I may have lost the Data. I dont know what else to do, anyone else have any soltutions on getting xp to even recognise the drive? HELP?!

446. 02.23.10

     CraziJess

     Thanks so much for this! it worked great! Now I can put songs on my mp3 again!! Wish I'd seen this earlier

447. 02.23.10

     GARRETTCLU

     FLIPPIN' INCREDIBLE – 8 hours messing around, blogs, and posts and useless Redmond waste of time – when all it took was unplugging. Who'd think of that? Next time I need some water walked on, I'll be sure to call

448. 02.23.10

     Jamie

     Incredible!

     I've word in Systems Administration and IT for a decade.

     Never ran into such a USB problem until today, and figured it was a driver or registry issue.

     This simple fix worked. THANK YOU!

449. 02.23.10

     Bill Crawford

     Thanks for your help with this problem below. Search and did everything that you did. Then I found your solution and took the battery out since this was a laptop with windows 7 on it and to my amazement it work! I admit I was not a believer but now I am. Thanks again Bill

     Are you getting a “USB device not recognized” error whenever you plug in a USB mouse, keyboard, or other USB device? I love USB and have 5 ports on my computer so that I can connect my mouse, keyboard, camera, phone, and printer to it all at once!

     However, last weekend, my computer stopped recognizing my USB devices! The strange thing about it was that the USB ports were not bad because all of my devices were still getting power to them. I could still charge my cell phone without a problem!

450. 02.23.10

     Novur

     …what?!? I swear, if tis is all I've got to do, after tall the crap I've been through…

     *unplugs wall supply*

     Back in a moment.

     *shuts down, unplugs battery*

     *boots up*

     *mouse works*

     Okay, that is just f**king ridiculous! I can't believe it was so bloody simple, after everything I've already tried. I'm gonna go bang my head against a wall or something.

     But thanks for the tip!

451. 02.23.10

     helen

     I can't believe it, I tried everything on every website and then read your tip, unplugged the thing and voila! all the drives were there! Thank you heaps.

452. 02.24.10

     Steve

     Many notebooks and PCs contain a polyswitch or 'self-healing fuse'. These require to be left to cool for about 30 mins to 1 hour. USB ports are rated at 500mA.

     Disconnecting from the mains means that all voltage is removed from these fuses and allows them to cool. polyswitches are designed to be within specification after 1 hour.

     Check the ports for broken/shorting contacts or missing plastic tongues. Also check your USB peripherals for broken plugs!

453. 02.26.10

     Kahtan

     I am being serious.. you are a genius!

     At first, I was thinking, "Am I really going to fall for this?"

     But I gave it a go, and now my USBs are all ready to goooooooooooooooooooooooooo!!!

     THANKS! LIFE SAVERRRRRRRRRRRR!!!

454. 02.26.10

     MIke

     Wow! this totally worked! If your using a laptop, remove the battery also. Thanks!

455. 02.27.10

     Vicki

     Thank you Online Tech – I loaded and reloaded the software for my Logitech mouse numerous times. Called Dell Support twice with no results. Emailed with Logitech 3 times and still no fix. I emailed this link to Logitech to post on their site. I see your solution was done in 2008, why the hassle in 2010. I am using Windows 7 and this fix worked.

456. 02.27.10

     Amey

     Hey dude, Thanks, it worked on my lappi as well, I just disconnected AC power supply, Lappi went on battery and immediately within a min, all my USB ports started functioning. Thanks

457. 02.27.10

     Alexa

     Thank you! This fixed my the issues I had with my mouse, keyboard and sound; it drove me mad! Such a simple solution. Keep posting these tips.

458. 02.28.10

     Susan

     The only reason I tried this is because the problem started after I disconnected my laptop from the power supply to run on battery. So I thought, heck, maybe it could work despite it's obvious simplicity. And it DID! Thank you so much. I was going nuts. My mouse is once again recognized simply by turing off my computer and unplugging it. Wow.

459. 02.28.10

     Donald

     Thank You so much, I tried everything i could think of to get them to work with no success. i tried what you said and in minutes my computer was back to its old self. thank you.

460. 02.28.10

     Eric

     I can not believe this worked. How was it THAT simple? I spent an hour trying to figure out the problem and changingt the batteries in my mouse. Saw this guide, and it worked! Thanks A LOT.

461. 03.01.10

     TonyG

     THANK YOU! I was totally frustrated with the loss of my USB devices and my inabilty to get them recognized again. This power off recommendation worked perfectly. Many thanks! Tony

462. 03.01.10

     kathy

     i got this same message, i have a Toshiba Satellite. instead of simply "unplugging" my laptop, i did a BIOS update and no "USB Device Not Recognized" message…working fine now

463. 03.02.10

     Sunil Sharma

     Thanks for solving my USB not recognized problem…This website is really helpful..

464. 03.02.10

     Nolan

     I saw all the reviews proclaiming the success of this fix, and I must admit that I doubted. But I unplugged my laptop, shut it down, took out the battery for ~30 minutes, then put the battery back in, turned the machine on (still on battery power), plugged in my offending printer, and voila, success.

     I must echo the tenor of the posts above in the degree to which I am impressed with the simplicity of this solution. I had tried uninstalling software, deleting registry entries, deleting drivers in safe-mode, etc… I only wish I had stumbled upon this article a few weeks ago.

465. 03.02.10

     Zachary

     This is incredible!! Like what you say, simple and easy. No more USB problems. Thank you so much!!!!!!!

466. 03.02.10

     The-yan

     Thanks dude!! As described I tried everything before, but no luck. I wouldn't beleive it if I wouldn't see it… You save me at least half of day!

467. 03.03.10

     Esurfer

     Rakesh you are a genius man.Thank you so much.

     FOR PEOPLE WHO STILL CANT GET THERE USB TO WORK,TRY THIS!

     Disable power management of the USB hub

     Note If you perform the following procedure, you may also reduce the battery life on a portable computer.

     To disable power management of the USB hub, follow these steps:

     Click Start, click Run, type Devmgmt.msc, and then click OK. The Device Manager window opens.

     Expand Universal Serial Bus controllers.

     Right-click a USB Root Hub in the list, and then click Properties. The USB Root Hub Properties dialog box is displayed.

     Click the Power Management tab.

     Click to clear the Allow the computer to turn off this device to save power check box, and then click OK.

     Repeat steps 3 through 6 for each USB Root Hub in the list.

     On the Action menu, click Scan for hardware changes.

     Windows XP recognizes the new device.

     Close the Device Manager window.

     **ALL CREDIT GOES TO RAKESH**

468. 03.03.10

     Hunter_Fusion

     OMG dude! You saved my life man, I simply plugged off the charger and turn off. My mouse was alive again! Your a god man, thank you so much!

469. 03.03.10

     roger

     Awesome!! I spend several hours, rolling back installation and whatever and it's so simple in the end. It even works with a laptop.

     Thanks so much!

     - Roger

470. 03.04.10

     Alissandro De Madrid

     Appreciated … You made my day …

471. 03.04.10

     Meaux

     My iPhone is having the same USB issue. I think there is something wrong with the actual phone.

472. 03.04.10

     Horace

     thx alot mate, cheers ! No more USB device not recognized error in this house!

473. 03.04.10

     MJ Lova!

     I was very skeptical of this but I tried it on my laptop – and it WORKED!!!! I love you!!! thank you so much!!!! I was about to lose my mind. had a friend who is a genius IT guy work on it & didn't find such a quick/easy answer!! THANK YOU THANK YOU!!!

