Windows 7: USB Device Not Recognized

Hi,

While working on my laptop yesterday evening, my mouse & external hdd stopped responding. On ejecting & re-inserting them both started getting this message 'USB Device Not Recognized'.

Now none of my three USB ports are working. Though on cross checking, the devices are working on other machine.



The message is getting flashed repeatedly. Also, observed that my battery got drained while it was switched off throughout the night. Have never faced either of these issues with almost 20months of working with Windows 7 Pro.

Pls assist.

Welcome Parry,

I'm sorry to hear about your problems your having!

Have you unplugged the power cord/charger and then remove the battery completely with the PC off. Give it a good minute or so then reconnect both and reboot

Also check the device manager for any devices (esp. USB related) that have yellow or red symbols on their icon, when nothing is plugged in the usb ports

additionally if you have media card slots check them since they are merely a usb channel, just like the others. - I'm not too sure if the battery has usb connect, i don't think Ive ever heard of that (you know to sense and adjust the power required)

Many internal wireless network cards run off a usb channel so check and see if you have wireless support (assuming you have a wireless transmitter)

Although there are other possible scenarios, that other members will surely offer in time, from the symptoms you described there is, in my opinion:

• almost certainly a hardware issue.
• it probably involves 1 of 3 things.

1. 1. A loose or bad contact (corroded over time) or wire connecting the USB ports to the MOB
   2. A problem with at least one of the rails in the power supply, (may also account for battery issue) [Check power levels in bios setup if possible - although sensors aren't always correct either]
   3. a "burnt-out" USB controller IC, or similar issue with a piece literally soldered on the MOB. [albeit, a worst case scenario]

Remember everything breaks, it's just a matter of when, and how bad. Some HDD's make it one day, some get thrown out with 10yr old systems in working condition still, I'm just hoping it's not your laptops day!

Lemme know what comes from what I talked about in the aforementioned text!

Sincerely,
Mike



EDIT: I just noticed that these are 3 OS's listed in your specs, is it a multiboot system, or do you mean seperate computers? make sure I understand what the machine that has the probem has running for an OS! If it is a multiboot, I am curious if you had the same issue with all the OS's or just tryed one, etc...

Thanks Mike for replying & assistance.

Switching off the laptop, removing the battery & adapter - Did the trick!

Had it the first thing on my mind, just that was downloading a file; wanted it to finish.

4 different OS's are for separate machine.

Am planning to go for dual boot with one of my desktop's if you could have a look at my thread over here: http://www.sevenforums.com/general-d...dual-boot.html

Parry,

I'm glad that worked for you! That was a "best case scenario" situation!

(remember the "power off / power on" trick is a regarded as an industry secret, and must not leak out, or computer repair techs would suffer tremendous loss of income on a global scale, so just help maintain the hush-hush status-quo,...okay)

although i am obviously kidding, it's not entirely untrue, I'd guess 10-15% of issues resolve this way, especially the "weird cases"!

I'll stop by the other thread in a bit.

Glad I could help,
Mike

I had a similar problem with my desktop. The USB devices would stop functioning on a random basis. At first it was just my 3D Connexion mouse which caused me to think that was where the problem lay. I spent months trying to fix the issue. Then all USB devices started to go off. I applied the "cut the power then boot up again" trick and it seemed to work for a short while, but then it came back.

I eventually found thread in a forum where someone suggested the following.

Goto Control Panel > System and Security > Power Options

Click on the button to create My Custom Plan 1.

Click on Change Advanced Power Settings

Scroll down to USB settings and open this. Set Selective Suspend Settings to Disabled.

Save your new power plan.

So far this has worked for me. No more USB drop-outs.