Need some help with a PC USB problem


Garrett

Advanced Member
Joined
Aug 24, 2011
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Workington, Cumbria, UK
I'd rather post here as folk are generally more civil (& well-informed) I've tried all USB ports with multiple different readers & flash drives/micro SD cards (all work elsewhere) without success my PC is making the noise to indicate that something has been connected but nothing shows under Devices and drives.
They aren't even showing under Disk Management.. not an issue with the USB's either as I can connect controllers etc (tried every slot) and they all work without issue.
I'd be eternally grateful for any help with this as it's causing a major headache.

Windows 10 Pro x64
 
Are you running any security and or anti virus software set to scan drives when inserted? That could be what is making things just sit there with no activity? What is the size of the USB drive?
 
Did you by chance update the Chipset Drivers (Assuming Intel) when you updated to Win 10? This should fix the problem.
Does the Device Manager show any hardware with the Exclamation mark sign?
 
Thanks for the replies but I've come to the conclusion, that it's most probably my PC being a bit long in the tooth.. after updating drivers, rebooting, trying multiple different cards/readers etc it looks like the USB plugs are past their best. It has worked, about 5% of the time after MANY attempts so I guess until it's new system/motherboard time I've got a problem!
 
You could always add a USB PCI card - they're quite cheap. It might be a case of spending more money after bad, but if you are happy with the rest of the system, it might be worth sticking with.
 
Try a linux live CD, plug in your devices and run "lsusb" from the command line, see if they show up. Plug/unplug things, running lsusb between each until you can verify that it is or is not working consistently.
Google tells me there's a thing called "USBView" which is a Windows tool similar to lsusb that you may want to try but I don't know anything about it.
 
Could also be a hardware problem. USB holes have metal springs (not sure about the word here), that either can be bend inwards and not make contact, or be oxidated, dirty. Try poking with a needle or small screwdriver and make the come up again to have a better contact.
 
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