Why is the USB cable not working? We fix the USB cable on the knee. The phone does not recognize the USB cable. What to do

If you are reading this article, then it is obvious that you are having trouble transferring files via USB on your Android device. Don't worry, you are not the first person to contact us with such a question.

Fortunately, we know several ways to solve this problem. So, without further ado, here's what you need to do to get USB file transfer working again.

Cause of USB file transfer error

There are several reasons why you may not be able to transfer files via USB:

  • USB cable does not support file transfer
  • The device is not configured to accept files via USB
  • You have installed the application Samsung Kies
  • The Micro-USB port on your Android device is broken (unfortunately I can't help you with that)

Step 1 – Enable File Transfer on your Android Device

This is the first thing you should do to be able to transfer files via USB to your Android device.

To enable USB file transfer, go to Settings>Storage>Tap on the three vertical dots in the top right corner of the screen> USB connections to your computer > Check the box next to "Media device (MTP)"

If you think the problem with USB file transfer is software related, try connecting the device to a computer with via USB, select “Camera (PTP)” and remove it again. This helps some users.

Step 1.1 - addition for the “clean” version of Android 6.0 Marshmallow

If you don't see the above option under Memory, make sure you enable USB debugging. After that, do a little trick:

  1. Disconnect the USB cable from the device.
  2. Enable developer mode. To do this, go to Settings > About phone > tap on the build number several times until a pop-up message appears that you have become a developer.
  3. Go to Settings > Developer Options.
  4. Enable USB debugging.
  5. Lock your device (lock button on the side or top).
  6. Connect your smartphone to your computer using a USB cable.
  7. Unlock your Android device.
  8. Swipe down to open the notification panel and tap on USB Charging.
  9. Select "File Transfer" from the pop-up window.
  10. Lock your device and unlock again.

Using this method, you will be able to transfer files via USB. For some reason this option is not available without Developer Mode enabled.

Step 2 – Uninstall Samsung Kies program

Skip this step if you don't have it installed software Samsung Kies.

Samsung's official file transfer program often causes interference when transferring files via USB. To remove Samsung Kies, you need to first download the program and then select “Uninstall”.

Step 3 – Check USB Cable

Not all USB cables are created equal: some are capable of transferring files, some are not. It is recommended to use the USB cable that came with your Android device. Typically, they have a USB file transfer feature.

If none of the methods helped solve the problem, then try installing AirDroid. This software allows you to transfer files to Android devices without USB cable.

Everyone faces this problem at least once: you connect a smartphone or tablet to a computer via USB cable, but nothing happens other than charging. The computer does not see the phone or identifies it as an unknown device. The situation is common, but ambiguous, and there are quite a few reasons why it occurs. Today we will figure out what causes such problems and how to deal with them.

Software and hardware failures lead to a situation where the PC does not recognize the mobile device connected to it:

  • Lack of device driver in the PC operating system.
  • The driver does not match the device model.
  • There is no USB driver in the system or it is malfunctioning.
  • Connection with a cable that is not suitable for data transmission or is damaged.
  • Malfunction of the USB socket (both on the computer and on the phone), group of sockets or USB controller on the PC.
  • Failure of any of the computer equipment, blocking by static electricity.
  • Error in phone system settings.
  • Blocking access to the phone using security programs running on a PC (including if the gadget is infected with a virus).
  • The application used to synchronize your phone and PC (if you are using) has crashed.

When software problems The computer, as a rule, does not display the contents of the phone’s memory, but the device charges normally when connected to it. If the problem occurs due to physical malfunction, charging most often does not work either, but there are exceptions when only the data lines do not work.

An analysis of the previous situation—what happened before the problem arose—helps outline the range of possible causes. For example:

  • You have reinstalled the operating system on your computer or removed some of the drivers (the reason is that the required driver is missing).
  • The phone (tablet) was no longer detected after flashing the firmware, cleaning it from viruses, deleting applications, optimizing and other manipulations with the OS (malfunction operating system mobile device).
  • The device has been subjected to mechanical damage (the USB socket is damaged) or has been repaired (after replacing parts, a driver of a different version is needed or the fault has not been completely eliminated).
  • You are using a USB cable that you have never used to connect your phone to a computer before (the cable is only for charging or is damaged), etc.

