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Throughout the day I notice that my computer makes apparently random device-connect and/or device-disconnect ("boink") sounds.

I suppose it is the same sound you hear when connecting or disconnecting a USB device such as a thumb drive. I've noticed that this happens on each of three computers I work with at home, my wife's computer, and my machine at work. It happens without any user action at all - i.e. I'll be just sitting there (hands off my mouse and keyboard), and the computer will make the sound. There is no visual queue or anything. Just the sound.

I have sometimes gone in pursuit of the sound - running virus scans, examining event logs and such, and observing task manager - but have never had any luck tracking this thing down, but have not had any luck.

I've been noticing this since Windows Vista and now the sounds have followed me through to Windows 7.

Surely someone else out there must be experiencing this and can explain what is happening.

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  • I am experiencing this also but only on notebooks since the dvd drive goes offline when switching to battery and online again on wire
    – user31912
    Mar 29, 2010 at 10:52
  • hmm... good point. I don't normally work with desktops so I would have to say that I have only seen this behavior on notebooks. Don't know if it happens on desktops or not. However, in general, my computer is always on AC power and all of the hibernate/sleep/shut-down-the-disks stuff is disabled while on AC.
    – Steve Elmer
    Mar 29, 2010 at 14:09
  • 3
    disable daemon tools. Drove me mad for over a week; closed daemon tools; haven't had the sounds so far
    – user117948
    Feb 11, 2012 at 23:18
  • Heard this in the middle of the night with nothing plugged in except a wireless mouse receiver. (But turning off the mouse doesn't cause any sounds). Haxx0rs?
    – endolith
    May 15, 2022 at 13:33
  • Aha: 2:47:34 AM Installation Successful: Windows successfully installed the following update: Intel Corporation - Display - 26.20.100.7870 Thanks for waking me up, Microsoft!
    – endolith
    May 15, 2022 at 14:06

10 Answers 10

49

I just solved this on my desktop using Nirsoft's USBLogView. It's my mouse. I only hear the disconnect sound, but there's a reconnect happening immediately after. And the program isn't catching most of them either. (Hat-Tip to imaximchuk for this.)

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  • 1
    Definitely the mouse for me, too, at least most of the time. In my case, the device disconnect sound happened whenever I touched the metal edge of my desk, and felt a static electricity spark. I just swapped my non-name USB mouse for a similar Dell mouse, and now the sound happens only rarely, only with the biggest/strongest static electricity sparks. Mar 20, 2013 at 22:33
  • Zero occurrences since I replaced the mouse over a week ago.
    – JimB
    Mar 22, 2013 at 0:27
  • I'm on windows 10 and I get random splashing sounds (Device Connect and Disconnect) USBLogView shows nothing, the readme does state it does not work with Windows 8, and I'm presuming this includes 10. The device is my Android phone charging.
    – dlamblin
    Mar 8, 2016 at 21:06
  • There may be a driver update for your Android USB connection, especially if you have something like SmartSwitchPC installed.
    – JimB
    Mar 10, 2016 at 10:08
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    Thanks for pointing me towards USBLogView. Oddly enough, that application did not record any events when my system again and again emitted that annoying sound. The culprit turned out to be my Plantronics Voyager Focus headset. More specifically, its charging dock that makes the computer emit the sound whenever the headset is charged; it had a faulty contact. Nov 13, 2022 at 13:16
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Make sure that any USB, Bluetooth, Network devices in Device Manager in the Power Management tab do not have the option Allow the computer to turn off this device to save power checked.

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  • 3
    This solved my issue. This is not voted high enough. The fact that the top answer was just some link to software the merely identifies WHAT is disconnecting and not WHY it's disconnecting or how to stop it is strange.
    – leigero
    Dec 11, 2018 at 15:55
  • 1
    this was the solution for me
    – ElMatador
    Apr 8, 2020 at 3:13
5

Had this problem. It was the monitor going into 'sleep' mode then coming back up - Windows struggled to recognise that it was on after 'sleep' (even though it was displaying just fine). Turned it off & on again, problem went away. Can't say it will work for you, but if you have any peripheral that goes into 'sleep' or 'power saving mode', giving it the off-and-on-again is an easy trick to try before mucking about with settings.

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  • 1
    For me, changing the monitor video source from "auto detect" to "manual" helped with this issue. Every time my monitor was powered on from sleep mode, it was cycling between the various input sources, causing repeated device connect / disconnect beeps from Windows. To be clear, the setting I changed was on the monitor itself, nothing to do with Windows.
    – bmode
    Feb 4, 2015 at 14:55
  • In a triple monitor configuration, with Windows set to PC Screen Only and the other two monitors asleep, I had the noise. Switching either the monitors off, or switching back to Extend mode fixed it for me.
    – Tisch
    Aug 13, 2017 at 23:51
4

Check the "Safely Remove Hardware" applet in the Notification area periodically. What's there only some of the time? That device is your problem.

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It may be devices that are charging. Consider unplugging things such as phones and observing whether the behavior stops.

In my case, once my phone is at full charge it tends cause the "device disconnected" sound to play (with no corresponding "device connected"), including when it receives a text. If I remove the phone I won't get the periodic sounds.

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  • 1
    Yes, or it may also be wireless devices with a dying battery. I unplugged my wireless mouse and the noises stopped.
    – user228546
    Jul 13, 2020 at 0:04
  • This is old, I know, but this noise was driving me insane and this comment made me realize I was charging my Switch (under my desk) and forgot about it. My goodness, I feel silly.
    – Chris
    Feb 28, 2023 at 19:11
4

Busted wire in the mouse cable was causing mine. Oddly enough, the mouse was fairly functional till the day I noticed a skip.

I pulled the cable tautly, and it totally lost function. Replacing the bad mouse fixed the issue for me.

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  • Keyboard for me
    – jumps4fun
    Jun 8, 2016 at 14:23
  • unplug all devices, then plug one device in at a time. If the sound appears again, you know the device causing it. Try a replacement for this (e.g. new mouse), if this solves your problem, it's a hardware defect. Mouse for me - new cable from aliexpress.com revived my old mouse.
    – bebbo
    Jan 10, 2020 at 14:55
2

I just had this problem, and the problem turned out to be a problem with the software for a D-Link router. The software allowed the user to connect a USB device to the router, but was constantly trying to disconnect and reconnect from that device.

I think the process was like "Network USB Connection", and there was a similar program in "Add/Remove Programs".

1

I would guess that something is disconnecting do to inactivity. It could be an external drive or other USB peripheral. Also, I know that when switch my KVM to another machine it disconnects the mouse/keyboard and reconnects them when I switch back (causing "boinks" both times.)

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Just so you know, I got that same exact problem this morning over a laptop. I disconnected all USB on it to realize that the problem was the docking station. I changed it for a new one and the sound stopped. It was as simple as that.

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Thanks to JimB, I have used Nirsoft's USBLogView and found that one of my Microsoft Hub Ethernet port gets into cycle of connect/disconnect. When I looked close into my setup, I had a wifi usb adapter aswell connected via (Aukey Multi-function USB Hub - CB-H17).

The sooner I disconect my wifi USB adapter, the annoying noise stopped.

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