All four USB ports in my Toshiba Satellite A105 laptop fail to work with a USB flash drive
I have Toshiba Satellite A105 laptop. I have never used any USB devices before and today I bought a new USB flash drive. For some reason, when I plug it into the laptop, it doesn’t work. I’ve tried all 4 USB ports without any luck. The drive works fine with my desktop computer. Do you know what is wrong with my laptop?
I think I know what is wrong with your laptop. Last Friday I fixed Toshiba Satellite A105-S1013 laptop with exactly the same problem. The laptop didn’t recognize my USB flash drive. Apparently the device was detected by Windows because as soon as I plugged it in, a balloon pooped up and it said “USB Device Not Recognized”. I tried to plug in three different devices and always got the same error. I found that this laptop is running BIOS v1.20 not even listed on Toshiba website for this model. I downloaded and installed the latest BIOS v1.90 and fortunately it fixed the problem. You can download the latest BIOS from Toshiba support website and install it right from the Windows environment.
May 15th, 2008 at 9:55 pm
i Have a Toshiba A135-S2276.. my usb flashdisk doesnt work when i inserted it in usb port. it says windows doesnt recognized
it. i went to device manager and see UNKNOWN DEVICE on the usb part..!pls Help on what to do.. recently i have a usb mouse and it was working but know it doesnt work also.. PLS HELP!Thank You..
April 27th, 2008 at 9:50 am
This is unreal….IT WORKED!!!
I went and downloaded the latest BIOS version from the Toshiba website for my A105 and to my amazement, my USB ports are now working for the 1st time in over a year!
LOVE IT!
Thanks for the original post, Laptop Freak!
March 23rd, 2008 at 11:49 am
I’ve been following this thread; however my problem is a little different from the rest:
I have two Toshiba notebooks a A105 S101 and a A105 S4334 both will recognize some of my USB Flash drives and will give me the Ding Ding sound and ask for a driver for the others. I even purchased a Toshiba brand USB drive thinking that would work for sure, but no joy. I have one USB Flash drive that will work in the first notebook and not the second one. I have updated the BIOS to version 2.20 and tried a PCICIM USB card to no avail.
All the USB drives work properly in my other computers and a call to Toshiba support generated a “Never heard of this problem” and of course no solution.
February 24th, 2008 at 10:46 am
iaci,
It looks like the latest version is 2.00
Try updating the BIOS. It can help. Maybe new BIOS release fixes some kind of compatibility issues with your new hard drive. This is just a guess.
February 24th, 2008 at 10:40 am
I think this laptop is not capable of booting from an external USB optical drive.
February 21st, 2008 at 10:41 am
Howdy everyone,
Following what has been hashed here I discover a confusion relating to my issue. Let me just explain it.
Few days ago, I just replaced my Toshiba A105-S3611 with a brand new hard disk and there it goes, a USB 2.0 problem. What confusing is the old hard drive was gone well with its BIOS 1.4 but unable to working properly with this new hard drive.
How am I supposed to do?
Bunch of thanks.
February 5th, 2008 at 6:24 pm
Thanks, USB Recognicion problem solved with the latest bios update from Toshiba for the Correct model Update. A+++, saved my mum having to buy a new laptop. Thanks everyone for this info.
January 12th, 2008 at 3:02 am
Dear Laptop Freak!
Hi, ihave Toshiba A105-52719 my laptop cannot boot from usb external cd rom, help me please. thanks
October 25th, 2007 at 8:51 pm
hungou,
I’ve posted some suggestions here.
October 23rd, 2007 at 8:17 pm
Dear Laptop Freak!
My portege 3505 can not go to windows after fail in splitting partition by partition magic. I tried to boot from USB drive but it doesn’t recognize the USB. It happen the same with external Toshibe DVD Rom which connect to the laptop by a cardbus card. I tried to boot by a floppy disk, it was ok but didn’t recognize the USB or DVD ROM( i used a software of HP to boot from floppy disk and can use CDROM). Please help me to make my laptop recognize the USB or DVD ROM on DOS!!!
Thanks!
please send an answer to me via email:hungvuvan83@yahoo.com
October 7th, 2007 at 11:07 am
Thank you for this solution. We have had USB issues with our Toshiba since day one. Support wouldn’t help. This fixed it instantly!
September 13th, 2007 at 10:10 pm
Thanks for the info! BIOS update finally fixed my USB problem on my Satellite A105-S101. I applied the latest update which was v2.2
For those that this doesn’t work for, I guess unplugging the computer from the wall socket and removing the battery for a while seems to work for a lot of people.
September 1st, 2007 at 2:52 pm
Dear Laptop freak,
Thank you so much for your help, I downloded the BIOS v2.1 and that resolved all USB connection problems, I have been trying with Toshiba Techs for the last 1.5 year, they either did not know or did not want to help, even when the laptop was under warranty. They just gave me the run around. I will certainly remember that when I shop for any electronic products next time. I really appreciate your help.
Thanks again,
Best Regards
B. Afsheen
July 28th, 2007 at 5:56 am
I have a Toshiba A105-S4004. I had this problem with my usb ports surging, turned out to be the motherboard, sent it in to authorized dealer, had it repaired, now my windows installer is not working, cannot do DMI update, and after I saved everything to external hard drive I was going to use my recovery disk to start fresh, the recovery disk has worked in recent past…
This question with a possible solution has been published here.
