usb port issues

[briant28]

hi! i just got surface pro 3 and already having some issues with the usb port. i have multiple usb flash drives and none of them can be read by the usb port. i then tried my usb powered external drive and was able to read the drive. the external drive uses more power than flash drive so i'm really confused of what going on.

this is the message im getting:
USB Device Not Recognized

The last USB device you connected to this computer malfunctioned, and Windows does not recognized it.

Recommendation:
Try reconnecting the device. If Windows still does not recognize it, your device may not be working properly

i've tried updating everything including the firmware updates but it didn't help. i uninstalled the usb driver then restarted but same issues. i followed the steps for regedit from microsoft's website for windows 8.1 and it still didn't help.

any help will be appreciated, thanks!

 

[sharpuser]

Sorry about that. Because you were able to use the external drive, it gives me a clue.

Find any USB hub (expaned your one port to more than one). Plug that in, and then attach the external drive to the hub. After you get that working, add your flash drive to another port. That should rebuild the hardware table.

Let us know.

 

[briant28]

Sorry about that. Because you were able to use the external drive, it gives me a clue.

Find any USB hub (expaned your one port to more than one). Plug that in, and then attach the external drive to the hub. After you get that working, add your flash drive to another port. That should rebuild the hardware table.

Let us know.

thanks for the tip. however, it didn't help solve the issue. right after i plugged in my usb hub, i got the same exact message that it wasn't recognized. i still plugged in my external drive that worked, all i heard was the sound that windows make when you plug in something. the surface pro didn't see the drive which i knew would happen since it didn't even recognized the hub. i've restarted and shut down multiple times also.

 

[briant28]

thanks for the tip. however, it didn't help solve the issue. right after i plugged in my usb hub, i got the same exact message that it wasn't recognized. i still plugged in my external drive that worked, all i heard was the sound that windows make when you plug in something. the surface pro didn't see the drive which i knew would happen since it didn't even recognized the hub. i've restarted and shut down multiple times also.

sharpcolorado,

after trying one more time, surface pro was able to recognize the usb hub. i plugged in the external drive and it worked. i plugged in my other flash drives and nothing worked. i unplugged the external drive and plugged in a couple of flash drives to the same port, it didn't work. i unplugged the usb hub and plugged it in again, i get the "usb not recognized" error. i have to shut down to get it going again.

 

[malberttoo]

Do the drives work on another computer? If so, I'd say to take the Surface back for an exchange.

 

[briant28]

Do the drives work on another computer? If so, I'd say to take the Surface back for an exchange.

yes, the flash drives works with other pc's.

 

[ipaq_101]

I had this happen to me as well, my old dell would recognize the flash drive with no problem, then my new dell wouldn't, it only did if I had another USB device plugged in and then I plugged the flash drive in again. Very strange, then again it was a cheap adata usb 3.0 flash drive.

 

[malberttoo]

yes, the flash drives works with other pc's.

You should exchange the Surface for a new one. You want your experience to be a great one! Not one in which you had to spend a bunch of time chasing down issues. Having these issues right out of the box definitely points to something bigger.