We quickly determine the culprit of the problem

Tracing a cause-and-effect relationship makes it much easier to localize the problem, but in about half of the cases there is nothing specific that precedes it. If this is the case for you, the following steps will help you determine where the failure occurred - in your mobile device, PC or USB cable.

  • Move the cable in the area of ​​the connectors (kinks most often form in these places) and see if the phone (tablet) is detected in the explorer or device manager of the computer. Or connect the devices with another cable that is known to work and is suitable for data transmission.
  • Connect your phone to another computer, as well as another mobile device to this PC. If the phone is not detected anywhere, the problem is definitely in it. The same is the case with a computer.
  • If the problem seems to be in the computer, check the phone in all USB sockets; perhaps the problem is in one or more of them (for example, only in the front group).

If you conclude that the cable is the source of the problem, simply replace it. What to do in other cases, read on.

The culprit of the failure is the phone. What to do?

If the diagnostics clearly indicate a problem with your mobile device, perform the following steps in order. After each step, check to see if the problem is resolved. If not, move on to the next one.

  • Reboot your device.
  • Connect your phone to your computer. Once connected, slide down the Quick Settings menu bar and make sure that the “Connect as” list does not include “charge only,” or “camera” or “media device.” Select the "USB storage" option.

  • Open system settings Android (in older versions - “Settings”). Go to the section " Wireless network" Turn on modem mode. Or vice versa, if it is on, turn it off. In some editions of Android, this parameter controls not only the modem, but also the connection of the gadget to the PC as a drive.

  • Experiment with putting your device into USB debugging mode. Open the “System” and “For Developers” sections in the settings. Uncheck or check the box next to “USB Debugging”.

  • Disconnect the phone from the computer, turn it off and remove the battery from it (the phone) (of course, if it is removable). After 5 minutes, replace the battery, turn on the device and try connecting again.
  • Remove applications that failed after installation. If the connection doesn't work in a particular sync app, clear its cache. If it doesn’t help, reinstall (both on your mobile device and on your PC) or try using an analogue.
  • Scan your device with an antivirus.
  • Reset the device's operating system to factory settings.

The culprit of the failure is the computer. What to do?

  • Shut down the OS, turn off the PC from the outlet (or press the key on the power supply) and hold down the power button for 15-20 seconds. This will discharge the capacitors and remove stray static charge, which may block detection of the connected device.
  • If your phone is not recognized by only one group of USB ports, open the cover system unit and make sure that their connections are secure. By the way, normal charging of a mobile device through the port does not mean that the second one is working properly.
  • Boot the operating system. Open Device Manager and check if portable devices are listed in the equipment list, and your phone is among them. If it is present, but marked with a black arrow in a circle (disabled), right-click on the line and select the “Enable device” command from the menu.

  • If there are unknown devices in the hardware list (indicated by an exclamation point in a yellow triangle), one of them may be the phone. To make sure it is him, disconnect your mobile device from USB. If the unknown device disappears from the list, then that’s it. And the reason for the failure is the lack of the required driver in the system. We will tell you below how to reinstall and where to download the driver for your phone.
  • The problem with recognizing connected devices may also be due to boot failure, damaged or missing USB drivers. In this case, the exclamation marks will be in the “USB Controllers” section.
  • Reinstalling drivers didn't help? Scan your computer disks with an antivirus and then temporarily disable security programs. By the way, the latter can block access to a mobile device as a storage medium if it contains suspicious or clearly malicious software. So it’s worth checking your phone for viruses too.

  • Uninstall the programs whose installation caused the problem, or perform a system restore to a checkpoint created on a day before the problem occurred.
  • If, in addition to the phone, the computer does not recognize other devices connected via USB - a mouse, keyboard, printer, flash drives, etc. (whether they are charged or not is not indicative), the source of the failure may be any faulty component of the system unit or something then from the periphery. You can determine the culprit at home by turning off the equipment one by one or replacing it with a known good one.