474. 03.07.10

     DJFU

     I wasted so much time using the other methods and all I had to do was unplug my damn machine. Thanks!

475. 03.07.10

     Suresh

     Thanks for the valuable info. As said its simple – but it worked great. My USB ports are no longer giving me any errors.

     Thanks a ton

476. 03.07.10

     Richard

     FIXED my problem on a HP laptop. All I did was disable the port issuing the message, shut down the machine, unplug the laptop from the power cord, take out the battery and waited for a couple minutes. Then I plugged back in the battery, the power cord, powered back up, enabled the USB port that I disabled and EVERY THING IS NOW WORKING like it should, recognizing USB devices like it should. THANK YOU!!!! for the easy fix!!! NOTE: Disabling the USB port issuing the message may not have had anything to do with the fix.

477. 03.07.10

     castelein

     you saved our day. we are a sound company, and all of a sudden, a few hours before running a show, this problem came up. I had no idea what to do. I found your post, and we managed to run the show without any problem. thanks so much !

478. 03.07.10

     Ashley

     Wow this is great stuff. I did exactly as directed and whalaa the usb ports start working again. Thank you so much. I tried everything from Spybot search and destroy to cleaning up the registry and doing virus scans. Great stuff.

479. 03.08.10

     Ray

     I have been working in the computer field for over 20 years doing support. I have never come across a problem with such a simple solution as unplugging the power! I had spent hours installing drivers and reconfiguring the USB ports with no success until stumbling onto this page. I was skeptical but it worked! Many thanks for the simplest of solutions.

480. 03.08.10

     pat

     i tried all of the options on here & none worked but i found how to fix mine

     1. right click on my computer

     2. go to manage

     3. go to disk manaegment(on left hand side panel)

     4. find the drive & highlight it

     5. right click & go down to change drive letter

     6. click change

     7. change the letter to one thats not being used (like G or J)

481. 03.09.10

     Sarah

     Thanks so much. You are the best! I only got as far as trying to re-do the driver. All I had to do was unplug the darn thing and problem fixed!!!

482. 03.10.10

     Trey

     It works! I have been this trouble almost 20 days. Thanks again.

483. 03.10.10

     Trisha

     Thanks! This actually worked, so simple for a problem that was annoying me so much

484. 03.10.10

     Kristofer

     Thank you for this brilliant and simple solution! It worked perfectly on my Sony Vaio VGN-FW.

485. 03.11.10

     Amatz

     Great! that actually worked! All my USB ports work fine!

     Thanks a lot

486. 03.11.10

     chris

     Thank you so much it worked ive tried everything including the stuff you listed and nonthing worked its the thrid time its happen and i dont know why now i do and it fix twice i dont know how but this worked thank you very much five stars for the wright up

487. 03.11.10

     Brina

     This worked Thank you soo much!

488. 03.12.10

     J. Reaper

     Well maybe it not the computer.. Cause i had the problem and still do with an mp3.. I connect it and it says "USB Device Not Recognized", but when i connect it in a different angle its reconizes it simple and fast! weird?!?

489. 03.12.10

     Negin

     Thank you so much. I was really confused and disappointed wondering how to solve my USB problem and your suggestion was very simple, but it worked.

490. 03.13.10

     richard

     awesome solutions. we've been trying to fix this USB problem for almost a day and going thru a lot of websites and nothing worked! you saved me a lot of money and wasted time for repair. Really your a great man.T hanks for your help.Godbless and more power to your site.

491. 03.14.10

     Hussain

     I think my USB pendrive is disturbed, please help me to find out how to repair by installing some software. Waiting for your responce.

492. 03.15.10

     Am

     Its a very crappy solution but it works…thats amazing! Why would unplugging fix a problem with USB ports?

493. 03.15.10

     Gabriel

     Thanks a million !!! I would have never imagined !

     I've just had this problem on my new windows 7 laptop, after connecting a device which demanded a lot of power.

     So this solution also works with Windows 7 if the same USB problem appears !!

     Thxs again,

     Gabi (Spain)

494. 03.17.10

     Anonymous

     Thank you. This fixed my problem.

495. 03.17.10

     warhead2020

     Problem fixed!!!!..:)

496. 03.17.10

     gino

     SUPER!!! thanks a lot!

497. 03.18.10

     Alistair

     Dude, amazing, this worked, I spent hours trying to solve this and all I had to do was unplug the thing. If you are British you should be given a knighthood

498. 03.19.10

     Nona

     OMG, thanks so much for this. I was at my wits end trying to find a soluton. Might not work for everyone's problem but saved my computer's life!

499. 03.20.10

     Laura

     THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU. Had a virus and thought we had everything working again, but didn't realize we had this problem until I went to update my Garmin. I was at my wits end, since I had paid for and downloaded a mapset for my Garmin and it was about to expire, but my computer wouldn't recognize it! I shut down, unplugged and took out the battery and let it sit dead for about an hour. My update is processing as I write!

     THANK YOU!!!!!!

500. 03.21.10

     vickki

     this worked great for me thanks you soooooo much

501. 03.22.10

     Omar

     Hello…

     I appreciate that it was a nice trick n worked for many ppl…

     BUT NOT ME….

     i didn't try this once but a lot of times but still getting the same USB Device Not Recognized error….

     to describe a little in detail….

     i have HP Pavilion zv6000 (zv6203cl) to be specific…

     n this problem which i have from over a month or so has made my life hell….

     the problem occurred when i was away n my brother plugged in his MP3/MP4 player to charge it.

     I had installed Windows 7 ultimate at that time and as a matter of fact i'm still using windows 7 coz Win xp kind of is a friend to all the viruses….

     still i want this problem to go away…n its not ….any tips or suggestions plz reply or email me at [email protected]

     thnx

502. 03.22.10

     Amrith

     You are the best! no more words to say…

503. 03.23.10

     Vikey

     On my PC, my Device Manager shows an asterisk error on USB SERIAL BUS CONTROL. I TRIED TO UPDATE and ROLL BACK DRIVER BUT IT SAYS {CANNOT START this HARDWARE} (Windows cannot load the device driver for this hardware. The driver may be corrupted or missing. (Code 39))

     It shows this error on all USB ports.

     Please Help Me!

504. 03.23.10

     Dave

     Thanks SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO much!! I tried all of the recommended microsoft fixes and nothing worked. This did it! (I also removed the battery in my laptop)

505. 03.24.10

     Jason Fu

     I can't believe that worked! That was driving me insane. Thank you SO much!!!

506. 03.24.10

     Gin

     I have been working with ASUS to get my USB's to work, just stopped working one day. Spent 2 days trying their suggestions but when I tried yours, it WORKED. Thank you

507. 03.25.10

     Brad

     THIS WORKED FOR ME! I had an issued with itunes and an iphone on my laptop, shit it down, took out the battery, and everything worked itself out on reboot! THANK YOU SOO MUCH! I am a real person, the health care bill just got passed 3/23/10.

508. 03.25.10

     Mike Kemp

     Fantastic solution

     My apple nanoipod station put my Vista laptop into this incessant usb problem message mode and no usb ports would work with any device…..

     I am Brit in France for a while and would have been up the proverbial creek without a paddle with no printer /camera loads working your techtip worked a treat after a reboot

     Thanks a Million

     Mike Kemp

509. 03.26.10

     Reem

     WOW.. that really worked! thanks a lot..

