USB connection problems

[bwphotos]

More times than not, I plug into the usb on my pc and the player is not recognized. Does it matter if it is on or off when I plug it in? Does the charge level have an effect on connecting? Is there a way to tell if my usb posts are working?

[CrowdAds]

[skip252]

There should be no difference in connecting if the player is on or off when connected. Charge level also doesn't affect the ability to connect.

You can test your USB connection by trying different USB ports on the PC. If none of them connect reliably you could then try changing the cable to see if that is the problem. Selecting MSC USB mode has been the most reliable mode for me across various operating systems so I would do my testing using that.

If none of that helps and other USB devices are connecting reliably you may have a defective player.

[dave61430]

It's not uncommon to occasionally plug in a usb device and have the computer fail to recognize. Just unplug and re-insert.
However, with the Clip I had one slowly go bad. Initially I couldn't charge using a wall charger but could charge using the computer, but not right away. After some time being plugged in, the computer would recognize it and start charging. Meanwhile, the device would lose charge because it turned on when first plugged in.
This went on for a while until one day it never did charge so I gave up and got a clip+.

[WalkGood]

If it’s not a bad cable (most likely that), some mp3 players have tight ports, check to make sure that the usb is fully inserted into your player. Yea, I know that sounds stupid but you’d be surprised how many have found that to be a cause. Also good point that skip makes, do it in msc mode.

[skip252]

Originally Posted by dave61430

It's not uncommon to occasionally plug in a usb device and have the computer fail to recognize....

It's uncommon for me. In fact since I upgraded to WinXP several years ago I don't think I've had a standard device that wasn't broken or the cable gone bad not connect reliably. Sometimes a software might have problems reading the device but you should be able to see it in the file browser of whatever OS you're using.

There have been a few exceptions. I once had a unpowered hub that wouldn't connect more than one device. Once the front ports on a PC weren't properly powered. The back ports connected without problems in that instance. There's also been times when USB in Rockbox was buggy.

Other than that USB connections to standard device have worked as expected. Plug it in, the OS sees it, installs the drivers and you are able to use the device.