You did not state your OS but I’m guessing it is Windows.
Windows has two major problems with usbs:
a) Further to BL’s post. USBs have an overload protector in software. which cuts out and deactivates the drive if it thinks too much power is being drawn (bit like a reusable fuse). Typically PVRs and other such power guzzlers are the problem. The easy solution is to unplug all your usbs and shutdown the Pc. Wait 30 secs then switch back on. start up Windows as an Administrator. Then plug in the USB equipment ONE AT A TIME. Allow windows to detect and install any necessary drivers before inserting further devices — rinse and repeat.
b) Sometimes you will also get old drivers causing Windows to get confused. The easiest way of dealing with this is to get shot of the lot! You need to follow the following steps
- Show hidden device drivers. link
- Look at the USB devices in Device Manager
- Remove ‘ghosted’ duplicate drivers (normally the HID mice and keyboards cause problems). I’m afraid you have to either use common sense over this, or be careful to do a full registry backup first. link. I’d recommend using the restore point option as it gives a little protection against malware activities. It isn’t hard to do this procedure but please work through it slowly and use common sense as it is possible to break things.
I’m afraid i now tend to be a bit blasé over this process, and delete all the USB drivers and start afresh. I’m not sure I’m brave enough to recommend this approach!
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