510. 03.26.10

     Omar

     well i posted a couples of days ago n i was right the trick didnt work at that time…

     but now it does…

     just there's a tip i tried it this time by removing all unknown devices after i checked view hidden devices

     then i shut down my laptop

     pulled the battery out for a day

     n then put it back…

     it worked

     thanks

511. 03.27.10

     Ken Hall

     Thanks so much. I was getting that annoying pop-up ballon even without anything plugged in to my USB ports at all. It was continuous and very annoying. I could not listen to music, nor watch movies as the sound of the pop-up deploying every minute or so was seriously annoying.

     Now I unplugged the power cable to my laptop and disconnected the battery for a couple of minutes, reconnected everything, rebooted and no more annoying pop-ups!

     AWESOME!

512. 03.28.10

     jayakumar

     Friends, I did the what u told exactly but again am getting the same problem when i try to connect my USB. Provide some solutions.

513. 03.28.10

     Alice

     THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!!!!!! I cannot believe this solution was so simple and yet worked straight away. Like others, I had also trawled the internet looking for a solution and trying complex reinstallations / driver updates etc etc. Why oh why didn't anyone suggest this other than you?! Thanks

514. 03.28.10

     kamil kasprzal

     when i unplug from the power supply then i plug it back after like 5 mins the my wireless adapter works for like 10 mins then after then i get the message again what should i do also i get this device cannot start

515. 03.29.10

     vernon

     problem came up for some unknown reason. maybe an option without having to reboot:

     XP -> Control Panel -> Mouse -> Device Settings: Reset Devices
     seemed to work for me…

     HP Elitebook 6930p

516. 03.29.10

     SchwingBlade

     YESSSSSSSSSS! YOU….ARE….THE…MAN!!!!!!

     HP DV-6 running Vista…I'd already tried unplugging my laptop, but not while it was shut down.

     So, after reading this tip, I shut down the laptop, unplugged all the USB devices, unplugged the power supply, waited 5 min., then plugged back in the power supply and turned on the computer. After waiting for everything to boot up and load, I plugged in the first USB and voila!

     You, sir, are a credit to humanity! You've helped hundreds of people with this simple, ingenious solution. You've saved thousands of hours of wasted time.

     Thank you, thank you, thank you.

517. 03.29.10

     Avril

     Thank you so much! I was getting the computer ready to take to my tech guy (which means $$$$$) when I decided to 'google' for a solution one last time. I found this post and tried it. I shut down the computer and disconnected it from the main power source for only one minute. When I plugged it back in and started it up – VOILA!!!! The problem was fixed! THANK YOU VERY, VERY MUCH!

518. 03.29.10

     Resoman

     Thanks so much. I almost threw my PC away. I did exactly as you said. The problem is gone. Wow, sometimes, the solution is so simple, actually I have tried almost every possible way. Except your recommendation. Thank you so much.

519. 03.29.10

     Edmond

     Awesome! My mouse just started with this silly behavior on my notebook this morning and I've been struggling for the last two hours (installed drivers, restarted my machine, tried the other USB ports, opened it up to look for anything obvious, used the horrible touchpad). My fix was simple though – I unplugged the charger and then plugged it back in again hoping that I wouldn't have to restart, unplug the battery, etc. and voila!

     I guess it's just human nature to expect the worst so we land up overlooking the simple things.

520. 03.31.10

     Mike

     I cant beleive this actually worked! I tried this with my HP laptop when the built-in webcam stopped working. Just shut it off, pulled the battery for a minute and when I restarted it was working again.

521. 04.02.10

     Paulo

     It worked, thank you very much, now I can use my usb 2.0

522. 04.02.10

     Thankyoumaker

     Are you serious?! This suddenly works?! hahahha! VERY NICE!!!! i cant believe it works! nice!

523. 04.03.10

     Fordman

     There is a god, and you are it, I thought I lost around 600gb of stuff, you are a legend. Thanks.

524. 04.04.10

     Scott

     Wow, this really seems to have worked. Thanks a lot! Your tip saved my day and my USB ports.

525. 04.04.10

     Dilan

     Thanks dude, no more USB error messages. Awesome!

526. 04.05.10

     Harry

     Awesome! Worked for me. I was just about to delete the drivers. Thanks

527. 04.05.10

     Miss Anne

     Thank you for this help. I will try this now. Either way – I thank you for posting such help on the computer that anyone can access. It is much appreciated!

528. 04.05.10

     Falcon Taylor-Carter

     omg I don't know how many times I have reinstalled itunes, but no more. I feel like an idiot.

529. 04.06.10

     Red Five

     I doubted this would work…yet it did! Thank you so much for this simple and effective tip!

530. 04.07.10

     jude

     Wish it did work. I did all the necessary things – removed the battery, etc……to no avail. Guess I will work without a mouse.

531. 04.07.10

     Zeca Zarolho

     Hello,

     I had exactly the same USB problem. I did as suggested and it worked.

     Thank you.

532. 04.07.10

     Parmarth Suman

     I'm sorry to say, but I have the same problem as stated above, but after unplugging the computer, nothing has changed. I am still getting USB device not recognized. What to do?

533. 04.08.10

     stonecol146

     This is incorrect information,

     The motherboard can only be 'reset' in one of 3 ways

     1) Reseting in the BIOS screen

     2) Physically removing and reseating the CMOS battery on the moterboard

     3) Doing a 2 pin reset on the motherboard

     This is very poor information and shouldnt be considered a tip

     Regards

534. 04.08.10

     jonesy 1

     Thanks. Same trouble with my canon multifunction printer. Spent about 1/2 hour with canon technical advice, and all day trying to solve the problem. In the ehd after reading this I unplugged the cannon printer. HEY PRESTO! The printer is now recognized and is working fine. Great advice. I will phone the Canon advice line tomorrow, maybe this tip will help someone else.

535. 04.09.10

     Kamakoti

     My dear friend, I am having the same problem with my system, but not with all the port, only one port is saying no device found. I always shut down my system and turn off my UPS as well. Out put power will be always down when my system is off. This formula did not work for me. All my 5 ports are working fine except one. On device manager it says no driver found for this device. Can you pls help me, I am desperate. I had tried overwriting windows XP professional, disabling, enabling, uninstalling etc never worked.

536. 04.10.10

     Jonny

     Thank you for your assistance, I did a "USB fix" search and came up with lots of recommendations. Since I don't know anything about computers, references to motherboards, checking internal wires, etc was just too complicated. I found this link and simple "turn computer off with power supply", I already turned the system off but didn't think of removing the power supply, so I tried and fixed within 2 min's. My options were limited as either living with the touch pad forever or pay someone else to do what you taught me. Thank you and con't the tips as you save all of us time and $$$…Jonny.

537. 04.10.10

     sharad kachroo

     my tracend 8 GB pen drive is still showing "USB Device Not Recognised". Pls help. Lot of data on the pen drive

538. 04.10.10

     Nadeem

     updating bios wasn’t enough. after half an hour the problem started again. I switched to linux for a day (ubuntu never had a usb problem), and I am now running XP for 8 hours without usb-problems.

539. 04.10.10

     redfox

     WOW!!!! After having had this same problem already some months ago with my HP DV7-2140eg and solved it at that stage by completely re-installing WIN7 and all programms (which took me a complete weekend), I was quite boared to have this problem popped up again now and did not want to go that same way. The problem started again (as previously) after loading my iPhone battery via the USB port of the HP.

     I decided to start reading and reading and eventually found the article on this forum with THIS VERY SIMPLE SOLUTION to indeed work perfectly well here! Thanks a lot from a happy guy in The Netherlands!

540. 04.11.10

     Rajesh

     I am using wespro digital camera, its is giving some problem. When I am attaching it to my PC, it gives an error msg unrecognized device and shows malfunction. How can this be fixed? It is a USB device.

