Have three USB ports on my laptop (let's call them 1, 2, and 3) and three main USB devices (call them A, B, and C). All of the ports work.

The only way A works is if it is in 1. Likewise for the other devices: B must be in 2, C must be in 3. Now whenever I have to use other USB devices I can't use my other ones because they will not work in the other ports. Why will Windows not recognize my USB devices if I plug them into a difference USB port? How do I fix this?


EDIT 1 - Examples:

• My WD external hard drive only works in [what I call] port 1. If I plug it into any other port, windows plainly does not see it.
• My SanDisc Cruzer Mini only works in port 2. If I plug it into any other port Windows recognizes it, but sees nothing on the drive.
• My friend's iPod only charges when connected to port 2. I don't have any clues, I hate iPod.

You can try the resetting the USB drivers; on this page to to the section "USB drive not working stable" near the bottom.

I am worried as to the effectiveness of the author's English. I'd rather not follow his instructions that advise me to backup my system. It isn't entirely because he comes of as "English is almost my second language," but I have been screwed over too many times by someone that almost spoke English.

DEVCON is not looking promising either.

Any other hints?

The two XP systems in my home also do this (but only with certain devices like wireless adapters; mice, joysticks, and flash drives work in any port). I'd like to know if there's a solution.

When is the lack of recognition occurring? i.e. if you reboot the PC, does the problem persist?

Another possible reason for your issue is that you're not stopping the devices before you remove them from your system. To do this, look for any icon in your system tray called "Safely Remove Hardware". Double click it, highlight the device you want to remove, and click "Stop". Despite Plug-N-Play features, many devices are often still being accessed/used by system processes even when they appear idle, and sudden removal can cause problems.

@LAN:

I always remove the hardware safely with the device manager icon. I know of these problems back when I knew nothing and then pulled the USB stick and there went my school work. Even after safely removing the hardware, then putting into a new port, the computer still does not see it. USB sticks are not recognized while external hard drives (with independent power supplies) are seen but not assigned drive letters.

Rebooting the computer every time is not a permanent solution I was looking for. I will try it now to see what happens but I am not optimistic.

System reboot with the device in the other port did not work. It went through all the hoops: new USB device found, recognized, yadda yadda, and in the end there was no drive and it did not show up in the device manager. At least plugging it back into the original port works.

Not sure, but this sounds an awful lot like a USB voltage issue. It may be that in your laptop, port 1 has full voltage, but ports 2 & 3 are ancillary and don't provide the full voltage (this is just a guess). See this reference.

Check the spec sheet for your laptop. One workaround may be to buy a powered usb hub (where you plug the hub into AC power) and plug it into port 1. This might provide a full set of full-power ports.