These are all great ideas but, links to instructions would be really nice.
Videos
What to Do When Windows Cannot Detect New USB Device
To check if Windows detects your USB device, you need to go to Device Manager to see if your USB device is listed under the appropriate heading or listed with an error. For example, an appropriate heading for a USB serial adapter is Ports (COM & LPT). The USB device is displayed in Device Manager under the name of the chipset. To find the name of the chipset for your product, navigate to https://www.startech.com, search for your product, and click the Technical Specifications tab.
To open Device Manager, press the Windows key + R, type devmgmt.msc, and press Enter.
If you install a new USB device and Windows cannot detect the USB device, you can perform some quick tests to rule out potential issues.
- Open Device Manager and then disconnect the USB device from your computer. Wait a few moments and then reconnect the device. You should see a device disappear from Device Manager when you remove the device, and it should appear again when you reconnect the device.
- Connect the USB device to another USB port.
- Connect the USB device to another computer.
- Update the USB device drivers.
Why is my USB device not being recognized by my computer?
How do I troubleshoot a USB device not recognized error?
These are all great ideas but, links to instructions would be really nice.
Hello reggieee,
Welcome to Microsoft Community.
It sounds like you've already gone through several important troubleshooting steps for your USB port issues. Since you've already tried uninstalling and reinstalling drivers, restarting your computer, and checking for physical obstructions, here are a few more suggestions you could explore:
- Check for Windows Updates: Sometimes, issues with USB ports can be resolved through a system update. Make sure your operating system is up to date.
- Check BIOS/UEFI Settings: Sometimes, USB ports can be disabled in the system BIOS/UEFI. Restart your computer and access the BIOS/UEFI settings (usually by pressing a key like F2, Del, or Esc during startup). Look for settings related to USB and ensure they are enabled.
- Try Safe Mode: Boot your computer in Safe Mode to see if the USB ports work there. If they do, it might indicate a software or driver conflict in your normal operating system environment.
- Power Management Settings: Sometimes, power management settings in Windows can turn off USB ports to save energy. You can adjust these settings by going into Device Manager, expanding the 'Universal Serial Bus controllers' section, right-clicking on USB Root Hub (USB 3.0), and going to Properties. Under the Power Management tab, uncheck the option that allows the computer to turn off the device to save power.
- Check Device Manager for Errors: Go to Device Manager and see if there are any yellow exclamation marks next to any of the USB controllers. This could indicate a problem with the drivers or hardware.
- Use a Powered USB Hub: As a workaround, you might consider using a powered USB hub. This can sometimes help if the issue is related to power supply from the USB ports.
- Check for Hardware Issues: Since you've mentioned that the issue might not be software-related, it's possible there could be a hardware problem with the USB ports. This might involve checking the internal connections if you're comfortable opening up your PC, or taking it to a professional for repair.
- Reset CMOS: Sometimes, resetting the CMOS (which clears BIOS/UEFI settings to default) can solve hardware-related issues. You'd typically do this by removing the CMOS battery from your motherboard for a few minutes, then reinserting it.
Thank you for your patience and understanding! If you have any questions, feel free to leave us a message.
Sincerely
Manson | Microsoft Support Specialist
I wanted to try dualbooting into Linux so I could try out the OS while being able to switch back to Windows any time I wanted. So I grabbed a flash drive, plugged it in, and it... didn't work. It doesn't show up in File Explorer, it doesn't show up in Disk Management, it doesn't even show up when listing disks in cmd. The only places it showed up were Device Manager and the "Bluetooth & other devices" settings, and in the latter it told me "Driver Unavailable". With some Googling, the best answer I found was that "your flash drive is busted."
This was frustrating, but not entirely unexpected. I had dropped the flash drive into a bowl of milk years ago and I'm honestly surprised it survived that. So I assumed this was it finally giving out. Thankfully, I had also recently discovered an old Micro SD card hidden behind my XBox, so grabbed my USB converter and... it had the exact same issue. Weird, but also fair, I suppose. It probably got damaged over the however long it was stuck back there. Fine then, I grabbed the Micro SD card out of my 3DS and planned to use that, so I plugged it in and... the exact same problem again?
Now I KNOW something's up. My 3DS is able to read the Micro SD just fine. And even without that, what are the odds that 3 separate devices are all fucked up in the exact same way? All other USB devices, like controllers and, of course, my keyboard and mouse, work perfectly, it's solely flash drives that are the issue. Does anyone know what could be causing this?
Edit: I ended up reinstalling windows, was having some other issues as well, and it ended up fixing the issue.
You'll need professional data recovery to save it.
The fact that the drive doesn't appear in Device Manager gives a glimpse of hope that it's a simple electrical connection issue, maybe solvable by soldering a new connector. That's the optimistic scenario with a relatively cheap fix.
The other scenario is that at least the USB controller is dead and advanced data recovery will be necessary. Unfortunately it won't be cheap.
The lessons to learn here are:
- Backups are important. Backups of important documents are very important.
- Flash drives and SD cards are notoriously unreliable.
I had one that got very hot too (while writing a linux ISO onto it). That was also a SanDisk (Ultra Dual I think, anyway with both micro USB and USB-A). I never managed to read/write it again, but I never tried very hard.
However small a drive is, it shouldn't get hot - the control chip is the same and there's no heatsink. The current draw should be less than 100mA so less than 0.5W. A different drive I have here draws 58mA (I have a USB lead with an ammeter wired into it). That's 290mW which would be faintly warm at most in something that size.
Heat means at least the power lines are making contact. I suspect that rather than a broken connection there's a short circuit - either damage or debris inside. Your comment that Windows knows something has been plugged in but not what it is would tend to reinforce that idea. This may already have destroyed the controller chip.
It's probably already ruined, and as you have important documents on there you should probably be looking at an expensive recovery service. But if you want to try something yourself, open it up and clean it.
I would be curious to try and definitely don't recommend swapping the actual flash IC into an identical drive. That would be hard but doable with facilities I can borrow in work, but not with a typical hobbyist soldering setup.
As title states above. The motherboard is the AsRock Taichi x570. I installed the Windows media creation tool , motherboard WIFI driver (No hard wire possible) and the Motherboard Utility driver onto the Flash Drive. When putting in the flash drive, the computer is not detecting the USB. All the USB ports on the PC are working because I have all the peripherals attached. I am going to boot up menu (F11) and the PC recognizes the USB through that. Any advice/recommendations would be greatly appreciated.
Edit: Hey everyone, I fixed removing the windows media creation tool and motherboard drivers from flashdrive. I than recreated the Windows media creation tool back onto the flashdrive and booted up the PC straight from the flashdrive. Thanks so much everyone for your input! Trying to work my way through my first build and I greatly appreciate it!
Hi,
When I insert usb drive my pc doesn't mount it and it is not visible inside partition manager. But pc makes standard usb sound when drive is inserted.
Then I have to go to device manager disable this flash drive, enable it and reset the pc for usb drive to be accessible.
I have to do this every time when I want to use USB drive. Doesn't matter which drive I use it is always the same drill(disable,enable,reset).
This problem is driving me nuts, do you guys have any solution ?
Thanks.