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On my PC, Windows 8 keeps playing the Device Connect sound (Windows Hardware Insert.wav) - a slightly discordant sequence of 3 notes. This is at least every 1-2 minutes, but can be up to every ten seconds.

This happens even after I've unplugged everything.

There's nothing in the Event Viewer about this, and there are no highlighted devices in the Device Manager. What can I do to figure out what the problem is?

(I'm hoping there's some information I can get out of Windows. I don't particularly want to go through some trial-and-error process of disabling/uninstalling devices, or similar.)

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13 Answers 13

Reset to default
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I had a similar issue before, I thought it was a software problem too because I thought I unplugged everything. Turned out that I still had my monitor's USB hub connected (with no devices connected to the monitor's USB ports). It seems that it had a faulty port; whenever the desk shook a bit, the noise would play. Disconnecting it fixed it for me.

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    Thanks! I'm pretty certain I've unplugged everything :) - and I'm trying to avoid trial and error if possible. (I've updated the question to make this clearer.)
    – Tom Seddon
    Commented Nov 14, 2012 at 21:20
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In "Advance Power Options" you need to disable USB selective suspend settings

To do this, click:

  • Power Options
  • USB Settings
  • USB selective suspend settings
  • Switch to: disable
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    In Windows 10 you can find this through: Settings -> System -> Power & sleep -> Additional power settings [this opens something there's probably an msc shortcut for Control Panel\Hardware and Sound\Power Options\Edit Plan Settings] Here you can click (alt-c) Change advanced power settings. [Again Power Options is probably an msc] Here you can select the plan (eg current) and use a tree that always resets to expand USB Settings -> USB Selective suspend setting -> On battery or Pluggged in: Enabled or Disabled. GUIs man.
    – dlamblin
    Commented Mar 8, 2016 at 21:35
  • OMG how did you even figure this out ?? 7 years later this solved my problem, IT WORKED!!! That sound was annoying af, thank you !
    – ihor.eth
    Commented Jan 18, 2021 at 22:39
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I had further problems with USB devices disconnecting themselves, making restoring my backups from my USB hard drive very difficult. So out of desperation I installed the motherboard manufacturer's Windows 8 drivers, all of which are marked as beta, and all of which predate Windows 8. I wasn't therefore expecting much, but in this particular case, installing the audio driver seems to have fixed the problem. No more annoying noises and no more randomly-disconnecting USB devices.

My PC's motherboard is an Asus P8Z68-V PRO/GEN3. Perhaps this will help somebody else with the same motherboard, and the same problem.

I suppose the lesson is that even beta drivers can be better than the Windows default ones...

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I have the same problem with Windows 8 except it plays the device disconnect sound. Three tones down, it's even more depressing.

I disabled all notifications in the Modern UI configuration but it did not work. Eventually, I found a solution: I right-clicked on the speaker icon in the taskbar, click "Sound" entry. In the dropdown menu, I changed from "Default Windows Sounds" to "No sounds".

The good: no need to choose between annoying sound and no musics or films. The drawback is if you like to have sound notifications.

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    This is the quickest answer, however you do not need to disable all sounds. You can select the "Device Disconnect" sound and change its sound to "None". This means that only that sound will not play and you will still have all of your other sounds.
    – Navigatron
    Commented May 13, 2015 at 11:05
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Try to go to the Control Panel > Ease of Access Center > Use text or visual alternatives for sound The

Click turn on visual notifications for sounds and click none for visual warning. Hit apply.

(Mine was set to 'Flash Active Window')

Hope this helps

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  • Nice try, but does not stop the sound on Windows 10 at least.
    – Tuntable
    Commented Aug 12, 2016 at 5:58
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This approach should work for a lot of you.

I use a Sony ps3 wireless stereo headset with the pc for gaming, and of course it has a receiver I plug into the computer, the headset had been working but it kept connecting as 2 different listings in the sound profile, and the device manager, so I simply went to the sound settings by right clicking on the speaker down by our clock in the task bar, and going into playback sounds and even on that screen, I could see the culprit that would disconnect and then connect.

I just right clicked on it and disabled it, and so far so good, can't imagine that will ever come back to haunt me. Just watch each section or a couple at a time in device manager, and when the sounds come and go, see if anything is disappearing or reappearing, then figure out what needs to be done from there.

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I thought I was having the same problem until I figured out that it was Facebook notification sound and it could be turned off at Account Settings -> Notifications page. Yours could be the same too.

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When the notification appears, right click and disable the headphone device. The headphone will still work but the annoying notification will disappear.

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My old HP nc6400 laptop played the same 3 "windows hardware disconnect" notes a couple of times a minute after I upgraded it to Windows 8. I knew I had 1 defective USB port on the machine, but it didn't play any sounds when I had Windows XP running on it.

I went into "Device Manager" and disabled the USB ports 1 at a time. After I disabled USB port 27C9, the beeping stopped!

Also, after disabling the port, the laptop seemed to operate a little bit more smoothly...

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I've just found my problem that started after updating to windows 8.1

It was the cyberpower (UPS) battery monitor connected to a USB port. No yellow triangles etc in device manager but after a lot of staring at the screen I realised it was showing battery then disappearing (I have a desktop tower). I've unplugged it and noise stopped.

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For me this sound was coming from D-Link Shareport, version 1.17. First noticed just disabling WLAN keeps the bing sound away. And now 'Exit' to 'D-Link Shareport' program made the silence. Nothing connected in WLAN-router.

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Keep in mind that other devices (not just USB) also cause the sound to go off. I would really do an exhaustive trial & error, including your speakers / headphones to make sure that is not the issue.

Another thing that might be causing it is if your soundcard is not connected properly - so I would check that too.

Unfortunately this is not an exact science... Finding the root of the problem is usually the hardest step!

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Go to Device Manager and look for a yellow sign – that is the problem.

The printer needs the scanner's drivers. I just removed the USB cable and there are no more sounds.

Now I sit and wait for the drivers. The printer works, and when I need it, I just plug it in.

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  • When I had this problem, there were (as stated in the question) no highlighted devices in Device Manager.
    – Tom Seddon
    Commented Jan 27, 2013 at 15:41

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