{"id":2165,"date":"2015-08-07T15:10:40","date_gmt":"2015-08-07T14:10:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.hovatek.com\/?p=2165"},"modified":"2022-08-15T22:19:01","modified_gmt":"2022-08-15T22:19:01","slug":"how-to-fix-a-windows-pc-that-doesnt-detect-external-usb-devices","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hovatek.com\/blog\/how-to-fix-a-windows-pc-that-doesnt-detect-external-usb-devices\/","title":{"rendered":"How to fix a Windows PC that doesn&#8217;t detect external USB devices"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.hovatek.com\/blog\/bpyeki\/uploads\/2015\/08\/how-to-fix-windows-usb-connection-problems.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-large wp-image-2166\" src=\"https:\/\/www.hovatek.com\/blog\/bpyeki\/uploads\/2015\/08\/how-to-fix-windows-usb-connection-problems-1024x492.png\" alt=\"fixing USB detection \/ connection issues on a windows PC\" width=\"660\" height=\"317\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>USB detection issues on a Windows PC could result in different error messages and sometimes the Blue Screen of Death (see <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hovatek.com\/blog\/the-blue-screen-of-death-bsod\/\">https:\/\/www.hovatek.com\/blog\/the-blue-screen-of-death-bsod\/<\/a>\u00a0). These errors could\u00a0range from the often less serious &#8220;USB not recognized&#8221; under System tray and &#8220;Unknown USB device&#8221; under Device Manager to the more serious USB device appearing grayed and unusable under My Computer. We&#8217;ll be taking a look at possible causes of USB device (including the storage media in phones) detection problems on a Windows PC and fixes that work.<\/p>\n<h3>What could cause\u00a0a Windows PC not to detect a USB device?<\/h3>\n<p>Common causes of USB detection issues are:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Damaged or incompatible USB cord: The USB cord might not be powerful enough or be broken somewhere along its length<\/li>\n<li>Faulty USB port: The PC or USB device&#8217;s port might be faulty, loose or coated with debris<\/li>\n<li>Missing or incompatible drivers: The PC needs the correct drivers installed in order to properly detect and communicate with an external USB device<\/li>\n<li>Windows OS problems: The PC might have encountered an error (often corrupted system files or resource hogging)<\/li>\n<li>Hardware or software corrupted USB device: The device might have encountered a hardware or software error which is preventing the PC from detecting \/ recognizing it<\/li>\n<li>Too many USB devices connected at a time: Connecting too many USB devices at a time (especially to a slow or busy PC) could cause a delay in detection or no detection at all<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3>How do I fix a Windows PC that doesn&#8217;t detect external USB devices?<\/h3>\n<p>Some fixes to consider are:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Try using a different USB cord<\/li>\n<li>Restart the Windows PC to clear OS errors. Consider a system restore if you suspect that your PC&#8217;s OS is faulty (see <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hovatek.com\/blog\/how-to-do-a-system-restore-on-a-pc\/\">https:\/\/www.hovatek.com\/blog\/how-to-do-a-system-restore-on-a-pc\/<\/a>)<\/li>\n<li>Manually install the correct drivers for the USB device if automatic installation keeps failing<\/li>\n<li>If its a phone, connect it to the PC without a battery and also while switched off with a battery<\/li>\n<li>Try using a different port on the PC<\/li>\n<li>Consider cleaning or changing the USB port of the device if possible<\/li>\n<li>Leave the USB device connected just in case its a power problem<\/li>\n<li>Disconnect all other USB devices then reconnect the USB device<\/li>\n<li>If the USB device is corrupted, fix it using the guide @ <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hovatek.com\/blog\/how-to-fix-repair-corrupt-memory-card-sd-card-or-usb-drive\/\">https:\/\/www.hovatek.com\/blog\/how-to-fix-repair-corrupt-memory-card-sd-card-or-usb-drive\/<\/a><\/li>\n<li>If your Android phone&#8217;s mass storage doesn&#8217;t get detected, follow the guide @\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.hovatek.com\/blog\/how-to-fix-an-android-phones-mass-storage-sd-card-that-wont-connect-to-pc-using-usb-cord\/\">https:\/\/www.hovatek.com\/blog\/how-to-fix-an-android-phones-mass-storage-sd-card-that-wont-connect-to-pc-using-usb-cord\/<\/a>\u00a0for Blackberry users, see\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.hovatek.com\/blog\/how-to-fix-a-blackberry-phones-mass-storage-sd-card-that-wont-connect-to-pc-using-usb-cord\/\">https:\/\/www.hovatek.com\/blog\/how-to-fix-a-blackberry-phones-mass-storage-sd-card-that-wont-connect-to-pc-using-usb-cord\/<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Hovatek&#8230;.just a button away!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>USB detection issues on a Windows PC could result in different error messages and sometimes the Blue Screen of Death (see https:\/\/www.hovatek.com\/blog\/the-blue-screen-of-death-bsod\/\u00a0). These errors could\u00a0range from the often less serious &#8220;USB not recognized&#8221; under System tray and &#8220;Unknown USB device&#8221; under Device Manager to the more serious USB device appearing grayed and unusable under My [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":2166,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[818],"tags":[80,126],"class_list":["post-2165","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-tutorials","tag-laptop-desktop","tag-tutorials"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hovatek.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2165","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hovatek.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hovatek.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hovatek.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hovatek.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2165"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.hovatek.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2165\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hovatek.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2165"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hovatek.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2165"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hovatek.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2165"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}