"USB Device Not recognized" error keeps popping up and USB devices do not work

Anonymous
2009-04-19T23:29:47+00:00

I keep recieving the USB not recognized error on my HP Vista home laptop.

Windows for home | Previous Windows versions | Devices and drivers

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Anonymous
2015-03-30T22:55:22+00:00

For anyone else that may be having this problem at the date I am making this comment and are running windows 8.1 there is an update that fixes it! 

http://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/3013769#fixed\_issues

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Anonymous
2009-05-08T16:47:16+00:00

KenRD,

I am sorry we were not able to resolve your issue for you at this time.  However, if your operating system needs to be re-installed and you do not have a copy of Windows, you will need to contact the manufacturer of your computer for assistance.  Normally OEM's place the Windows OS in a recovery partition with instructions on how to mke a CD or DVD from those files. 

Thank you,

Gloria

Microsoft Answers Support Engineer

Visit our Microsoft Answers Feedback Forum and let us know what you think.

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Anonymous
2009-10-26T01:29:36+00:00

There is possibly an unbelievably simple solution to the “USB device not recognized ” error which worked for me. 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!

!\[\](http://www.online-tech-tips.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/07/usbdevicenotrecognized-thumb.png)

So I started with the normal fixing methods, including uninstalling the drivers for my devices and reinstalling them. That didn’t work! Next I tried System Restore thinking that maybe I had installed something and it caused a conflict with the USB system drivers. That didn’t work!

I read online that in order to fix this problem I should go to Device Manager and uninstall all of the devices under USB Controllers. Restarted the computer, reinstalled the USB drivers, but the problem STILL did not go away!

You may also see in Device Manager that the device shows up as an “Unknown Device ”.

!\[\](http://www.online-tech-tips.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/07/unknownusbdevice-thumb.png)

So how did I finally fix the problem? Well, apparently it’s a super simple solution! No need to edit the registry, uninstall drivers, or anything of that sort.

Simply UNPLUG YOUR COMPUTER FROM THE POWER SUPPLY . Yes that’s it! Note that this does not mean just turning off your computer because modern computers don’t really turn off when you press the power button as the motherboard still gets power.

First to explain, the motherboard is where all of hardware of the computer is connected to, including the USB ports. 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!

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.

Hope this helps someone fix that highly irritating “USB device not recognized” Windows error!

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  1. Anonymous
    2011-09-20T20:02:56+00:00

    Have been fighting with USB Device Not Recognised for some time on my desktop, almost constantly pinging away and putting up a message box in the notification area.  No amount of powering down or removing devices made any difference to my machine.  I concluded that the motherboard USB must be faulty and decided to buy a StarTechcom PCI 7 port usb 2.0 card (PCIUSB7), switch off the USB ports in the BIOS of my FoxConn motherboard and get on with life.

    The USB Device Not Recognised stopped and my USB devices worked fine.  However, my USB keyboard no longer worked in the BIOS screen (small problem) and S3 supend and resume no longer worked (bigger problem).  So after 5 days I reluctantly decided to remove the PCI card (it didn't cost much anyway) and re-enable the motherboard USB.

    The USB Device Not Recognised have disappeared!  I now have more "USB Root Hub" devices in Device Manager than before (10 rather than 7 I think) plus some of extra entries that were not there before ("USB Printing Support", "USB Mass Storage Support", and some of my USB devices are now listed under Universal Serial Bus controllers heading where they weren't before) so it looks to me as though installing a new USB card has caused Windows 7 to rebuild some index/ stack/ table or whatever.

    I can now relate to all of the expressions of happiness elsewhere in this thread.  Happiness is indeed a PC that does not go "Bing Bong, Bong Bing" every 5 seconds!!!

    Hope this helps someone.

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  2. Anonymous
    2011-09-19T19:20:48+00:00

    My USB works again magically after unplugging the power for one night and letting the motherboard completely cooled down.  Unplugging the power cord for a few minutes didn't work for me.

    I suspect there must be some kind of physics involved here, e.g. current and resistance.  My son has been playing CPU-intensive games with fancy graphics on my computer and I guess his activity overheated the motherboard.

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