USB Ports getting funky?

[FatRakoon]

I have been having a bit of a funky moment with some USB ports.

For example, if I plug in a USB Hard disk, and sometimes a Flash Disk, it is not recognised. I plug it into a different port and its fine.

Also, this one has been reliably unreliable in doing this, but if I plug a mobile into the USB port, and it is NOT recognised, I go into the device manager and I see the offending device, and I upgrade the drivers and select the bottom of the 2 or 3 devices and viola, it then sees that phone.

I can then use that port, for that phone, but if I plug in a different phone, I have to install that same driver again.

It does this on all the ports.

I have been able to get away with this for some time, but I am a moron and I have lots of phones and so I have done it many many many times.

Now however, it has got so bad, that when I plug in a phone, I hear the connect sound and then it disconnects a second later... It then goes into a loop of connect and disconnect and I cannot use that port.
It now does this to all 4 of the main ports on the case, plus the extra on in the card reader. I swapped them about and that let me use the others for a bit, but now its gone back again.

I bought a new phone the other day and I was able to use that phone with zero issues apart from having to redo that drivers again and now that phone just connects and disconnects.

Its not the cables, I have loads of cables and its not wear or anything [physically wrong with the port.

I have also run live Linux and Portable Windows and the ports work just fine.

So, I have tried removing all information about the USB ports that I can, and sometimes I can get somewhere, but I feel that the ONLY solution would be to yet again use another port in the back and connected to a USB multi port adapter and only ever use one port for one phone etc...

Is there any known way that I can utterly and completely remove all info about the USB ports from windows so that it starts all over again?

I have removed the drivers and removed hidden devices etc etc but thats not helping.

Thanks in advance, and sorry for a long winded post.

 

[darael]

Some contact cleaner in the USB ports could help. With the PC off, spray a little contact cleaner into the USB port, insert and reinsert something USB into the port 3 or 4 times, then allow 30 seconds for the cleaner to dry.

I'll be honest and admit that I've done the above with the PC turned on. But if something happened because I said it was safe to do the above while leaving your PC on, I don't think you'd be pleased with me.

This is what I use: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/235398158472

 

[FatRakoon]

Hi there bud.

Ok, I promise you that its NOT that. And yes, I know about spraying stuff etc.

No, it is definitely software related.

For example, the cables that I have been using, and indeed the phones, all work just fine in another PC.
I have also run Linux ( Live ISO via USB ports ) and the offending ports work just fine, plus, I have run a portable Windows off a flash drive, and that too, also showed that he ports were fine.

Right now, I have once again managed to get around the problem ports, by simply adding a USB Port expander, and the phones work just fine at the moment, but again, this is ONLY because I have marked off each USB port on the extender to only use one particular device through it.

But, as I said, if I try to take the extender off and use the port directly.. It fails?

So, I can use the port just fine, IF I only use one phone, or one device... I can plug in and out that one device on the USB ports just fine.

However..

If I try to connect any other phone, tablet, or Flash drive, then, it wont connect the original phone or device on that port.

Its utterly stupid I know, and I have to admit, but this install of Windows 10 is a few years old now, and I do normally like to reinstall every so often, but if I am honest, this install has been absolutely rock solid... So much so, that I have even changed the Mobo 3 times now, and its been just fine.
I have a sneaky that these USB issues are pushing it over the line?

EDIT:
Oh, WD40 contact cleaner?
Not tried that, but I do have a few tins of Isopropyl Alcohol and I use that usually. Especially on my music gear.

 

[darael]

I'm wondering if the driver changes from the three motherboard exchanges has been too much for Windows?

Before going nuclear and reinstalling Windows 10, I would uninstall every single USB thing related in Device Manager - make sure you view hidden devices and remove these too. When uninstalling the drivers, you will probably be asked to delete the drivers - if this is a last resort, I would delete the drivers.

Delete the hubs, USB keyboard, USB audio device, any old phones, USB drives, etc - absolutely anything you connect via USB.

 

[FatRakoon]

Changes of the boards been too much?
Sure, this is quite possible, although I think that its just limited to the USB ports... For now anyway?

Deleting everything USB.
Yes, I have already done that. I was able to do it most of the way anyway... I have a USB Mouse and Keyboard and so I am also kind of stuck when they stop working.

I have added a USB Card and then connected the Keyboard and mouse to that, so I can get rid of everythign else, but even then, it ends up with no mouse and keyboard, so there must be some shared USB driver perhaps?

I wonder... Is there some app that can let me select drivers to remove, and then let it do that and then it restarts the PC for me.. This would allow me to delete all these drivers and restart the machine without geting me stuck all the time?

I also wonder... Why is it, that every time I changed the phone, I had to reinstall the same driver each time?

It used to do this with the Samsung and the Windows phone, but it does it with all my phones and tablets now.

