Consider a situation where you connect your external hard drive/USB to your system for file transfer. But you’re greeted with an error ‘A device attached to the system is not functioning’. Not fun, isn’t it? Don’t worry, in this article, we provide some effective solutions to help you resolve the error.
Solution 1: Restart your computer
Pardon the simplicity of this solution, but restarting your computer is known to resolve many types of errors. Simply disconnect the storage device and restart your computer. Once the system has properly booted, connect your device and check if it resolves the error.
Solution 2: Connect to a different USB port
If your USB port is damaged, it may hamper the connection between the storage device and your system. In such cases, connect your device to a different USB slot and check if the error persists. If it does, proceed to the next step.
Solution 3: Run CHKDSK and SFC
The device fails to work properly if the file system is corrupted or damaged. To fix such errors, CHKDSK can be used. It is an effective troubleshooting tool that corrects any file system errors. To run CHKDSK,
- Open the Command Prompt by clicking on Windows + X keys
- Type ‘CHKDSK /F <drive letter:>’ and hit Enter
In Step 2, use the drive letter of your storage device in place of ‘drive letter’
Next, run SFC to resolve corruption issues with your system files. To run SFC,
- Open Command Prompt
- Type ‘SFC /SCANNOW’ and hit Enter
This command will replace corrupt system files and help you resolve USB storage connectivity issues in some cases.
Solution 4: Update device drivers
You may receive the ‘A device attached to the system is not functioning’ error if the drivers in your system are not up to date. So try updating device drivers and check if it solves the problem.
- Open the power user’s menu by clicking on Windows + X keys and select Device Manager
- Identify your hard drive from the list of available drives and right click on it
- Click on Update driver to update drivers for the selected hard drive
- Select ‘Automatically update’ if you want your computer to automatically update your drivers. However, if you have downloaded drivers on your computer, you can select ‘Manually Update driver software’ and proceed.
Once the drivers are updated, restart your computer to see if it resolves the problem. If not, your last resort is to format the drive.
Solution 5: Format your drive
You may receive ‘A device attached to the system is not functioning’ error if your drive is corrupted or if it’s not formatted properly. In such cases, formatting the drive will resolve the issue.
Note: Before you proceed with formatting, make sure your drive is backed up as formatting will delete all contents of the drive. If the drive is severely corrupt, you may have trouble recovering data from it. In such cases, you can use Hi5 Software to recover data from corrupted hard drive.
Once data is recovered, you can proceed with formatting using the steps below.
- Open-File Explorer by clicking on Windows + E
- If your storage device is connected, you should be able to see it in the list of drives displayed
- ‘Right click’ on your external hard drive and select Format
- Proceed with formatting by selecting the required options
Once the process is complete, your drive will be formatted using a new file system. This should resolve the error in most cases.