541. 04.12.10

     Jan

     I'd like to shake your hand sir! I've had no printer for several days and that blasted USB error message kept coming up. I'd tried everything……..and then I stumbled across your advice!!!

     Thank you very much, I shall remember that for the future.

542. 04.13.10

     bigslamsam

     very nice. 2 years later and this tip is the best of its kind.

543. 04.13.10

     L

     Thank you SO much I was really losing it trying to solve this issue I had tried pretty much everything you had listed and more before stumbling upon this. Like many other posters I severely doubted that this would work but surely enough IT DID and I am ecstatic, thank you so very much!

544. 04.16.10

     Kaluman

     It didn't work for me

     the USBView says that my USB device is failed to enumerate.

     is there any other solution for my problem.

545. 04.16.10

     ShaunGamer

     Thanks! I can't believe it was so simple but it worked for me! Brilliant!!!

546. 04.16.10

     Terma

     Thanks for the tip. I have been having trouble with my external HDDs for a while now and was just about to reload my OS. Thanks so much!

547. 04.17.10

     Dana

     I shall say compared with you guys I am really lucky to search in Google and found this page first. I tried and it worked~! That saved a lot of trouble really! Thank you soooo much for your help.

548. 04.18.10

     BHeart

     Hi! Thanks a lot for your suggestion! It worked on my laptop…My USB worries are over…

549. 04.18.10

     Szpak

     I had the same problem on my toshiba satellite, I also had internet device failure, i removed the battery and it worked ! thank you

550. 04.18.10

     bebahru

     Grace for all of those who found that this solution worked for them. It did not work for me with my Pentium 4 2.4GHz Windows XP Pro SP3. However, none of the MS solutions worked either. The solution for this and other PC issues is to purchase an Apple product!

551. 04.19.10

     neal

     thanks dude..it really worked for me too..

552. 04.20.10

     sarah

     OMG!! I love you! I have been messin' with this for an hour and going out of my mind…..I can't beleive it was so simple and now is like new again WOOHOO.

553. 04.21.10

     Brandenfascher

     Awesome tip, the method of unplugging the power cable seemed to resolve a similar issue where "USB Device not recognized" continuously pops up WITHOUT a USB cable plugged in. It was that, or that I blew a little dust out of the 3 laptop USB ports before turning it back on.

554. 04.22.10

     Chindam Praveen

     Hi All, Great Solution. It really worked for me too. Thanks a Ton !

555. 04.22.10

     avinash

     thx buddy , i was facing the same problem in sony vaio laptop, i have tried all the methods, uninstalling device and all, but I simply shut down my laptop and unplugged all the devices connected to it, then i removed the battery for 10 min, after that I turned it on and attached all the devices and power cables…and it worked! , u rock

556. 04.22.10

     Erwin

     Hello! Thanks a lot for your suggestion! It worked on my office desktop PC…My USB worries are over…!!

557. 04.23.10

     arun

     My 4GB Kingston USB still shows the same problem. I also have tried it on several other computers, every computer gives the same problem. No icon of USB is displayed in My Computer.

     I am so desperate and I am so helpless…what to do, i had all very very important data in it and i cant even recover it.

     If some body can help me find out the solution, I would be very thankx to him/her.

     Please mail me at: [email protected]

558. 04.23.10

     Cat

     Tnx bro!! it worked. My USB ports are all active again.

559. 04.24.10

     pavan

     I have this problem with my laptop from a week. One of my 3 USB ports stopped working. I tried your suggestion and it did not work. I did also remove the battery. pls give me another suggestion.

560. 04.26.10

     Mili

     Wow!!!! I finally got my USB ports working again…. Thanks a lot!!!!!!!

561. 04.26.10

     Dave

     You're brilliant!!! My USB ports were totally inoperative. I tried Device Manager changes, registry fixes and all the Microsoft BS. After two days of this I found your suggestion, unplugged my computer and one minute later everything's working normally. Like I said, you're brilliant!

562. 04.28.10

     Godswill

     All my four usb ports are not working.They suddenly ceased to work and i wonder what the problem is.Please give a more precise process/way of solving this problem i seem not to understand your explanation above.Thank you

563. 04.28.10

     Karen

     THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU! I went out a bought a new printer…..now I KNOW the old one works….but I don't want to pay the 35.00 restock fee!!!

564. 05.01.10

     Mookster

     I tried everything, including restarting, and nothing made a difference. Then I powered off by pressing the power button for 4 seconds, removed the battery (it's a laptop) and left if for a couple of minutes. Put the battery back in, switched on, and voila!!!

     Fantastic, simple advice.

     Cheers

565. 05.01.10

     Coast

     Unbelievable! Spent 1.5hours on phone with Dell Support and they couldn't help me. THanks!!!

566. 05.01.10

     Ham

     Ive had 20 years plus experience in the computer industry and would have thought I had some inkling on how to go about solving this problem but it has eluded me for quite some time. I thought it was just an XP issue but clearly this morning when I needed to get access to some photos on my flash card I hit it again on my Windows 7 machine.

     Your resolution solved the issue immediately for me. All I can say is thanks for sharing and Im kicking myself now as I have spent countless hours of the past 4-5 years trying to resolve this USB issue. The key is the power! You have to make sure that even the desktop power supply has had a chance to clear the power (there is a transformer there too). Shut down, unplug ..make a cup of tea .. and then try again. Top tip.

     Once again thanks!

567. 05.03.10

     Damon

     Thank you so much. I was getting frustrated when my Microsoft Wireless Mouse wasn't being recognized by my computer but this sure did fix the problem. Awesome post!!

568. 05.03.10

     Kondala Rao

     Oh BOY…!!! This is really works great…I faced the exact kind of problem and removed the power and removed the battery and connected….restated it and its working fine….great….

569. 05.04.10

     L Singh

     We were having this issue with one of the POS System and your solution fixed the issue within seconds. Thank you

570. 05.04.10

     Nikailuvsyou

     I've been having a lot of problems with this error for a while but this worked perfectly! Thanks so much for sharing!

571. 05.06.10

     Linda

     I am getting the same error except that my usb ports are working fine. I've checked them all out with other devices. My problem is only with my printer. The printer works ok, I did a test print directly from the printer. Windows just doesn't recognize it. Can anyone help?

572. 05.07.10

     Adriana

     usb not recognized-problem fixed

     Hello everybody. I had the same problem for months.I change the operating systems, took the battery out, I tried everything and nothing worked. Until now. I bought a device called "belkin usb 2.0 notebook card" I plug it in and it works instantly.I'm able to use my webcam, my printer, everything. I got it for 15 pounds from pc world but I'm sure you can find it cheaper on amazon. I hope it helps. good luck, Adriana

573. 05.08.10

     Joshua

     .. Oh wow. This actually worked. Initially I didn't want to try this fix, because it seemed.. Unprobable. But when my mouse, keyboard, printer and external harddisk stopped working, this was my last hope.

     And somehow it did the job. I bought a new harddisk because I thought my external hdd was broken.. Oh well~ That's 1TB of extra space

     Thanks for the fix, man! I'll remember this.

574. 05.08.10

     m.hnoor

     It's very important at first turn off your PC and unplug the power ( disconnect electricity) and after few minutest turn it on and check.

575. 05.09.10

     James

     I wish I had tried this first. My Verizon 720 modem just stopped working. I tried everything I could and it kept saying device not inserted or malfunctioning. I have been using the USB modem for about 2 and a half years so I decided to call Verizon and they said my device had gone bad and that I needed to upgrade. I figured that they programmed it to stop so they could get me back into a 2 year contract. Well lets see if this happens again in 2 years.

