Why won't my system recognize my USB device?

It's not always the delete key to get into BIOS setup, but it's a good reminder to go check your BIOS settings to make sure that USB is enabled.

I've just lost three days of my life trying to figure out why suddenly none of my pnp devices in my usb ports were being recognized by windows. I'd even gone so far as to wipe my hard drive and reinstall.
After trying every trick I could find online, to no avail, I just decided that maybe it was a hardware, not software problem. So, I opened up the computer, but everything looked OK. It was very dusty, so I blew some of that out.

Disappointed, I restarted and suddenly windows recognized my mp3 player and my camera!! I'm so damn happy right now. Unfortunately, I don't know what did it, but I'd guess that it was either unplugging the computer, jiggling wires or getting rid of some of the dust.

I read somewhere that there is a connection between electricity and usb ports, so I'd suggest to everyone having this problem at least try shutting down, unplugging your computer, plugging back in and restarting.

The nightmare is over!
Dan

To all: One thing that I've learned with Windows is that assigning a drive letter is critical and Windows does this automatically. I'm on a server and geeze I have a lot of drives. Some of you might be experiencing this... When you plug in a USB or any external device, Windows assigns it a drive letter. BUT, Windows will only go so far. So the typical set up you'll normally see would be A (Floppy), C (Hard Drive) D (CD/DVD) E (CD/DVD). Those are the standard. Now, take into consideration of partions or being on a server where you have access to drives on the server. Now you're looking at more letters. If you plug something in to your machine now, Windows will get confused because it wants to give that new drive a letter but it's already being used. So needless to say, all the info it there but you just can't access it. Here is my cure. Right click on "My Computer"... in the pull down go to "Manage". On the left hand side you'll see a list of stuff. Go down to "Disk Management". Now, if your system is working properly, you WILL see a list of ALL active and working device drives. iPod, jump drive, external HD, C drive, partions, etc... You will see whatever it is you've got plugged into the USB as long as it's storage. Right click on that drive and click on "Change Drive Letter". Now you'll see a window in which you can pick the drive letter you want Windows to use when plugging your device in next time. Just click on "Change" then you get a scroll down of choices of every letter that hasn't been used yet. I would say start close to the end like at Z. Let me know if this helps anybody.

Hey, I've noticed a curious thing. If you plug in the device twice quickly (plugin half way, pull out and plug in again) most devices are recognized instantly. I've tried this on WinXP and win2k. It looks like a short surge of power to the device before plugging in completely works wonders for most USB problems.

Hope it helps..

Is it simply a question of forcing the iPod to make the USB connection? I use an iRiver H300. When you switch it on and plug it in to the USB port (Win XP on a newish PC), there is no reaction until you double-click the 'play' button on the H300, which then signals the port that it wants to connect. This works for me, although I do sometimes, for no obvious reason, have trouble making a USB printer connect, and a reboot with the printer on is the only way to get it recognised.

I had no idea USB devices create such distress! I tried reading all the related comments but my problem seems slightly different. My SanDisk M250 MP3 player works on my business laptop (so I know the unit is operational) but not my home desktop. However, all other USB devices work perfectly on the desktop: keyboard, mouse, webcam, printer, removable drives, etc. When I plug in the MP3 player, a get a dialog bubble that the system has recognized a new device, but it doesn't show up in My Computer, Device Manager, Disk Manager, and the Remove device safely icon disappears almost immediately. How can so many other USB devices (some quite old) work but not this modern, new device? I contacted SanDisk tech support but they were baffled. They do not make a specific driver for that product.

Any advice? Thanks!

Follow-up: I plugged a 4-port USB hub into my computer and then attached my MP3 player to it, and now it is recognized by my computer and works. I do get messages that it would work *better* by attaching to a high-speed port but, of course, none of those would work. I have no idea why this has tricked my computer into recognizing the MP3 player, but I'm willing to live with this solution until I learn how to solve the original problem.

my 2 usb ports in front of my computer dont work, while the 4 in the back work what could be the problem with the 2 in front

Broken? Perhaps the internal cable that connects them is loose or not connected?

> had purchased a Mp3 player from Germany, its
>called First 1 Mp3 player. I am now in India. I
>was listening to music in it, and to my
>stupidity it fell down. Now the mp3 player is
>not functioning and its not getting switched on.
>I tried to connect to USB in the computer and
>its not responding. What can be done to fix this
>problem.

the flash memory in it may have been erased due to the impact shock. You should find that device's manufacturer on the net in case you can download some firmware for it - also see if there's some "hard reset" process for it