What to do when your USB device doesn't work

Clearly, something is broken. But is it hardware, software, the device or the computer? That's going to take some experimentation.

First, let's get the obvious out of the way: Unplug the device, then plug it again. Did that fix the problem?

If not, unplug it again, reboot your PC, and then plug it in again. Did that help? How about trying another port?

No? Well, it was worth a try. Since the problem persists, let's get on to more serious tests.

Try the same device on another PC, and try another USB device on your PC.

If the device fails to work on both PCs, you have a defective device. You might be able to fix the problem with a driver update. USB devices are supposed to install their own drivers when you plug them into a PC, but occasionally that doesn't work.

Go to the device manufacturer's website and see if there is a Windows driver available. If you there is, download and install the driver.

If that won't solve the problem, accept that you've got a defective device. If it's new, go hunting for the receipt try to get your money back.

If the device works on another computer, but not on yours, yet other devices do work on your PC, try installing the driver as described above.

If that doesn't work, or if all devices fail on your PC, the problem is with your computer. But is it a hardware or software problem?
  1. Try re installing the USB port drivers. Here's how:
  2. Just to be safe, create a restore point. In the Start menu's Search field, or in Windows 8's Search charm, type restore point, and select Create a restore point. Click the Create button and follow the prompts. Don't continue until the restore point has been created.
  3. Close all running programs.
  4. Open Device Manager. In the Start menu's Search field, or in Windows 8's Search charm, type device, and select Device Manager.
  5. Once in Device Manager, go to the Universal Serial Bus controllers section.
  6. Right-click the first listing and select Uninstall. Repeat for all of the others.

When you're done, reboot. Windows will automatically reinstall the drivers.

Warning: If you're using an external keyboard and mouse, uninstalling one of the USB devices may effectively freeze your PC. If this happens, manually reboot the PC and everything will be okay.

If none of this works, you may have a defective USB port. At this point, I suggest you bring your PC to a professional

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Enterprise CA option is greyed out / unavailable

Many times, when installing Active Directory Certificate Services they cannot choose to install Enterprise Certification Authority, because it’s unavailable as in following picture: Well, you need to fulfill basic requirements: Server machine has to be a member server (domain joined). You can run an Enterprise CA on the Standard, Enterprise, or Data Center Windows Edition. The difference is the number of ADCS features and components that can be enabled. To get full functionality, you need to run on Enterprise or Data Center Windows Server 2008 /12/R2/ Editions.  In order to install an Enterprise CA, you must be a member of either Enterprise Admins or Domain Admins in the forest root domain (either directly or through a group nesting). If issue still persists, there is probably a problem with getting correct credentials of your account. There are many thing that can cause it (network blockage, domain settings, server configuration, and other issues). In all ca
Read more

Rearm the Office 2013 installation

Image
There is a 25-day grace period from the time of installation of Key Management Service (KMS) clients before notifications to activate are displayed to the user. If you want to deploy an image, you must rearm your Office 2013 installation before you capture the image. If you do not rearm, users see notification dialog boxes at the time that the image is deployed, instead of 25 days after deployment. The 25-day grace period gives ample time for a KMS host to be found and activation to succeed. If activation is successful, users do not see notifications to activate. Rearm the Office installation Rearming does the following important tasks: Resets the grace timer to 30 days. Freezes the grace timer until either an Office application is run, or the ospp.vbs script is run. Resets the client computer ID (CMID). This is important because the KMS host uses the CMID to determine the num
Read more

MP has rejected registration request due to failure in client certificate

Image
Issue:- We have System Center Configuration Manager 2012 R2 deployed on Windows Server 2008R2 host. Recently we have moved our Certification Authority to Windows Server 2012 , renewed Root CA Certificate and intermediate Certificates also migrated Hashing algorithm from 'sha1' to 'sha2'  . New Root CA and intermediate CA also present on client machines and on SCCM. However, i have discovered these errors on MP: MP has rejected registration request due to failure in client certificate (Subject Name: ) chain validation. If this is a valid client ,  Even though Newly imaged machines are getting SCCM client installed but won't see all the client cycle under 'Actions tab' and also  'client certificate shows "None".  The operating system reported error 2148204809: A certificate chain processed, but terminated in a root certificate which is not trusted by the trust provider.  Solution:- Register  new Certificate of Root CA    under SCCM20
Read more