'USB devices attached to this computer has malfunctioned' Error withWestern Digital's External USB drive...

I am using Western Digital's 120GB Passport (External USB drive).
Model Number: WD 1200XMSC

It was working fine with my Dell laptop (Windows Vista-Home Basic) and
my Office PC (Win XP).
I was able to copy files from Laptop/ PC to HDD and vice-versa.

One worst day, I printed some pics on my Home Canon IP4000 Printer by
commenting it to USB port. When printing was done I removed Printer
connection and shutDown the laptop.

Next day when I Attached my WD External drive I got this Error saying
-"One of the USB devices attached to this computer has malfunctioned,
and Windows does not recognize it. For assistance in solving this
problem, click this message."


When I clicked the message I got A DialogBox stating USB's status as
Unknown USB device!!!

With my fingers crossed, I tried connecting my WD HardDisk to my
Office PC(Win XP). I got the same Error.

Can anybody please help me here?

Try this, Disconnect all USB devices except keyboard and mouse.
Go to: Start>Run>type DEVMGMT.MSC press OK
Scroll to the bottom to Universal Serial Bus Controllers.
Right click each one, one-at-a-time, and click Uninstall.
Reboot, which will reinstall your USB ports. Connect your devices
and let us know if it worked.

You may have to do a complete "refresh" of the USB devices. When you
have the hard drive connected, uninstall the "unknown" device and
disconnect the unit. Then, reconnect and if luck, the drive may re-
appear correctly. If not, you will need to uninstall all USB / HID
devices, the uninstall the USB controllers and reboot. Upon XP
restart, it should re-detect the USB controllers and then you need to
re-conenct the various USB devices.

If after all this the drive still does not detect correctly, you need
to try on a different PC so as to "recover" your files. If it still
does not list your files, then sad to say but you may have lost the
files and you will need to format the drive to test. If the format
fails, then you need to get the WD diagnostics to test the disk
"integrity."

Re-do this process with the "unknown" WD drive still connected. By
uninstalling the "Unknown" device when connected, it should remove the
"last known" USB ID for this device. Then disconnect and re-connect
this drive. It should be re-detected correctly.

You may have several "left-over" device settings in Device Manager and
you should clean this up. One way is to select "Show hdden
devices..." after starting Device Manage with the following done in a
CMD window:

set devmgr_show_nonpresent_devices=1
cd %SystemRoot%\System32
start devmgmt.msc

And remvoe the "phantom" devices.

I tried it.
I removed All-but-one entry from Devicemanager thr' 'Uninstall' as My
KBD and Mouse got frozen.
After restarting my PC, Everything got restored...(obvious).

Then I connected My WD Passport. I got Msg - "Found New Hardware"
Unknown Device
After some seconds MSG at Tray changed to - "Found New Hardware" Your
new hardware is installed and ready to use". (momentary smile)

However in Devicemanager under 'USB Controller' it was showing
'Unknown Device'!!! (Previously it used to display WD 1200 External
Hard Disk (or something like that) while diplaying message for New
Device found!

After 4-5 Seconds I again got that Ugly message - "USB devices
attached to this computer has malfunctioned..."
:(

I also tried implementating ur suggestion on Windows-Vista (my home
laptop). Howeevr as I UNINSTALLED 1st device it automatically pop-up a
dialog saying - "driver for newly found device (controller) is being
installed"!!!!! and automatically installes the uninstalled device!

Please advice.

[dkcarmona]

I was wondering if you ever found a solution that worked. I am having the same problem. It worked on my WD External too. Then stopped working. Now Mass Storage Driver does not even work for flash drive.

hi all the solution to this problem is to turn your computer off for 30 min and remove the plugs from cables and then use your usb ........its a magic solution beleive me. i tried it and every thing is ok.

When I try to charge my MP3 player I get the message one of the USB devices attached to this computer has malfunctioned, and windows does not recognize it.

Yeah mine is doing that samething on my mp3 pearl device.Plus my own computer don't even reconize it at all.It's saying that it malfunctioned.

No one can help much without knowing
1. Exact symptoms.
2. What system changes (if any) were made before
the first malfunction.
3. What tests you have performed
e.g. do peripherals run in other PCs
e.g. did you reinstal USB device drivers?
4. Your malware (antivirus) regime.