576. 05.09.10

     Zentaurus

     Thanks for this! You saved me from committing whoknowswhat. The thing is that I always hibernate the system (or most of the time) and I did it when my USB hub was connected, the next time I turned the comp on I got the error you say how to fix.

     I passed hours trying to fix it with those things to reinstall the hardware and blah blah blah and thanks Google I ended up here!

     En serio, ¡muchas gracias!

577. 05.10.10

     manjul

     when i insert a pendrive into every usb port of any computer it says malfunction! what i should do? I followed your instructions and it didn't work for me. Help!

578. 05.13.10

     changsong

     Thank you very much! Great tip and it worked!

579. 05.13.10

     Adam

     This was incredibly helpful. Thank you

580. 05.13.10

     Marth

     Dear, it doesnt work on my system. I think its not exact solution of the said problem. Well as mentioned below replies, it works some times in minor cases. Nice Tip.

581. 05.13.10

     David W

     I thought my computer was toast. I couldn't use the mouse or keyboard at all and couldn't get past my password screen. Holy smokes this was a godsend. Thank you. It really did work.

582. 05.15.10

     Criz

     i have the same problem with "arun" 4GB kingston flash drive is now "Not recognized" in every computer.. I already did what others have done like turn it off, reinstall and other bunch of stuff but still no progress at all..

     Plsss I beg all of you, help me with my problem..

     comments and suggestions is much aprecciated ^_^

583. 05.15.10

     Edwin

     Thanks for your help. This helped fix the problem.

584. 05.16.10

     Bill

     What an elegant and easy solution to a very big problem! Kudos to you for finding and sharing this! After my USB mouse stopped working on my laptop after a video editing program locked up, I noticed that the USB ports wouldn't recognize any of my flash drives or some of the external hard drives. I shut off the laptop, unplugged the power adaptor, rebooted, and immediately the USB mouse began to work again. The USB ports regained their functionality, too.

585. 05.17.10

     Uwe

     Normally i am cautious when reading such a tip But this is really a awesome tip. It really worked on my PC and it is really very easy. No configuration, no driver update…just unplugging your PC from power outlet. Thanks a lot!!!

586. 05.18.10

     Vivek

     Danggggg..it worked..thanks so much..!!:D

587. 05.21.10

     Jeff Lindsay

     Neither Sony tech support nor Logitech support could help. Sony ran extensive tests, uninstalled, reinstalled, ran a patch, etc., and finally asked me if I had any valuable data on my computer because they had determined that I needed to reformat the hard drive and start over. Nuclear option! Before I went nuclear, I found this page and voila – my mouse was working a few minutes later. So simple. I powered down and removed the battery, let it sit for a couple minutes, and then restarted. What a relief – after all those hours of inadequate but friendly support. I will admit that I was surprised at how available Sony tech support was. Hope they'll read this page, though, before they ask other customers if they by chance have anything valuable on their computer.

588. 05.24.10

     chaun

     bless you! i have been looking at forums all over the place to fix this pesky problem, thanks for the reminder to try the simple things first .. you rock!

589. 05.24.10

     45MH

     From URL: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/871233
     I was trying this method, and it was successful. Solved my problem of "USB not recognized".

     Method 2: Disable power management of the USB hub
     Note If you perform the following procedure, you may also reduce the battery life on a portable computer.

     Use this method if method 1 does not work. To disable power management of the USB hub, follow these steps:

     1. Click Start, click Run, type Devmgmt.msc, and then click OK. The Device Manager window opens.
     2. Expand Universal Serial Bus controllers.
     3. Right-click a USB Root Hub in the list, and then click Properties. The USB Root Hub Properties dialog box is displayed.
     4. Click the Power Management tab.
     5. Click to clear the Allow the computer to turn off this device to save power check box, and then click OK.
     6. Repeat steps 3 through 6 for each USB Root Hub in the list.
     7. On the Action menu, click Scan for hardware changes.

     Windows XP recognizes the new device.
     8. Close the Device Manager window.

590. 05.24.10

     atagaew

     Thank you so much, Man. Your suggestion helped me.

     Few days ago my mouse and other USB devices stop working. First i scared that something is wrong with my laptop and i have to replace some parts. But after reading your topic i turned the laptop off and removing battery from the slot. In 5 minutes i got my laptop recovered!!!! So quick, so simple!

     Thanks!

591. 05.25.10

     Linda

     Well, my problem was only related to my printer not being recognized. My USB drives all worked fined, unplugging the laptop and removing the battery did not help. But, I was going to buy a new printer so I unplugged it from the power and from the computer, then a few days later, luckily before I bought a new printer, I plugged it back into the laptop and it worked fine? So if unplugging the computer doesn't work, try unplugging the printer.

592. 05.25.10

     MMM

     Thanks man! it worked! No more USB device not recognized!!!

593. 05.28.10

     Ernie Lau

     Perfect! That's really works and simple. Thanks a lot.

594. 05.29.10

     Rita

     Thanks for such an easy solution. It worked for my mouse.

595. 05.30.10

     Grenzor

     THANK. YOU. A LOT:) My USB mouse is working again!:) Thank you:)

596. 06.02.10

     Joe

     I didn't think this would work, but I tried it. What else was there to do?

     I restarted my laptop and unplugged it both, and it worked.

597. 06.05.10

     Bill

     This has not worked for me :/ I still get this stupid error… please shoot me haha. Someone assist my poor computer.

598. 06.05.10

     rjrujr

     I unplugged my 1TB usb drive and it worked again. No need to reboot the PC.

599. 06.05.10

     Axl

     Many thanks to the person who posted the original fix. I wish all problems were able to be fixed by pulling out the plug!!

600. 06.07.10

     Nelson

     Hello Sir,

     My Jetflash 4GB flash drive gets recognized and shows 'Removable Disk (F:)' when I open 'MY COMPUTER'. But when I try to open, its says, 'Please insert a disk into Drive F:.' And when I checked the Properties it shows 'Used Space 0 bytes and Free Space 0 bytes. Afraid, can you please help me with some solution to retain my data.

     Thanks in advance.
     Nelson.

601. 06.08.10

     Mike

     I too can vouch for this solution. As an IT professional I tried every trick in the book regarding deleting and re-adding hardware. Nothing worked including reboots.

     Then I shut down, took out the laptop battery and rebooted to happiness. Maybe it’s voodoo but it works.

602. 06.09.10

     Gen

     It worked! I had the same problem, and I am sooooo glad to have come across this site. I unplugged the cord, waited 1 minute and, Voila! My mouse is back in action! So simple. Thank you.

603. 06.11.10

     Josh

     boot, as you suggest, and it fixed it. Stupid stupid.

604. 06.12.10

     Nig

     Worked for me. Legend! Tried absolutely everything for two days then found this post. I tried a few times and only left the laptop off for 10mins before rebooting and it didn't work (I have a Toshiba U500). Then I left my laptop on and let it run out of batteries, everything worked fine after booting it up.

     Thanks!

605. 06.12.10

     Karolina

     I had the same problem with my USB mouse on my laptop. I did what you said to do and IT WORKED!! Thank you so much

606. 06.13.10

     MAH

     Why didn't Microsoft tell us this wonderfully simple solution? THANK YOU!!

607. 06.15.10

     Chito Mercader

     It worked for me. I was already getting to the point where I was about to re-install the OS. Very simple solution.