July 18th, 2007 at 5:03 am
I have a Toshiba Satellite Pro A60, and have been having problems with my usb ports too. The two on the back say USB malfunction device not recognised, and the one on the side does nothing. At first I found that there is an unknown usb device. I tried removing it, but to no avail. I then tried re-flashing the bios with v1.90. Still no luck. In the end, I bought a PCMCIA USB 2.0 card. This is identified in the device manager, but the ports do not work!!!!! I have tested the devices in other computers and they work fine. Any suggestions?
July 14th, 2007 at 7:40 am
Where do I go to download the BIOS v1.90?
I went to Toshiba, but I couldn’t find it.
Also, after I download it, how do I apply it to my computer?
Thanks in advance
May 29th, 2007 at 6:04 pm
To laptopfreak:
Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!
I’ve been banging my head against the wall trying to figure out this problem for months now and I just followed your recommendations and VIOLA!
I am eternally in your debt.
March 26th, 2007 at 4:28 pm
To laptopfreak:
You are a god! I have been literally driving myself CRAZY over not being able to transfer the pictures from my camera. I downloaded the latest BIOS… and everything works fine!
I have been working on this problem for 6 months, and was one day away from paying to get it fixed.
Bless you.
I love you.
Paul
March 5th, 2007 at 7:38 pm
Sam Minocher,
Backup all personal data and run the recovery DVD, it will reimage the hard drive back to factory defaults. Everything will be erased so do not forget to make a backup.
If running the recovery DVD will not help and you still experiencing the same problem with USB ports, most likely you have a bad motherboard. You’ll have to take the laptop to an authorized repair center.
March 5th, 2007 at 6:20 pm
Mason Allinder,
There is no simple fix for this problem. USB ports are located on the motherboard and if they are damaged, you’ll have to remove the motherboard and resolder the ports. Most laptop repair shops will offer replacing the whole motherboards.
You can use a PCMCIA USB card.
March 4th, 2007 at 4:36 am
I tried to update bios 1.9 from 1.2. But my laptop says “invalid chipset”, and nothing happened. what’s wrong with me? (Mine is Toshiba Satellite A105 as well)
March 2nd, 2007 at 2:57 pm
Dear Laptop Freak,
Toshiba’s seem to be a pain don’t they? I have a brand new A100-241 (PSAA2E)and from day one I have had issues with the USB ports. I could connect a mouse to one and a camera to the same one but not to another one. There are lots of strange things with these ports. Today I bought a new wireless mouse and a printer. I tried to install both, windows would detect them (I connected the printer after the installation of the HP software as required) and it can find the printer but cannot install it. It just won’t detect the drivers for the printer whatever you do. So I read through all the posts here and tried the BIOS Update hoping it would work. The BIOS update is version 2.1 and unfortunately this did not work. So I tried removing the USB ports from the device manger and restarting the computer and now windows cannot re-install the ports. The “detect new hardware” wizard detects the ports but cannot find the necessary software/drivers to install them. I am going nuts. Is there anything you can do to help me here? Eternally Gratefull and many thanks,
Sam
March 1st, 2007 at 1:40 pm
hi i have a toshiba satellite laptop and my kids bent in all of the usb port forks so i bought a usb drive and they managed to bend thos in too i have a freind who is willing to buy it but id like to fix them for him and not have to pay alot can you help me?
February 27th, 2007 at 11:33 am
yeah thanks. in fact i have been doing that (using the PCMCIA for USB) but i need to free up my PCMCIA slot for another card and was hoping i could somehow gain the original USB ports back. a pipe dream apparently.
to replace the motherboard is too expensive i think. i will eventually end up buying a new laptop.
thanks for the suggestion though.
February 26th, 2007 at 11:42 pm
Jeff m.,
I think you should try a USB PCMCIA cardbus card. You plug this card into an available PC slot in your laptop and get 2 USB ports instead. It might work.
Otherwise you’ll have to replace the motherboard.
February 25th, 2007 at 3:50 am
i have a toshiba satellite P15 S409.
some months ago it received a static shock via an external sound cable connection which caused my laptop to lock and crash. and upon restarting i realized none of the USB ports functioned. that is to say, when i plug in an external device it receives a signal (lights on external device will turn on, etc.)–BUT– nothing more. the ext. device is not recognized on the laptop and the device doesn’t funtion.
is there a way to get my ports up and running again?
February 20th, 2007 at 9:03 pm
I worship at your shrine. Bios 1.90 worked like a charm on my Satellite A65.
February 12th, 2007 at 8:27 pm
Awesome! Updating BIOS worked like a charm for USB ports on my Toshiba. I had already done a complete system restore without any luck and was an inch away from taking it to service when I decided to hunt on the internet for insight. I almost couldn’t believe it. I would have never found it myself even if I had looked on Toshiba’s website because the write-up there does not mention that it fixes the USB port problem. Thank you very much.
February 10th, 2007 at 2:32 am
re not booting from usb device – laptop is a dell – it does boot from usb device or bios says it does – had same problem om other dells – never tried it on other makes – maybe its just dells???
February 9th, 2007 at 10:09 pm
Tony,
Probably your laptop doesn’t have this feature (booting from an USB drive). Check if there is an updated BIOS for your model, maybe this feature is included in there.