It now seems that the USB ports are not providing enough power over
the ports. You might be able to check this out by adding a self-
powered USB hub. These have a separate power supply which adds power
over the hub's USB ports.

[ali.net]

Yes, I am laughing on my self.. I tried suggestions of all of you but you know what was the real issue..

It was not connected properly from the another side, yeah i mean the cable was slightly got out of my usb scanner although it was showing power on... strange.

as soon as i pushed the cable in, it detected the scanner...

so next time anybody what we say ANARI here in urdu came to this problem here, try this solution also ...

[rickack]

Another annoying, worse-than-useless error message from Microcrap! The problem is not with your computer or USB port, or with any externals you may have connected, but with Microcrap's error message. Here's how to shut it off for good:

Run >> devmgmt.msc >> [expand Universal Serial Bus Controllers] >> Right-click Standard Enhanced PCI, select "Properties" >> Select "Advanced" tab >> Check "Don't tell me about USB errors"

Then repeat this procedure with the other controller: Standard Open HCD.

[keg]

Hi

I have overcome an identical problem albeit for a short while. The process is:

1. Open Control Panel
2. System
3. Device Manager
4. USB Devices
5. Right click on the highlighted Port
6. Uninstall

Then:
1. Shut down machine
2. Make sure USB device is plugged in
3. Turn machine back on
4. Log on to Internet

Your device should now be recognised and available.
This worked on W7

I has problem with external hard drive and this solved it but during a recovery scan of the drive it failed. Hopefully it'll get you some joy.

Keg

[ShaneLeeFJ]

If all the above suggestions fail then try and change the USB cable. i had a similar issue where a hard drive which i knew was working perfectly was not being detected on my laptop. I initially thought that the driver for the USB mass storage was not loaded correctly. A few weeks later, I tried to use one of our DRP drives to backup a server using the same USB cable and the same message occurred on the server. I plugged the DRP drive to my laptop and it detected it and so I decided to format the drive which immediately failed as soon as i moved the USB cable. One of my work colleagues suggested that it might be a faulty USB cable so when we changed it, it immediately worked without any issues.

[bunalz]

Originally Posted by ShaneLeeFJ

If all the above suggestions fail then try and change the USB cable.

Thank you ShaneLeeFJ! I tried your suggestion after all the other attempts failed. I was having the same problem with my HDD and now it solved. Yay! Thanks a million! (Just registered to show my appreciation)

[rathish_yadav]

Hi guys My name is Rathish. I am from India and recently I purchased a Toshiba Canvio 3.0 1TB external Hard drive. By the way I am using HP G61 with Win 7 profesional with 4GB RAM and my processor is Pentium Dual Core. I used my external HD to store my data. I used to transfer all data to my external hdd after it is not used any more in laptop. By that time it worked like a charm in all PC's and in Laptops, but one day when i tried plugging into my computer it says that "USB not recorgnized and the USB has been malfunctioned"... I am very sick of getting that message again and again. As it was mentioned before I tried uninstalling all USB Serial Bus devices and rebooted the computer and when i plugged in it shows the same error and the driver is not at all getting installed for the extrenal HDD oly. But when i plugged in the USB device in my computer i can see the light glowing in my HDD, so in tat case would there be any problem in USB cable as it was mentioned before by 2 guys.. It works When i plugged in my other devices such as iPhone 4 and Pen drive's... Wat is d problem in this scenario ??

[BillieJ]

Try changing the ports where you are connecting the drive rightnow. Right click on My Computer > Properties and click on Device Manager. Check that there are appropriate drivers installed for the usb devices. Second I will advice you to check the drive in another working. If still this is not detected or saying the same error and then drive is corrupted. If it is under warranty ask for a replacement as soon as you can.

[ThanksaMill]

Originally Posted by ShaneLeeFJ

If all the above suggestions fail then try and change the USB cable. i had a similar issue where a hard drive which i knew was working perfectly was not being detected on my laptop. I initially thought that the driver for the USB mass storage was not loaded correctly. A few weeks later, I tried to use one of our DRP drives to backup a server using the same USB cable and the same message occurred on the server. I plugged the DRP drive to my laptop and it detected it and so I decided to format the drive which immediately failed as soon as i moved the USB cable. One of my work colleagues suggested that it might be a faulty USB cable so when we changed it, it immediately worked without any issues.

Thank you very much for this post because I changed my USB cable and it works great. Thank a Mill!