608. 06.15.10

     Ben

     I hope someone can help. having trouble with a 2GB memory stick not being recognized. It worked this morning in a computer at the school where i teach but then i tried it an hour later and would not work. All other memory sticks work in the computer so why won't mine?

     I've tried the method which has helped so many of you (i.e. disconnecting power) but I'm really struggling here. And I'm about to cry as it has all my Univeristy work on it.

     I'm yet to see messages saying 'you're doomed' and i'm still hoping someone might be able to suggest a fix.

     Thanks

     Ben

609. 06.18.10

     Sebastian

     It Worked! Thanks for the tip!!

610. 06.19.10

     karen

     After much frustration over my USB mouse not working out of the blue (I hate the touchpad with a passion), I did the shutdown and restart and no help. Windows troubleshooting was no help as well.

     Then I found this article and am so thankful. That extra step of taking out the power plug is what did it. Problem fixed.

     Thank you!!

611. 06.21.10

     Jim

     I've experienced the same…too many USB devices connected, so unplugged external Maxtor hard drive, then device(s) recognized. How do I get around this??

     J

612. 06.22.10

     Tim

     Hey, thanks so very much. Fixed my Logitech mouse not being recognized.

     You're the best!

613. 06.24.10

     T

     I was getting the same USB unrecognized error in XP, with my iPhone 2G. I tried four different USB cables on multiple USB ports, on three different computers, and no luck. I finally took the iPhone apart, reseated all of the ribbon cables inside, put it back together, plugged it in, and it was detected as an iPhone device by Windows! Actually, it synced, then it was unrecognized, then it showed up again, then not, then again. I think there is something wrong with the motherboard in this phone.

614. 06.24.10

     Shane

     Worked!

615. 06.25.10

     Stan Bouchos

     Mate, you are a legend.

     I tried all the other stuff installing drivers etc did not work.
     - unplug power from laptop and restart – mouse is working again
     - unplug power from desktop and restart – display is working again

     I just happened to have 2 problems with 2 separate computers when I read this article.

     Thanks.

616. 06.25.10

     bambang

     Another Solution to solve USB device not recognized in Vista is: Run windows in 'safe mode' the go to start -> control panel -> system -> device manager. You will see the problem there. Just delete/uninstall it and then restart as normal windows.

     Usually the problem is not USB itself but windows reported as usb problem.

     Hope it helps.

     bambang

617. 06.26.10

     Bagya

     Thanks a million. How is it possible? I can't believe it, but it works.

     Thanks a lot.

618. 06.26.10

     linh

     Hi.

     I am also having this problem. I have tried my USB stick on 4 computers and still I am getting the same malfunctioning message.

     I tried what you said by pulling out the power supply, but still no good!!

619. 06.26.10

     Allen Spencer

     I have a Kingston DATA TRAVELER DTI/4GB USB pen drive.

     I'm having a problem where when I insert the USB device, it is showing that the USB device is not recognized. In the device manager, it is showing that no driver is installed properly.

     I am unable to sort out this problem.

     Thanks,
     Allen

620. 06.29.10

     Raelene

     Thanks heaps. A few days ago all my unused usb ports came up with the unrecognised bubble each time i tried to use them. I spent several hours going through all sorts of things to try to fix the problem. Then i found your site and it took 1 minute to fix it and they are all up and running again. My husband had suggested unplugging the hard drive but that was so he could chuck it out the window!!!! We still can't believe how simple the solution was. Thanks again.

621. 06.30.10

     PD

     I have 4 USB ports in my laptop all are working, but then also it shows the message that USB device is not working. What should i do?

622. 06.30.10

     Paul

     WOW – unplugging the computer from the wall worked and my USB ports were functioning aerror message appeared again and the ports don't work! Ugh!!!!!

623. 07.01.10

     Tammy

     You are a hero, I have battled this and lost before. Today I spent another wasted few hours and then found this. I was moments away from throwing my PC out the window!!!

624. 07.01.10

     Julia Bax

     I had this problem. I was so annoyed with my stupid Vaio that I turned it off, removed the battery, shook it, screamed at it… and then I turned it on aand then I found this! I tried my tablet one more time and lo and behold, it works!
     Awesome tip! Thank you very much for the insight!
     Julia

625. 07.02.10

     Nishad

     thank you very much. i had a problem in my pendrive, i applied the solution which you given and its working, i got all my important data back. thank you

626. 07.03.10

     bharat parmar

     Thanks a lot..! My USB ports work fine now..

627. 07.03.10

     David Querido

     I can't thank you enough for this article, and for the explanation as to why this fix works. It's saved my bacon on two occasions in the past month.

628. 07.03.10

     Vinodh

     Had this problem for a while & not sure how to fix it. Found the answer, just unplugged & replugged my computer power supply. WOW! & it worked. thx…

629. 07.04.10

     Penny

     I was getting the message USB Device not Recognised, even though I had no USB devices plugged in. When I did plug something in they wouldn't work. I clicked onto the bubble but it wouldn't show anything. I turned off the computer, unplugged waited for 2 hours. Then went back on and of course it hadn't worked. Then I remembered that a few days earlier I had downloaded some photos onto my computer from my Cruzer micro 8GB memory stick and that when I had finished I had pulled it out of my computer without clicking onto 'Remove Hardware Safely'. I plugged in my memory stick and this time clicked on 'Remove Hardware Safely' and highlighted my Cruzer. I didn't remove it until I got the message that it was safe to remove it. That fixed my problem.

630. 07.04.10

     Bery

     Thanks a lot, last time I had to reinstall the OS on my laptop!!! This time I did whay you suggested and I removed my laptop battery. All my USB ports started working again!

     Thanks!!!!!!!

631. 07.07.10

     sylvester

     I have a flash drive that is not recognized on my PC but on some PCs it is recognized. There is no "This device is not recognized error." I tried to switch off the PC and unplug the socket but it still seems to not be working.

632. 07.10.10

     Dwel

     Thank you. It worked!!!

633. 07.10.10

     Determined

     I did what you said, and, afterward, I couldn't even start up my PC. I had to leave it off for the night. Oh, and it fixed nothing.

634. 07.14.10

     JRP!

     My Blackjack II stopped working. My computer for some reason thought it was a gaming device. I uninstalled the driver and tried this solution, and it worked!

     Thanks, guy!

635. 07.15.10

     DK

     You, sir, are amazing. You have just saved me hours of troubleshooting and frustration. I am extremely happy to have stumbled upon this page. I just got the error message on my Vista desktop and thought today was going to be a grueling day on trying to fix it. Your advice was great. It worked beautifully.

     Thank you.

636. 07.16.10

     Dan

     I also have to give credit where it is due.

     I have an HP PRO 3000MT with Windows 7 x64.

     All of the sudden my printer stopped working. I thought it was it's time, until I noticed a USB error that I couldn't fix quickly. A few days later, I noticed my USB Webcam wasn't working. Then, all of my USB thumb drives. I did what all tech people do. I googled the heck out of a driver update or a fix. When I saw this, I said no way. But it worked!

     I think you should update the post to reflect Windows 7 for all the others looking for this fix and are blaming Windows 7.

     Thanks,
     Dan – PMP, MCSE, A+, NET+

637. 07.19.10

     Jim Gee

     Worked for me. Thank's a lot.

638. 07.19.10

     melissa

     It really does not work. I tried it, waited 2 minutes while it was unplugged. And now my iPod won't turn on. The iPod worked perfectly before I tried this.

639. 07.21.10

     Tony Brearley

     Thank You!!! I would never have believed this would work, but it did. The problem was sooo frustrating and confusing. Even my USB connected printer would not work and re-installing the software did not work either. I had to go back to a parallel printer connection!! I would never have come up with this fix in a million years.