How to Reinstall Mobile Device Driver and USB on Windows Computer

iPhone

  • Connect iPhone to PC.
  • Open the folder %CommonProgramW6432%\Apple\Mobile Device Support\Drivers (to avoid typing the command manually, copy it from here, paste it into address bar any folder and click the go button). It contains 2 files (out of four) with the .inf extension - usbaapl.inf and usbaapl64.inf.

  • Open context menu each of these files and execute the “Install” command.
  • After installation, restart your computer.

Android

Smartphones and tablets for Android, such as Samsung, Xiaomi, Lenovo, Meizu, HTC, etc., as a rule, do not create separate folders for storing their drivers, and they are often not found on official websites so you can just download and reinstall. Therefore, to begin with, you should trust the reinstallation of the drivers already present in the system by Windows itself.

How to do it:

  • Open the context menu of the problematic device in Device Manager. Select the "Update Driver" option.

  • In the next window, first select automatic search updates. If Windows does not find anything suitable, check the second item - installing and searching for drivers manually.

  • Next, click “Select from the list available on your computer.” All drivers will be displayed in a new window mobile devices, which are already installed on the PC.

  • To narrow your search, in the “Select a driver for this device” section, check the “Compatible Only” box. Check the one that best suits your request (if there is more than one item in the list) and click “Next” to proceed to the installation.

For the driver to work correctly, restart your computer.

If reinstalling the driver already installed in the system did not help, you will have to look for something else on the Internet (with the risk of downloading a virus instead of the one you are looking for), so download them only from reliable and trusted sites, like w3bsit3-dns.com, and check with an antivirus before installation.

Drivers for the most common models of mobile gadgets are also collected in the “USB Drivers for Android” application, which is available for free download on Google Play.

USB drivers for Windows can usually be easily found on the websites of laptop or desktop PC motherboard manufacturers. Sometimes they are included in the chipset driver.

If the phone is not recognized in firmware mode

The fact that the computer and phone do not see each other fastboot mode, indicates the “Waiting for device” message that appears in the firmware program. Most often, this error occurs due to the lack of a mobile device driver in the system, so first of all, do what is written above - reinstall the driver or download and install it again.

If it doesn't help:

  • Make sure that you follow the instructions for working with the firmware installation program exactly and that it is running as an administrator.
  • Check if USB debugging is enabled on your smartphone (if not, enable it), and the device itself is in bootloader mode. If this mode is blocked, find instructions online for unlocking the bootloader specifically for your device model.
  • Connect the phone to the rear USB socket as short as possible and with a known good cable, without using any adapters or hubs.
  • Your phone may not support USB 3 (blue socket), so only connect it to USB 2.0 (black sockets).
  • Install all released Windows updates on your computer.

If the problem persists even after doing this, try flashing the phone on another PC. And better - with a different version of the operating system.

When the problem is a broken physical interface

It is advisable not to use faulty physical interfaces, especially on a mobile gadget, at all (do not load them with current to avoid worsening the breakdown), even if the phone or tablet retains the ability to charge through them. You can organize content transfer either by wireless communication(Wi-Fi, bluetooth), or via cloud services, which are available on both devices. In particular, iTunes and iCloud for Apple equipment, Google Drive, Yandex Disk, Dropbox, Microsoft OneDrive and many others - for everyone.

Cloud services are convenient to use for transferring photos, videos, music, documents and other types of files. There are enough options to synchronize contacts on Android and PC Gmail. And to control your phone directly from your computer, you can install an application like MyPhoneExplorer on them (consists of 2 parts - for the phone and for the PC), which supports both wired and wireless connection devices without requiring driver installation. Very comfortably.

In short, there is always a way out and it is often much simpler than it seems at first glance.

USB connectors rarely break and are very easy to use. But when they fail, it causes a lot of trouble. In this article we will present to your attention the most simple solutions this unpleasant question.

