USB not recognized but I didn't plug a USB in. (error 43)

[theacorstudios]

For the last year or so, my self built windows 10 desktop PC has been randomly popping up a notification saying that a mystery USB device could not be recognized.
Problem is, I haven't plugged in any USB device

I've tried everything, I updated all of my drivers, I unplugged devices one by one, physically disconnected USB ports from my board, plugged all USB devices I own in and out of every port in different configurations multiple times, and the problem still persists. I've checked all my ports for physical damage, one port wasn't working and I unplugged it from the board and the issue still persisted.

When looking at the device manager, the mystery USB is named unknown USB device (device descriptor request failed), in it's properties, the description reads windows has stopped this device because it has reported problems. (code 43).
I've tried updating it's drivers, disabling it and uninstalling it, all in vain. It keeps getting "plugged out" and "plugged in" at random and with no apparent event triggering it, making any efforts to disable or uninstall useless.

It causes no other issues on my PC, it's completely isolated from everything else, so I've just resorted to disabling system noises for notifications and USB activity, though the annoying notification box in the corner still appears, but that's not really a permanent solution.

Has anyone had a similar issue? Any suggestions on how I could fix it? Maybe tell me how to disable my notification box so I can at least ignore the issue forever?

System specs:

Motherboard: Gigabyte GX-Z97X-SLI

storage: Kingston ssdnow v300 240gb SSD & Western Digital WD black 2TB drive

GPU: ASUS NVidia GTX 970 Turbo

CPU: Intel core i7 4790k

RAM: HyperX dual channel 16gb DDR3
Cooling: Corsair H100i v2

PSU: EVGA supernova NEX750B
wireless card: tp-link tl-wdn4800 PCI-e card

USB devices commonly connected: Logitech G600 mouse, Razer blackwidow TE chroma (tournament edition) keyboard, Focusrite scarlett solo studio audio interface, Artisul D13 drawing tablet. Logitech C920 webcam.

 

[karenjoly]

Fun times eh ?
I would look at

Event Viewer just after a notice to see what's up.
Start Menu/windows event viewer/custom views/administrative .

Look at your start up apps in Task Manager-

"View" hidden devices in Device Manager for devices that are no longer on the system.

 

[SigmaTheFox]

You can download USBDeview from here and check if there are any disconnected devices following the "Last Plug/Unplug" section

 

[theacorstudios]

You can download USBDeview from here and check if there are any disconnected devices following the "Last Plug/Unplug" section

I downloaded and found the ghost device. It's name only says it's found in port 2, hub 3.
By now I'm fairly certain the usb port must have some form of physical damage.
Is there a way to know whuch of the usb hubs on my pc is it referring to as hub 3? and which of it's ports is port 2?

 

[SigmaTheFox]

You can download USBDeview from here and check if there are any disconnected devices following the "Last Plug/Unplug" section

I downloaded and found the ghost device. It's name only says it's found in port 2, hub 3.
By now I'm fairly certain the usb port must have some form of physical damage.
Is there a way to know whuch of the usb hubs on my pc is it referring to as hub 3? and which of it's ports is port 2?

From what I know, the only way to check which physical port it is is to check it manually by plugging a USB device into all ports and checking on usbdeview when the right port updates (do it with only one device to make it easier)

 

[theacorstudios]

You can download USBDeview from here and check if there are any disconnected devices following the "Last Plug/Unplug" section

I downloaded and found the ghost device. It's name only says it's found in port 2, hub 3.
By now I'm fairly certain the usb port must have some form of physical damage.
Is there a way to know whuch of the usb hubs on my pc is it referring to as hub 3? and which of it's ports is port 2?

From what I know, the only way to check which physical port it is is to check it manually by plugging a USB device into all ports and checking on usbdeview when the right port updates (do it with only one device to make it easier)

Oof, I've tried that a bunch of times! Plugging single and multiple devices in and out in different combinations of devices and ports. Iused USBviewer and realized that consecutive numbered ports are also phisically consecutive to one another on my PC, but I couldn't find where port 1 was. Port 3 had my webcam, and it made no difference when unplugging it.
As I'm digging into the problem right now it's worsened, and the nonexistent device is plugging in and out more than before, happens every time I try to look into it, as if mocking me >: (

I'll keep trying to find port 2 for now I guess, maybe I'll get lucky.

 

[SigmaTheFox]

You can download USBDeview from here and check if there are any disconnected devices following the "Last Plug/Unplug" section

I downloaded and found the ghost device. It's name only says it's found in port 2, hub 3.
By now I'm fairly certain the usb port must have some form of physical damage.
Is there a way to know whuch of the usb hubs on my pc is it referring to as hub 3? and which of it's ports is port 2?

From what I know, the only way to check which physical port it is is to check it manually by plugging a USB device into all ports and checking on usbdeview when the right port updates (do it with only one device to make it easier)

Oof, I've tried that a bunch of times! Plugging single and multiple devices in and out in different combinations of devices and ports. Iused USBviewer and realized that consecutive numbered ports are also phisically consecutive to one another on my PC, but I couldn't find where port 1 was. Port 3 had my webcam, and it made no difference when unplugging it.
As I'm digging into the problem right now it's worsened, and the nonexistent device is plugging in and out more than before, happens every time I try to look into it, as if mocking me >: (

I'll keep trying to find port 2 for now I guess, maybe I'll get lucky.

Another thing that might be happening to you is internal USB ports/headers being broken. When you built the PC did you use all of the USB headers or are some free? and did you plug in an internal USB hub?