How to Troubleshoot USB Port

22/12/2015 02:33

Method 1: Use Device Manager to scan for hardware changes

Use Device Manager to scan for hardware changes. After your computer scans for hardware changes, it might recognize the USB device that is connected to the USB port so that you can use the device.

To scan for hardware changes, follow these steps:
  1. Click Start, and then click Run.

    Note If you are running Windows Vista, click Start, and then use the Start Search box.
  2. Type devmgmt.msc, and then click OK. Device Manager opens.
  3. In Device Manager, click your computer so that it is highlighted.
  4. Click Action, and then click Scan for hardware changes.
  5. Check the USB device to see whether it is working.
If scanning for hardware changes fixed the problem, you are finished. If this method did not fix the problem, go to Method 2.

Method 2: Restart the computer

If scanning for new hardware did not fix the problem, try restarting the computer. After the computer has restarted, check the USB device to see whether it is working.

If restarting the computer fixed the problem, you are finished. If this method did not fix the problem, go to Method 3.

Method 3: Disable and re-enable the USB controller

Use Device Manager to disable and re-enable all the USB controllers. This lets the controllers recover the USB port from its unresponsive condition. The USB controllers represent the USB ports in Device Manager. If you are not comfortable with advanced troubleshooting, try the steps in the "Workaround" section.

To disable and re-enable the USB controllers, follow these steps:
  1. Click Start, and then click Run.

    Note If you are running Windows Vista, click Start, and then use the Start Search box.
  2. Type devmgmt.msc, and then click OK. Device Manager opens.
  3. Expand Universal Serial Bus controllers. 

    Note You might have to scroll down the list to find this item.
  4. Right-click the first USB controller under Universal Serial Bus controllers, and then click Uninstall to remove it.
  5. Repeat step 4 for each USB controller that is listed under Universal Serial Bus controllers.
  6. Restart the computer. After the computer starts, Windows will automatically scan for hardware changes and reinstall all the USB controllers that you uninstalled.
  7. Check the USB device to see whether it is working.
If the USB port recognizes the device and if you can use the device, you are finished.

If this method fixed the problem, you are finished. If this method did not fix the problem, go to the "Workaround" section. 
 
Workaround
If none of these methods worked for you, you can disable the Selective Suspend feature. However, be aware that when the Selective Suspend feature is disabled, all USB host controller drivers (and therefore all USB ports and connected USB devices) in the system are affected. Therefore, your computer cannot suspend any USB devices that are connected to it, and the USB devices can continue to use power while connected to the computer. Additionally, the Allow the computer to turn off this device to save power check box does not appear on thePower Management tab for the USB Root Hub.

To have us disable the Selective Suspend feature for you, go to the "Fix it for me" section. If you would rather do this yourself, and you are comfortable with advanced troubleshooting, go to the "Let me fix it myself" section.
 

Fix it for me

To fix this problem automatically, click the Fix this problem link. Then click Run in the File Download dialog box, and follow the steps in this wizard. 


Note this wizard may be in English only; however, the automatic fix also works for other language versions of Windows. 

Note If you are not on the computer that has the problem, you can save the automatic fix to a flash drive or to a CD, and then you can run it on the computer that has the problem. 

 

Let me fix it myself

This section is intended for an advanced computer user. 

You can disable the USB Selective Suspend feature as a workaround by editing the registry. The USB device may become unresponsive because of a race condition in the Selective Suspend feature. The Selective Suspend feature suspends the USB device to efficiently maintain battery power by enabling the computer to turn off the USB device. However, sometimes this feature may not correctly wake up the USB device. Therefore, the USB device is unresponsive when you try to use it. 

You might want to disable this feature for server products where power management is not important or required. 

Important This section, method, or task contains steps that tell you how to modify the registry. However, serious problems might occur if you modify the registry incorrectly. Therefore, make sure that you follow these steps carefully. For added protection, back up the registry before you modify it. Then, you can restore the registry if a problem occurs. For more information about how to back up and restore the registry, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
322756 How to back up and restore the registry in Windows
To disable the Selective Suspend feature, follow these steps:
  1. Click Start, and then click Run.

    Note If you are running Windows Vista, click Start, and then use the Start Search box.
  2. Type regedit, and then click OK. Registry Editor opens.
  3. Locate and then click the following registry subkey:
    HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\USB
  4. If the DisableSelectiveSuspend registry entry is present, double-click it. If it is not present, create the entry. To create the entry, follow these steps:
    1. On the Edit menu, point to New, and then click DWORD.
    2. Type DisableSelectiveSuspend, and then press ENTER.
    3. On the Edit menu, click Modify.
  5. In the Value data field, type 1 to disable the Selective Suspend feature, and then click OK.

 

Tags:

Back