If you look further, you will find that the USB device is unrecognized in the Device Manager Console and contains the following: This message is usually displayed when you plug in a USB device, a memory card, or any other thing connected via the USB port and the PC is unable to load it. This error can occur due to several different reasons. Today we are going to discuss what those reasons could potentially be and how to fix them so that you are able to restore access to your USB device.
What is Device Descriptor?
The Device Descriptor contains information about the USB device. It is the root of the descriptor tree, which contains critical information about the device, such as vendor ID, product ID, etc. These are unique identifiers that help machines identify the type of device connected. Windows then uses this information to load the right type of driver for the device to use, so that it becomes useful to the user. When this information fails to load, Windows is unable to load the respective driver, which is why the device goes undetected.
What Causes Device Descriptor to Fail?
There can be several reasons why a USB device may prompt an error “Device Descriptor Request Failed.” Here is a list of possible causes:
USB or USB port is physically damaged.The USB driver is corrupted or outdated.The USB device has bad sectors.
let us now show you how you can fix this error so that the USB may begin to function normally again.
How to Fix Device Descriptor Request Failed
Check for hardware issues
The first thing to do is to check if there are hardware issues. This includes the USB device and the USB port on your computer. First, plug the USB device into another USB port to check if that particular port has an issue. If the USB device works normally on the other port, it means that the first USB port is damaged. If the USB device does not work on the second port either, try using it on another device entirely. This will rule out the possibility of the USB device being damaged. If the device doesn’t work on another PC wither, it means that the USB device is damaged. However, if it does work, it means that there is some software issue with your initial PC. In that case, continue to perform the methods given below to fix the issue.
Unplug power from laptop
This may seem unusual, but often a laptop with a power adapter plugged-in causes issues related to connected devices, such as USB flash drives. You can try using a USB device while the laptop is running on battery power and the power adapter is unplugged. If this does not resolve the issue and the USB device still doesn’t function properly, you can eliminate the possibility of a faulty power supply.
Scan for hardware changes
Manually scanning your PC for hardware changes can detect a USB device if all goes well. Follow the steps below to perform a quick scan: The computer will now refresh the page and list all detected devices. Check to see if the USB device is now recognized. If not, proceed with the given troubleshooting methods below.
Update Generic USB Hub Driver
The issue may be caused by an outdated USB driver. You can try and update the driver if any are available. Here is how:
Reinstall USB Driver
It may be possible that the USB driver is corrupted and needs to be reinstalled. Perform the following steps to reinstall the driver: After the computer reboots, check to see if this resolves the issue.
Disable Fast Startup
Fast Startup is a feature that controls the behavior of Windows shutdown and startup processes. Fast Startup enables the OS to reload the necessary components while keeping others in the memory, resulting in faster boot times. However, this often negatively affects the different components of the computer and is thus unable to load them properly. Here’s how to disable the feature in Windows: Once the computer restarts, check if the USB is now being detected.
Disable USB Selective Suspend Setting
The “USB Selective Suspend” feature allows Windows to shut down/suspend a selected USB port while others remain to function normally. By default, this feature is enabled in Windows, which may be the reason your USB device is unable to run properly. Follow the steps given below to disable this feature: When the computer reboots, check if the USB device is now detected.
Closing Words
Previously, Windows 10 came with a hardware troubleshooter, which was a big help for users to resolve issues with their USB devices. However, Microsoft has now removed the said troubleshooter. This is why we must now troubleshoot hardware-related issues, as we have in the post above. We hope that the “Unknown USB device (Device Descriptor Request Failed)” issue has been resolved after performing the methods discussed above. Also see:
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