First, restart your computer. Sometimes there are situations when drivers stop working due to some system error. So restarting the system can correct this situation. If it is not possible to restart the PC, for example, because some important program is running (say, installing an application), you can try reloading the drivers. To do this, follow the path “Start – Control Panel – Task Manager” or go to “Start”, click “Run” and enter “devmgmt.msc” in the field. In the new window, select “Action”, and then “Update hardware configuration”. If the USB controller appears in the list, then the problem is solved. You can also try removing and reinstalling the controller. Let's say right away that this method works very rarely, but in some cases it really helps. Go to Device Manager again. Find the USB connectors section, and pressing right button mouse, remove them. After restarting the computer, when the OS loads, new drivers will be installed themselves. In some cases, the problem will be caused by damage to the drivers themselves, and therefore they will need to be updated. But this process is quite complicated, and it is better not to do anything yourself, but to contact a specialist.


One of the most common problems is overloading USB ports. In other words, there are a lot of different cables connected to the computer. The solution to this problem is very simple: you need to disconnect all the cords and leave only the one you need.


Also, the reason why the controller does not work may be the BIOS. The next time you start your computer, press the BIOS entry key (usually delete, F1 or F10). After logging in, go to the “Advanced” section and find the “USB Controller” item. This line should say “Enabled”, and if it’s different, then change it to what you need and save. If none of the above methods helped, then this is definitely mechanical damage to the connector or connection cable. First you need to establish what exactly is not working. Disconnect all cables from USB connectors, turn on the computer again and start returning it one by one, so you can find out which connector or device is not working. After the non-working device is found, carefully examine it for damage: is there any dust on it, is it intact or not, and are there any cracks. Afterwards, also look at the connecting cord: is it bent too much, is it torn, are there any cracks, chips or cuts.

Peripheral devices such as a mouse, keyboard, Web camera, and printer are usually connected to the computer via USB ports. In this case, it often happens that one or more ports stop working. That is, when you connect, for example, a flash drive to a computer, it is not recognized, the keyboard or mouse may freeze, and the printer may not respond or print pages.

There are several likely reasons why some or all of the USB ports on your computer are not working. Let's try to understand this issue and find out what should be done to restore normal functioning of the computer.

Checking BIOS settings

The first thing you should pay attention to is BIOS settings computer. To enter the BIOS you will need a working keyboard. If the keyboard is connected to the computer via USB and it does not work, then you need to connect a keyboard with a PS/2 connector. Otherwise, you simply won't be able to do anything.

So, let's go to the BIOS, for which, when starting the computer, you need to press the enter key, usually DEL. There may be another key that appears on the screen and is listed in the motherboard manual. After entering the BIOS, find the section responsible for integrated devices (Integrated Peripherals) or the “Advanced” section. Here you should find the “Onboard Devices Configuration” subsection. It is there that the parameters responsible for USB operation controllers: USB Function or USB 2.0 Controller. These parameters must be Enabled. And if one of them is disabled, then hover over it and press Enter, thereby turning it on. To ensure that the changes you make are not lost, you must save them by pressing F10 and confirm saving by pressing the Y or Enter key.

After restarting the computer, check if they work USB ports. And if not, then you should look for the reason elsewhere.

USB ports on the front of the computer do not work

As a special case, USB only on the front panel may not work for you. In such a situation, you need to check whether the necessary connectors on the motherboard are connected and whether the wires are damaged. To do this we open side cover system unit and pay attention to the connector at the bottom motherboard. On the board itself there is an inscription USB1 or USB2, as well as on the block itself. The wires from the block go to the front panel, and if they are disconnected or broken in one place, then you have discovered the cause of the malfunction. Damaged wires should be connected or replaced. It would also be a good idea to check the contact in the connector on the motherboard. It is also worth paying attention to the board located on the front panel. Perhaps there is short circuit By the way, such a short circuit can be caused by accumulated dust. Therefore, be sure to clean the system unit from dust.

Problems with the device itself or the cable

The next source of problems with USB may be the cable with which, for example, the printer is connected. This fault is easy to identify and fix. We connect the flash drive to the connector being tested. If it works, then we try to connect another known-good equipment, for example a USB hub, using a suspicious cable. If it also refuses to work, then the reason is clearly in the cable and it should be replaced.

