Dec 16, 2024 • Filed to: USB Recovery • Proven solutions
Sometimes this situation will happen to you: you plug your USB drive into your computer, and see a balloon popping at the right-hand corner of your screen it means that a malfunction has ensued. You may see something like this:
The USB device is not recognized as the device connected to the PC malfunctioned so your Windows cannot recognize it.
If you see this prompt, don’t be alarmed as many before you have faced the same problem. There is a solution revealed in this article to this problem.
Before you dive into the solution part, there are several possibilities why this error may have occurred that you need to knwo first. It may be one of these:
If your USB drive can’t connect to your computer, the computer can’t recognize the device and read the stored files. That causes the error message to pop up. This problem can occur when your USB drive has corruption. A corrupted USB drive has software issues or malware that prevents it from working correctly.
Another reason your computer can’t recognize your USB drive is a damaged USB port. If the USB port has physical damage, you can’t plug in your USB drive correctly and connect it to your computer. Therefore, the error message can pop up for both logical and physical damage.
Besides the USB port damage, your USB controller could also be faulty. A USB controller is a computer component that allows you to connect your USB drives to your computer. If the USB controller is malfunctioning, your computer won’t be able to connect and read your USB drive.
Although several conditions may have necessitated the error there are general solutions that you can try first before the need arises to call in technicians. The solutions here are free and work for the most part so take your time to follow each through. At least one is bound to work for you.
Here are 8 methods to solve this problem. You can try these solutions one by one, and find the most effective ones.
First, try a different USB port so see if the issue will be resolved. If you use a computer, try connecting the USB to the port located behind the computer case as the backport has a stronger electric current than the others
If you use a laptop instead, unplug the USB drive from its port and try another one to see if it will work. Also, avoid using USB Hubs because hubs may sometimes lack sufficient current to power the drive. It is better to plug directly into the system.
If the issue is resolved after changing port it means the port you used before is faulty.
Besides switching to a different USB port, you can try another USB cable to connect your USB drive. If your USB cable is damaged, your computer won’t be able to recognize your USB device. Therefore, a different USB cable can solve the problem and connect your USB drive to your computer.
A simple step like reconnecting the power supply can solve the “The last USB device you connected malfunctioned” error. By unplugging the power supply, your computer can reset and forget about the error, allowing you to connect your USB drive successfully.
To reconnect the power supply, follow these steps:
When the computer turns on, reconnect your USB drive and check if the error has been fixed.
Repairing the USB root hub is another easy way to fix the “The last USB device you connected to this computer malfunctioned” error. Again, resolving the problem and making your USB drive readable takes just a few minutes.
Follow these steps to repair the USB root hub:
If the methods above does not work, you may need to update all your device drivers in case any of them is outdated, faulty, or missing. Make sure you verify that your drivers are working well and to do this you will have to update them either manually or automatically.
To update drivers use our Device Manager but if this fails, log on to the manufacturer website of your device for user Support. Search for compatible drivers on their site although this may take some time you will certainly find the correct driver for your system. When you find it, download it on your system by clicking the download link provided. Once the drivers have been downloaded, Microsoft will install them on your device.
If you lack the skills or the patience to do the update manually you can complete the process automatically using a 3rd party application like Driver Easy or ant other Automatic driver update program. After downloading the program, launch it and scan for missing, outdated, or faulty drivers. From the list of drivers provided, click each one enables the program to update or replace them one after the other. The update program will scan the web for compatible drivers and install them automatically.
With a selective Suspend feature, you can allocate USB ports of your choice to saving mode like when your PC is on sleep mode. For users of Desktop computers, this feature is unnecessary since it always plugged to a power source. Suspended Setting could be a culprit but it can be disabled all the same.
*Do note that on laptops you have to click the battery icon then disable it from the menu.
Check if USB is recognizable now. If this doesn’t work proceed to the next method.
A corrupted driver can also cause this kind of problem so try re-enabling drivers again.
For all drivers marked with a yellow exclamation mark do this
If you don’t see any driver marked yellow continue
Once you are done, your USB will be recognized.
Another proven method of fixing the error message is troubleshooting your device.
To troubleshoot your USB device, follow these steps:
> Resources > USB Recovery > How To Fix the last USB Device Malfunctioned and Windows does not recognize it
Security Verified. 3,591,664 people have downloaded it.
Sue Wayne
staff Editor