 

[darael]

Changes of the boards been too much?
Sure, this is quite possible, although I think that its just limited to the USB ports... For now anyway?

Deleting everything USB.
Yes, I have already done that. I was able to do it most of the way anyway... I have a USB Mouse and Keyboard and so I am also kind of stuck when they stop working.

I have added a USB Card and then connected the Keyboard and mouse to that, so I can get rid of everythign else, but even then, it ends up with no mouse and keyboard, so there must be some shared USB driver perhaps?

I wonder... Is there some app that can let me select drivers to remove, and then let it do that and then it restarts the PC for me.. This would allow me to delete all these drivers and restart the machine without geting me stuck all the time?

I also wonder... Why is it, that every time I changed the phone, I had to reinstall the same driver each time?

It used to do this with the Samsung and the Windows phone, but it does it with all my phones and tablets now.

I mentioned the changes of motherboards being too much for Windows, because Windows is...well Windows. There could be some file or registry entry that's causing all this, but it could take longer to find and fix than it would to reinstall Windows. I don't mention reinstalling lightly, because I know what a faff it can be once you've got Windows and your software installed and setup just as you like them.

Have you uninstalled the drivers from Device Manager in safe mode? Go as nuclear as you can while in safe mode before restarting, making sure you remove hidden devices too. After uninstalling your drivers in safe mode and before you restart, I'm wondering if a registry clean with CCleaner is worthwhile.

I didn't twig in my earlier post, but have you ever installed any software related to your Samsung phone and is it still installed? If so, use Revo Uninstaller to help uninstall it and it will try to locate any leftover files and/or registry entries related to it. I seem to recall Samsung installing drivers and other pieces of software, which could be causing your problems.

This is more of a final thought after Googling. It might be worth using USBDeview to find and remove any old USB devices in safe mode too. I'll be totally transparent here and admit that I've never used USBDeview before. But the software from that author has always served me well and never contains spyware.

 

[FatRakoon]

Ok, thanks for the reply.
Windows certainly IS Windows!

Registry. Sure, thats certainly a plausible thing, and certainly installing Windows would indeed be high on the list of options, and the silly thing is, that in the past, I have reinstallked Windows for any number of reasons, but, even though I despise Windows 10, it has been absolutely rock solid for me... I even doen my level best to make sure that it was fully able to move over from the Intel to the AMD setup without any issues, and for that, I removed absolutely everything that I possibly could, and so I had also removed all the USB info too!
I later removed most of the stuff again after the install, just to try solving this USB issue, but alas it has not done that. Not fully.

Its not just that, but I have a lot of software that requires re-registering or reactivating etc, and this is a total and utter ball ache at the best of times, but to have to do it on a number of apps, is really annoying the heck out of me.

So, reinstalling Windows is something that I dont actually want to do... I am of course starting to think that may just be my only option.

I do however have other PCs and so most of the time, I simply use another PC just to get around this ridiculous issue.

Now, I have done a semi-sort-of-kind-of cure for it.

I have dug out a USB Multi-port Hub, that has 4 USB Ports on it. I have now marked off each port to use ONLY that particular Phone on it. It is working pretty much.

Port 1 is for the Samsung Note
Port 2 is For the Moto 50G
Port 3 is for the Windows Phone
Port 4 is for the Galaxy Tab

I do feel that I am not doing myself any favours by having a load of phones either... I have a load of Blackberries and Android phones and iPhones, and I really am a moron for using these... So, I have limited it down to the main ones.

Samsung Software. Yes, I have done, but not recently. I do see that I have still got some Samsung driver software and that I think has come with Windows itself bringing it in, because I have removed it and then found it again AFTER it was removed.

What is realloy bugging me, is that I put phone A into the port, and it needs me to install driver X. If I then put another phone into that port, whether its Android or Windows phone, then I have to reinstall the very same Drive X - Even though thats the very driver thats already in it... I put the original phone back in and then I have to reinstall that same driver again, and each timne it had worked ,but now, I need to use different ports each time.

When I used the hub, I put each phone into each port and I reinstalled that very same Driver for each phone and so now, that one port is only actually using that one Phone and I can ( so far ) plug that phone in and out of that one port ) - Solutiion? No, but a Workaround yes!

CCLEANER.
Hmm, I used to use this regularly, however, I have lost of things such as Cookies etc that I really do need to keep. Admittedly, most are the wifes Website passwords and so on,, for me, it will just be a real pain every time I go to another site, and I nave to put in my log in info yet again, and since so many sites ask you to change your password, I have a whole host of various passwords and login info, so thatsll going to get wiped, not only that, but there are many other little things like that, that CCLeaner will no doubt clean up, and even if I try to get around them, I will undoubtedly, end up wiping somethign that I need to keep. It might be just as easy to simply wipe and reinstall Windows!

USBDEVIEW?
Ok I will have a play and see what happens?

Thank you.