Power outages

There are situations when there is simply not enough power for all devices. For example, when connecting an external hard drive, which uses two USB connectors at once, the printer or keyboard may turn off. In this case, the power of the power supply is not enough to provide energy to all consumers. In this case, the problem may not appear immediately, but after some time after turning on the computer. There are several ways out of the situation. If you have a low-power power supply installed, for example, 300 W, then it would be logical to change it to a more powerful one, 450-600 W. You can also use an active USB hub (with external power supply). It will allow you not only to increase the number of connected USB devices, but also to power them from a separate power supply.

Another reason that affects USB operation is a dead CMOS battery. But at the same time, every time you turn on the computer, you will observe a lost system time and date. After replacing the battery the problem goes away. But this does not occur often, so you should check other possible sources of malfunction.

Missing or incorrect installation of USB drivers

Reasons related to software malfunctions in Windows 7/10, can be identified using Device Manager. If you notice that one or more devices in particular are not working, regardless of the port used, this may indicate that the problem is in the device itself. Open Control Panel and go to Device Manager. All connected devices will be displayed there. If there are items in the list next to which there is a yellow Exclamation point or instead of the name there is Unknown device, then the problem is in this very device. There may be several possible problems here.

Often USB inputs stop working after Windows reinstallation 7/10. The reason is incorrect installation drivers or the necessary drivers may not be found at all. You will have to select and install manually.

Often, to fix a problem you just need to update the drivers. Yes, if disabled automatic update Windows, and the system itself was installed quite a long time ago, the relevance of the software is lost, and problems may appear. system errors. In this case, the device begins to work incorrectly, or even stops functioning altogether. To update (reinstall) USB controller drivers, you can use a CD/DVD with drivers for the motherboard or download the necessary drivers from the motherboard manufacturer's website.

You can also turn off the power saving feature for all ports using Device Manager. Expand the list of used USB devices, hidden in the sections “USB Controllers”, “Mouse and Other Pointing Devices”, “Keyboards”. Double-click on the desired device to open the properties window. Now switch to the “Power Management” tab and uncheck the “Allow the computer to turn off this device to save power” checkbox. Thus, the device will always be activated under any circumstances.

If some equipment is not recognized, then there may be either a problem with the drivers already known to us, or a hardware problem, consisting of a lack of contact, a damaged cable, or a malfunction of the controller. Moreover, it often happens that when a faulty device is connected, the others stop working normally. The keyboard starts to freeze, as does the mouse, and the printer stops printing. The problem is similar to power shortage, that is, all the power consumption goes to a faulty device, which may have a simple short circuit or other malfunction.

USB ports not working due to controller damage

If none of the above actions helped restore the functionality of the USB ports, then you should check the USB controller of the motherboard, which may have failed. In this case, high-quality repairs and diagnostics should be entrusted to specialists service center. As a way out of the problem, try installing an expansion card, the so-called USB PC controller, which is installed in the PCI slot on the motherboard. This solution is noticeably cheaper than repairing the motherboard USB controller, and when using an additional USB hub, the problem with the lack of ports will not be relevant at all.

As you can see, finding and fixing problems with USB ports is quite a troublesome task, and all because there can be a lot of reasons. Consistent search and elimination of obviously incorrect paths will allow you to identify and eliminate the problem.

USB port doesn't work, both on the front panel and on the back of the system unit, or they are not working correctly, I connect the phone to the USB port on the front panel, it is successfully detected in the system, but if at this moment I connect another portable HDD(there are only two USB ports on the front panel) then it is not detected in the system, and the phone freezes. I wrote to you about this, you advised to reboot and use only one device or use USB ports located on system board behind the computer. I wonder why? My scanner, connected to the USB port on the back of the system unit, also sometimes does not want to work. The computer has Windows 7 Home Basic pre-installed, it came with it when purchased, everything should be in order with the drivers, USB 2.0 specification.

With all respect, Andrew.