640. 07.22.10

     Sam

     Doesn't work for me. Windows Vista 32-bit, external hard drive.

     Any ideas?

641. 07.22.10

     Seb

     Thanks. That helped. I almost freaked when I saw that my iPod wasn't being recognized.

642. 07.24.10

     Meraj

     Thanks Man,

     It definitely works, I did it for my Sony Vaio laptop. Unplugged the power, removed the battery for 5 minutes or so, and everything went as you have suggested.

     This problem appeared from nowhere and I was quite perturbed. I tried a system restore a couple of times before I went to Google and found your suggestion.

     I appreciate your help.

643. 07.25.10

     Farouk

     Brilliant!! I've spent 2 weeks reloading XP Service Packs, restoring to previous save points, downloading patches, fixes, etc., etc., but all to no avail.

     I REALLY need to thank you for this solution, as I was on the verge of getting a new PC.

     Keep looking out for us, please.

644. 07.28.10

     Thomas

     Thank you so much! =)

645. 07.28.10

     Harold

     Similar USB problem. Some, but not all of my external hard drives (mass storage) are recognized by system, but are not assigned drive letters so I may access them. These same drives work fine in other computers, but no matter which port I plug them into, I get no drive letter assigned. I'm in Windows 7 and this problem just began occurring recently. It is only 2 drives that when plugged in will still work (in any USB port I choose), but all the others are recognized in Device Manager. I've tried everything I can think of.

646. 07.30.10

     choo

     Wish that I read this before installing Windows 3 times!

     Thank You!!!

647. 07.30.10

     Dave G

     Freaking Amazing! Spent two 1-hour plus sessions on the phone with Dell Tech support over my almost new XP9000 with the same problem. It even caused crashes at start up from time to time (blue screen). Dell's end response both times was to reinstall Windows 7. What a chore that would have been! Stumbled on this page via Google. Tried unplugging it for several minutes and was amazed the problem is now fixed!!!

     One quick note: Dell had me temporarily disable the driver. I did enable the driver again before shutting down the PC and using the unplug remedy.

648. 08.01.10

     Hani M.

     I have a USB flash drive and it showed "not recognized" in all computers I plugged it in.

     Any help with this?

649. 08.01.10

     Pete

     This tip didn't work for me, but a good suggestion. I'll have to remember to use it as a first thing to try, in the future. Thanks for posting!

     What did work:

     Updating the BIOS!!

650. 08.01.10

     George

     Hi.

     Thank you. Unplugging does work, but I doubt it is for the reason you suggest ("Sometimes the motherboard needs to be “rebooted” also because something can go wrong, i.e., all your USB ports suddenly stop working. The small microprocessor on the motherboard will reload the drivers and your USB ports should be back to recognizing all devices!").

     I had the exact same problem you describe with an Iomega external hard drive and nothing except unplugging worked. My computer dual boots XP Pro and Ubuntu. While in Windows, the drive would not be recognized but functioned normally with a warm reboot into Ubuntu. I tried multiple times in Windows and multiple times in Ubuntu. Every time the result was the same: not recognized in Windows but functioning normally in Ubuntu. Finally, I did a Google search, found your unplug solution and it worked like a charm, first time.

     My conclusion is that this is a Windows bug and not a hardware problem.

651. 09.02.10

     Linda M

     Wow. I read this and was like, "No way…" – My computer randomly decided to not recognize my Logitech camera… and this did the trick!

652. 09.02.10

     Indigothunder

     After reading through the site and trying the unplug method, which didn't work. I saw the tips from #197 and #242 about the extension cord to my USB hard drive.

     I had recently bought a new extension which was not standard in that it had a zip type cord. I got it in a dollar store. It was probably built somewhere exotic. Once I put the only USB extension cord back in use my hard drive once again worked and I no longer received that annoying comment

     "USB device not recognized" and unknown device. Thank god I didn't reformat! Thanks for all the tips everyone.

     My tip – always do your basic troubleshooting first: change out cables, batteries, etc. before you start downloading drivers and wiping harddrives.

653. 09.03.10

     Rob

     Try changing the USB cable – that's what was giving me (USB Device not recognized). Give it a try

654. 09.05.10

     kk

     genius!

     such a simple solution solving this frustrating problem.

     lost connection to my external Seagate harddisk and all usb-sticks, almost went down the road of trying to reinstall everything but switched the main power on/off and there you go all running as before.

     thanks a million

     kk

655. 09.06.10

     Kashy

     You are amazing!! Fantastic….When people complain about losing data – I am in awe at the fact that their documents are kept in one place! Lone behold I did the same.

     Nevertheless…..THANK YOU sooo very much

     It worked!!!! Just the plug. Thank YOU!!!

     K

656. 09.08.10

     mike

     Wow! Great when a simple suggestion works the first time. Somehow, plugging my (not so) smart phone into my pc messed up the recognition of my Logitech wireless keyboard and mouse. After a half day with Toshiba (pc) and Logitech and messing around, your solution was spot on! Thank you!

657. 09.09.10

     Vernon

     Like everyone else I got very clever (install, disable, re-scan, etc) – and got to the point that none of the 6 USB ports were working and therefore no mouse, keyboard or Internet.

     Suggestion worked – you have given a gift that keeps on giving – Thank You.

658. 09.10.10

     Don

     Unplugging power supply from Sony Vaio Laptop running Vista. Fixed the USB D3evice Not Recognized problem after hours of trying other things. Unbelievable! Thanks!

659. 09.13.10

     BERTHA

     no words can describe how grateful i am to you. we where even contemplating buying another desk top which we can't afford at the moment cause our daughter just started her 1st year of college and that left us a little low in cash. she kept insisting that her friend told her that our desk top was too old and that was creating the problem with the usb. i decided to search the internet to see if there was a more logical answer to the problem and "WOW" there was your magnificent solution which we right away performed and it worked like magic. GOD BLESS YOU AND THANK YOU FROM THE BOTTOM OF OUR HEARTS.

660. 10.24.10

     Jim

     Excellent!!!

     Worked great and resolved not only the USB issue, but also the headaches caused by them…

     Thanks!!

     Jim

661. 10.30.10

     Yunis

     Hi,

     I have a USB device that does not work on other computers. It is likely that the reading mechanism in my USB device has been damaged which prevents the computer from accessing it. Whenever I stick the USB device in my computer it results in the message "USB device not recognized". If my USB device is physically damaged, how can I repair it?

     Look forward to helpfull answers and solutions.

     Kind regards,

     Yunis

662. 11.02.10

     Bruce Godfrey

     This was a great tip. Huge time savings over calling the help line and having them walk you through uninstalling and reinstalling the drivers which I did last time. Since it was on a laptop I assume you also have to take the battery out. Anyhow it worked.

663. 11.03.10

     Shelby

     I have a ZEN Mozaic Mp3 player and every time I plug it into the computer it says USB not recognized. I followed all the directions very clear and I'm still not seeing a change. help?

664. 11.03.10

     GeeDub

     Brilliant!! Myself and a collegaue spent about 2hours yesterday afternoon googling the issue and installing drivers etc as my mouse and iPhone etc were being powered but not actually recognised or working etc. We shut the PC down several times but never occured to us to actually unplug it!

     Will pass this on to out tech team for their future knowledge.

665. 11.04.10

     Ron Ramos

     whoa! it really does work!

     I was skeptical at first so I decided i would take out everything (battery and CMOS battery). I couldn't find the CMOS battery so I just followed the steps described…

     and it really worked!

