USB problems on desktop

Hi there geeks

I have a plain old desktop that has developed a problem with the USB. I need some help understanding and hopefully fixing.

Problem first showed up on an external hard drive. Out of the blue clear sky it dropped out of the config and Windows says "Unknown USB Device. Try reconnecting and/or replace the device." The device had been working flawlessly up to this point.

Tonight I tried to pull some pics from my Canon camera, using the same cable and USB port that I had used for this device a thousand times before. Same error occurred.

I do not suspect the devices; that would be way too coincidental. Any ideas?

reply to post by mishigas


Try this:
1. Right click My Computer and select Manage
2. Select Device Manager
3. Unplug any USB devices
4. you should have something called Universial Serial Bus Controllers in the right hand pane
5. click each one and press Delete --> click Yes to confirm
6. Do this for every one.
7. Now, restart your computer
8. after logging in, and Windows loading is complete, plug in an external USB device
9. windows should now detect your device and will ask for your installation cd or give you the option of letting it find the drivers itself.
Either one should be ok.



If this doesnt work ... try uninstalling your USB device software before repeating the above steps. Make sure u have the installation drivers tho ...

cheers

Dan

I think im having the same issue, my laptop will not recognise my ext hd but my desktop will. However i last week the drive copied files fine on mac & pc but now takes about 10 mins to transfer a 700mb movie. Dunno whats up with it.

Freakin people posting computer problems to a consipiracy site. Next, Bill did it to ya to make you buy another OS. So, fix it yourself you lamebrains.....

1) Close all open programs

2) Click on Start, Run, and type REGEDIT and press Enter

3) Click on the plus signs (+) next to the following folders

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE
SYSTEM
CurrentControlSet
Control
Class
[4D36E965-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318]
4) This folder is the DVD/CD-ROM Drive Class Description in the registry. Look for any of the following names in the right hand column.

UpperFilters
LowerFilters
UpperFilters.bak
LowerFilters.bak
5) If any of the above keys shown in step 4 are listed, right-click on them and choose Delete

6) After deleting the keys, close the Registry Editor

7) Reboot your computer

OK two good ideas, I will try bofum and post results.

Update: A measure of success! Using dan's technique I was able to recover my external hd. I still have the problem with the camera, but I can work on that.

Thanks all. Will post with anything interesting.

reply to post by mishigas


excellent, glad I could help a bit ...

I had a similiar issue a while back... bear in mind that it tends to reappear on older Windows versions - have not had the prob on win7 though.

It could also be that there is a malfunction in the USB ports which can sometimes be caused by a power spike or a PSU with not enough power.
What you need to do is completely discharge your computer. If you are using a laptop disconnect the power and remove the battery. For a PC, pull the power cable supplying the PSU. Leave the machine for over 30 mins to make sure there is no power left in the system.
Plug in your pc again and hopefully it should be fine.

We used to have this problem at my work with a certain model of HP and this would fix it every time.

Good luck,

I don't know if this help but unplug the computer from any power source for 20 minutes.Also disconnect all the devises you have and after you open it again, connect the devices .