USB port doesn't work

I will give numerous examples of eliminating this malfunction that are familiar to me personally, if you are not interested in reading the entire article, go to the end of the article, directly to the description of the malfunctions, but you will miss a lot, for example, an interesting story about how I almost ruined my Father-in-law’s expensive Smartphone, This experience will undoubtedly be useful to you.

You see, it’s one thing to connect your device to a USB controller, which is an integral part of the chipset of your motherboard, and another to a Chinese USB hub that outputs several USB ports from the motherboard through a cable to the front panel. It is possible that your hub cable may be faulty. Actually, let's look at everything possible reasons your problems.

If you connect two power-hungry USB devices at once to the two USB ports on the front panel (for example, a portable hard drive and a phone), then one of these devices immediately lacks power and it refuses to work or does not work correctly. Why? The USB controller provides the device connected to it with a power supply of -500 mA at 5 V. If the USB interface device does not have an additional power adapter, then it must operate from the USB interface, without additional food, that is, 5 V should be enough, but if to USB controller Two devices are connected using a hub. Many may notice that everything works for them, but another question is whether it works correctly?

The promised short story. My father-in-law was given a smartphone abroad, a hybrid of a telephone and a pocket computer, beautiful, good, but there is no Russian language, naturally the question arose of how to Russify it? I won’t go into details, but I’ll say in simple words, go to the official website of the phone and find out the version latest firmware, it may very well contain the Russian language, install special program and we are flashing it quite legally, but there is one thing, you cannot interrupt the started flashing process, otherwise you can ruin the device.

So I connected the Smartphone to the USB port on the front panel computer, with which I never had any problems, and launched the program, the process was interrupted several times and generally froze for half an hour, then I had thoughts: USB port doesn't work or a smartphone USB extension cable or the problem is in the flashing program. I had to disconnect the device, which also did not turn on, and connect it to the second USB port on the front panel. Sometimes a USB hub can be rebooted, this can be cured by rebooting, I rebooted and tried to start the firmware process over again. Several people watched and groaned at me. And I had to start all this on the birthday of the owner of the phone, my Father-in-law.

The process ended in nothing again. I went all-in and connected the phone to the USB port, as many say on the back, that is, located directly on the motherboard of my computer and being an integral part of the mother’s chipset, rebooted and started the process all over again, going through different options, among which was this - purchase a new Smartphone for my Father-in-law. Now, now it will be Russian, I said then, trying to keep up in the presence of numerous relatives, but there was still no Russian, the process went slowly, but surely and without stopping. In the end, Welcome! Hurray, everything worked out.


  • There was a case when the problem was solved by replacing a low-power 300W and most likely faulty power supply, the output power of which was very small.
  • Once I was never able to determine the reason bad work The USB port located on the motherboard, but after a month, burned out on this computer south bridge, here is your answer.
  • A phone, camera, scanner, or printer may not work correctly or may not be detected at all in the operating system from any USB port on the computer, without full-featured software, which includes drivers. You can download all this equipment on the official website of the device manufacturer.
  • Sometimes the USB port will work.
  • The USB ports on your computer may not work due to the deplorable state of your operating system, if you have been using it for many years, and you also have updates disabled, it is advisable to reinstall it or restore it system files. Plays a big role Windows assembly that you have installed, it is advisable to use the original assemblies and install native drivers for them taken from the website of the manufacturer of your hardware. In non-original assemblies, a lot has been changed and there are mostly outdated driver packages at best. The motherboard chipset must have native drivers and the latest versions.
  • Sometimes you can overload a USB hub and the connected device will stop responding to you; this can be cured by simply restarting the computer. Almost all USB hubs have power management and Windows can turn off the device to save power. How to ban? You can read it here.
  • If the USB port still fails and this is confirmed by professionals, cover it with tape and do not use it. If you don't have enough USB ports, you can buy a card reader for several USB ports with an additional power adapter or a worse option - an additional PCI-USB card.
  • Sometimes, friends, it’s worth disabling the USB 2.0 Controller in the BIOS and the problematic device will be identified, but problems may begin with other USB devices.