     Thank you so much!

666. 11.05.10

     Rob

     Just change the USB cable it may be faulty

667. 11.06.10

     Bob

     Worked for me! This was the only post on this useful tip on the entire Internet.

668. 11.07.10

     Andreea

     YOU MUST CHANGE THE CABLE. TRUST ME, IT WORKS.

669. 11.08.10

     Pam

     I'm glad I tried this before installing new drivers ect. Worked perfect. You saved me alot of time and a trip to the repair shop. Thank you so much.

670. 11.08.10

     carl

     Thank you sooooo much!! It works!! I tried to reinstall the mouse driver but it didn't work. Can't believe it! This tip is so useful.

671. 11.10.10

     Rob

     The first thing to try – is to change the USB cable for one that you know is ok.

     Worked for me

672. 11.12.10

     Dave

     This worked, couldn't believe it! and I'm a 10 year techie!!!

673. 01.28.11

     Victor Arias

     Man, thank you so much!

674. 07.20.11

     VT

     Thank you very much for your tip…. i almost lost my mind, because i repaired, scanned, fixed, etc all kind of settings, but then i just wrote to Google "fix USB recognize"… and found this article and now everything works fine!

     I actually know this solution, but after my first laptop – now (always desktop PC – before), i realized that i don't switch off power almost ever, because there is always sleep, Hibernation, etc function enabled.

675. 07.23.11

     Malu

     Thank you man.
     I cant believe it's this simple.
     My problem is solved. I just have to come in and say Thank you

676. 07.23.11

     Naveen

     Wonderful!!! It did work!!!

     Thank you so very much.

     - Naveen
     India

677. 08.07.11

     Xhafa

     Thankx man!! I had this problem every 5-8 weeks heheh. I am so happy finding a solution for this problem now. Thank you very much. Greetz from Germany

678. 08.16.11

     shoshana

     Great!

     It works!

     I cant believe it’s so simple.

     Thank!

679. 08.19.11

     Gü

     Worked fine! Thx.

680. 08.21.11

     Earl Andrew M. Casta

     It worked!

     Thank you so much… (teary eye)

     God Bless. :'D

681. 08.22.11

     Ray

     Thanks so much!! Running Vista 32 bit on a and Problem Solved!! You are a GENIUS!!!

682. 08.25.11

     David Izard

     Hey people…. This really works!!! Not only did it bring my USB's back but my webcam wasn't recognised by windows also…. That too, came back!!! Thankyou Dude!!! xXx

683. 08.27.11

     addy

     I've been in the business since the mid 90s and I tried everything I knew but was totally dumbfounded.Then I goggled "usb not recognised " and found this page.All i can say is THANK YOU !.You've no idea how much pain you have saved me.

     Good luck to you Sir.

     Addy

     London

684. 08.30.11

     dann

     uhu!!

     Thx, it did work to me too!!

     I remove the battery from my laptop to work…

     thx for the tip.

685. 08.31.11

     Susanne Millar

     Wow. It worked. I've tried everything under the sun including all that you mentioned in your post. I hope I don't have to remember to do it too often, but if I do, it sure is simple.

     Thanks!!

686. 08.31.11

     Alexdjonline

     Maaaaaaaan, as all the folks here, i came to say thanks cause, i would not have guessed this simple solution. Thank you!!!!

687. 09.05.11

     mandla

     shutting down and pulling out everything really works…thanks

688. 09.09.11

     nate

     i have the same problem it started when i unpluged my usb device without safely removing it (at ze taskbar) so will this solution work on the computer i unpluged my usb from or any other pc thanks i hope this solution works

689. 09.11.11

     DJ

     thanks alot man i cant believe it worked i never thought it would be so simple

690. 01.11.12

     Doug

     So what do you do when this does NOT work?

     Only some of the usb decives don't work some do some don't?

     Help with my problem greatly appreciated

     Doug

691. 03.29.12

     oleh

     Thanks for advice in advace;

     how to fix usb device (wireless modem) compatibility's problem with Windows 7. in program's requirements for this modem W7 is not presented. driver installed manually only;

     then driver manager informs device doesn't need up-date and

     work correctly; but at the time of pluggin in W7 doesn't recognize modem; i can only manually open the content of

     E:

     this modem Wireless Samsung modem model Z810_230XE was very comfotable for me because it supported

     almost all world's internet provoders sim cards.(so you do not have to buy other modem changing providers) BUT NOT WITH W7! I made request to MS but no answer. request to samsung customer service without answer too.

     Oleh.

692. 05.21.12

     Azure

     are you KIDDING ME!?!?!!? Here I was going insane and this SIMPLE solution bonked me right on the head. Mouse works perfectly on my laptop now, THANKS SO MUCH!!

693. 05.23.12

     Jessica Denise

     Wow…this legitimately worked. It also fixed my broken webcam…so simple but SOOO helpful! Thank you!

694. 06.05.12

     angrysquirrel

     Spent the last 2 hours uninstalling and reinstalling drivers, and looking for updated drivers. I stumbled upon this article and tried it. IT FREAKING WORKED!!!

695. 06.11.12

     julia

     Indeed unbelievable; I run into this web site after hours of trying to fix the USB issue.

     I called IT support people from Dell, Microsoft, PC Cleaners, etc… They looked into my laptop, they tried to sell me all kind of service packages & products, but nobody was even close to the real issue…

     Thank you!

696. 06.11.12

     Ron

     I had the problem that I could not print anything and all USB ports were not working, also the date and time had altered to ( 23.00hrs and year 2002 ) a message came up saying, USB device not recognised. My problem turned out to be the ( Lithium Battery ) which is on the motherboard. this battery holds a small memory for the cmos, date and time, I replaced the battery, reset the cmos time and date and everything went back to normal working.

697. 06.14.12

     mike

     OK, I was ABSOLUTELY convinced that this would NOT work. I had spent days trying to ‘fix’ this problem and even bought this totally BOGUS software called DRIVERBOOST which did NOTHING to ‘fix’ the problem … (although they advertise it fixes’ it) … and so I tried your fix and it WORKED! Wow! Thanks!

698. 06.17.12

     Beanz

     Wow – unplugging the laptop power supply worked! My Dell laptop (W7) now sees the USB thumb drive again. WooHoo! I appreciate reading all the previous posts on this solution from others who tried it because you saved me and those drive files!

     That action then reminded me that I had a small HP 5510 printer a few years ago that, if the printer was left “On” when unplugged from USB port, a previous Dell laptop wouldn’t recognize the printer if you then plugged the printer back into USB port. Unplugging the printer from the wall power outlet didn’t do the trick either. I had to unplug half of PRINTER power cord (not the laptop power cord) from the rectangular electric box unit on the PRINTER power cord. Once i did that, and then replugged cord together, the laptop would recognize the printer again in the USB slot.

     So simple, yet so weird of a solution and i had forgotten all about it until reading your posts with similar solution to solve my USB thumb drive issue.
     Thanks to all who went before me and for running this site for us!

699. 06.17.12

     Rafael

     It worked perfectly for me. Man how I love simple solutions! Thanks a lot!

700. 06.18.12

     Meg

     I am hoping this thread is still active, as I am having this message pop up on my laptop several times a minute. BUT I don’t even have a USB connected, and when I click on the balloon, it doesn’t show any drivers installed. Anyone know of a fix for this?

     Thanks!

701. 06.21.12

     radha

     It worked! Thank you

702. 07.17.12

     USB

     I took the battery out of my laptop and left it out all night after getting this message, but it still doesn’t work.

     It’s not “that simple”.