Derdum Derdim
October 11, 2010 7:31 AM   Subscribe

Help me identify the magical usb device that keeps disconnecting from my PC...

Every couple of hours my PC chimes to tell me that a USB device has been unplugged, and then instantly chimes again to say that something has been connected again.

Nothing seems to stop working and no notification windows appear.

How can I find out what it is that's broken? I assume Vista is too stable annoying to bother with logging this sort of thing...
posted by sodium lights the horizon to Computers & Internet (5 answers total) 1 user marked this as a favorite
 
There are utilities that will give you a more detailed view of connected USB devices than Vista does by itself. USBDeview is one I've used. If you have it running when one of these disconnect/reconnect episodes happens, you should be able to track it down quite easily.
posted by le morte de bea arthur at 7:36 AM on October 11, 2010


Try using compressed air and clean all your USB ports.
posted by Ferrari328 at 7:51 AM on October 11, 2010


This started happening to me after one of my USB drives got a little bent. It didn't seem to get a good connection. I ended up just buying a new one.
posted by SuperSquirrel at 8:28 AM on October 11, 2010


Sorry - I meant to add - it never seemed as if my drive was really unplugged (I still had access to the contents) but I would still get the warning chimes.
posted by SuperSquirrel at 8:29 AM on October 11, 2010


When my mouse started dying, I got this type of behaviour. It started getting more frequent, and sometimes would cause my PC to freeze up for a couple of seconds. Try unplugging any extraneous USB devices to see if it still happens. If yes, start switching known good devices for your existing USB devices to see if that solves the problem.

Note that the chime you are referring to can also happen because of non-USB devices. For example, when I upgrade my Nvidia drivers, I hear the chime for remove followed by the chime for insert during the upgrade process. Also, when I turn on my eSATA drive, I get the notification. I suppose any hardware detected as coming online/offline would trigger the chime, so it may be non-USB hardware too.
posted by Simon Barclay at 11:11 AM on October 11, 2010


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