Why won’t my PC recognize my Kindle when I plug it into a USB port? Yes, the USB port works for other devices. Yes, I’ve refreshed the screen (which is open to “This PC”). Yes, the Kindle is on. Yes, the PC has recognized it in the recent past. And no, nothing has changed in the last few days to change anything - to my knowledge.
So, there’s no reason I can find why the PC will not recognize my Kindle Fire! What’s up with this? Ideas?
Does the Kindle show it’s charging when you plug it in?
Oddly, yes it does! And, upon disconnecting from the UBS port, it makes a chime sound recognizing it has been disconnected. Perhaps this strongly suggests it is quirk with my PC?
BTW, I should add my wife noticed our son’s Kindle will eventually appear as a drive (when plugged into the same PC, same USB port) if you wait awhile. While she could not quantify “awhile”, I did wait what I considered more than a reasonable amount of time. Maybe others have experienced this and can judge for me how long to wait? Thanks!
Just a thought: have you tried plugging it into more than one of the PC’s USB ports?
Try steps 3 & 4 below
STEP 1: Unplug the Kindle Fire from the USB port where it is currently connected to and then try plugging it into another USB port on your computer.
STEP 2: If the computer still does not detect the Kindle Fire, try using another USB cable if possible. Otherwise, proceed to the next step.
STEP 3: If the computer is still unable to detect the Kindle Fire, leave the device connected to the computer then perform a hard reset it by holding down the Kindle Fire’s power button for approximately 20 seconds.
STEP 4: Release the power button then press it again to turn on the Kindle Fire.
STEP 5: If the problem persists, it is recommended to try charging the Kindle Fire longer (more than 30 minutes) and then perform another hard reset on the device.
STEP 6: Try connecting the Kindle Fire to a different computer, if possible, to further isolate the problem.
I have always been a fan of the saying “When in doubt, reboot”. Try restarting both the Kindle and PC , then try again. I haven’t had this happen with my kindle, but I have with my phone on occasion. The restart of each seems to do the trick.
Open Device Manager (type it into the start menu if you want.) Check and see if it’s listing your Kindle as “unknown device.” If so, right click and uninstall that. Then unplug your Kindle and plug it back in. You should get a notice about installing new hardware in the system tray. Give it a few minutes.
You might also check in your Kindle’s settings to see if there’s some option that changed what happens when you plug it into a USB port. Many devices have different modes, including a “charging only” mode, which would mean it would just charge.
These are both general purpose solutions that you can try on any device.
A driver needs to be installed for communication with a Kindle. Windows usually recognizes it, searches for a driver and installs it automatically. But sometimes that doesn’t happen for various reasons.
You can get help for something like this on the Amazon Kindle forum.
One thing to try: Uninstall the Kindle (if there’s no proper driver). Log in as admin. Now try plugging the Kindle in and check if a proper driver gets installed.
You might might want to try a different cable. When my mom first got her Kindle, she had the same problem. It turned out the cable she was using was for charging only. It’s also possible the cable is worn out or damaged.