Bad USB Device help

[tymsg]

I have a 2018 Civic LX. I put some music on a USB flash drive. If I turn on the ignition, and then
plug in the flash drive to the USB port on the center column, I can search/play music off the
flash drive fine. However, if I leave the flash drive plugged in and turn off the car, and then
restart the car (with the flash drive still plugged in), I will get a "Bad USB Device See Owners Manual"
message. With the ignition on, unplugging/reinserting the flash drive does not fix the problem:
I continue to get the "Bad USB Device" message.

I have to turn the ignition off, unplug the flash drive, turn the ignition on, and then plug in the flash drive.
When I do that, I can once again search and play music from the flash drive.

Why can't I leave the flash drive plugged in all the time and have the audio system find the
flash drive correctly? Is something wrong or is this the way the system is designed?

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[davidgostbo]

try a another usb drive and see.

 

[Chuckanuck]

I have a 2018 Civic LX. I put some music on a USB flash drive. If I turn on the ignition, and then
plug in the flash drive to the USB port on the center column, I can search/play music off the
flash drive fine. However, if I leave the flash drive plugged in and turn off the car, and then
restart the car (with the flash drive still plugged in), I will get a "Bad USB Device See Owners Manual"
message. With the ignition on, unplugging/reinserting the flash drive does not fix the problem:
I continue to get the "Bad USB Device" message.

I have to turn the ignition off, unplug the flash drive, turn the ignition on, and then plug in the flash drive.
When I do that, I can once again search and play music from the flash drive.

Why can't I leave the flash drive plugged in all the time and have the audio system find the
flash drive correctly? Is something wrong or is this the way the system is designed?

Maybe try and format it before loading songs on the drive.

 

[tymsg]

Are either of you saying that you have a LX (color audio) and a flash drive and yes, you can leave the flash drive
plugged in all the time? Or are you just offering (friendly and helpful, thank you) suggestions of
what to try that might change the behavior?

Before posting this question, I did try a different flash drive, reformatted, and copied the music over
using 3 different OS-s: MAC, Windows, and Linux. In all cases, I'm getting the exact same
results.

I'd like to figure out if this problem is isolated to me or if it is the way the system is designed.
Anyone out there able to leave a USB flash drive plugged in to a Civic LX and the drive
is found when the car is turned on?

 

[tymsg]

I'm posting this in case anyone is searching for an answer. The problem is fixed, I don't need any help.

I first called my dealership about this; no help at all. I next tried chatting on honda.com, and was referred to a phone number
for Honda in-car technical support. Sounded promising, so I called. The person I spoke with didn't know diddly squat
about the issue and eventually explicitly told me I had to plug the USB thumb drive in after the car was started. I called back
a couple of days later, and I got a different person, and posed the same question. He admitted he didn't know what should
happen (so who is training the technical experts?), but agreed to put out some type of query to some unknown entity who
would test what happens and report the results back to me in some unknown amount of time (which I presumed to be
infinity).

My initial attempts were made used Microcenter branded USB thumb drives of different sized (one a 16G USB2 and the other
a 32G USB3) devices bought several years apart: I experienced identical results with both thumb drives.

I went out and bought a 16G USB3 Sandisk thumb drive and copied my music it to to see what would happen.
Go figure, it works now: I can plug in the USB drive whenever I want and start and stop the car with the USB
thumb drive plugged in and the device is always recognized.

The short summary is that it appears to me that the Honda audio system is incompatible with at least Microcenter branded
USB thumb drives and possibly others. My advice to anyone experiencing similar problems is to try a different
(manufacturer) USB drive.

I emphasize that I am not bashing Microcenter: it's a great store. I've shopped there for year and will continue to
do so.

I'm pretty disappointed with the dealership and Honda in-car technical support not knowing the answer to what I
consider to be a straightforward question.

I don't believe I will ever get a reply for "Honda in-car technical support". If I do, I will promptly update this
thread with what they tell me.

 

[nouseformonkeys]

I'm posting this in case anyone is searching for an answer. The problem is fixed, I don't need any help.

Good to hear you’ve resolved your issue. Wasn’t your solution what Davidgostbo suggested? USB drives can be a pain. You’d expect them to all work the the same, but nooooo....

I was trying to create a recovery disk for a Sony Vaio laptop that didn’t have an optical drive so I had to use a USB drive. I tried several drives but the process would always fail. I finally found a help forum where someone said only a specific brand and model of drive would work. For this laptop, it had to recognize the usb drive as a regular disk drive and not a removable storage device (which is more common).

 

[tymsg]

I had already tried 2 different USB thumb drives of different sizes and speeds.
It didn't occur to me that I needed a different manufacturer, not just
a different thumb drive. So I (mistakenly) thought that I had already
followed Davidgostbo's suggestion.

 

[Ionnaeus]

My LX will do this with my iPod occasionally. I just power down and back up a couple of times. Nothing I would get into a twist about.

 

[tymsg]

>>Nothing I would get into a twist about.

It sounds like with your iPhone problem, you could leave the car running and turn the iPhone on and off.
I'd consider that a minor pain.

With my USB thumb drive problem, I had to turn the car off and restart it (effectively rebooting the
audio system I guess). That's a major pain.

Following my experience, it seems you should replace your iPhone with an Android phone.

 

[Axatax]

I get this occasionally with the regular iPod 160GB.

The same thing happens in another car with a Clarion aftermarket HU. I think it's the iPod.

 

[chestypuller]

ive had issues with cheap ebay card reader and a micro sd in it, i just pull out and reinsert when it doesnt work and it works after.

 

[daBiker68]

Not sure if this will help... 1 week old LX, having trouble with the USB to read. I could get a 2GB stick to read fine, but I wanted to use a 64GB micro SD card with an adapter. System wouldn't find it - tried both USB ports, different card adapters, even tried the 128GB card that I use in my Android phone. Tried wiping the card, formatting it (exFAT as opposed to FAT32), no luck. Tried going into the Settings -> Device -> Storage to try and mount it directly... Nope. All components work fine in my home and work computers... All are name brand components, not knock offs...

Then, I tried a 32GB that I was using in a computer, and VOILA! Works beautifully... Now, the larger capacity cards are higher-end Samsung EVOs and the 32GB is a regular SanDisk, so that might be a factor, but I think it might be the smaller capacity that allows it to work. Yes, I do know that there are others out there that have success with 128's, but I can only speak from experience. Give a smaller capacity and/or a lower performance card or stick a try, there might be success!

 

[tymsg]

You said you have a 2018 Civic LX, and you tried both USB ports. As far as I know, my
2018 Civic LX sedan has one 1 USB port, located under the radio in the center column.
It does not have a second USB port in the console.

Which model car do you have and where are the 2 USB ports located?

 

[daBiker68]

1st port, as you mentioned, under the console and to the left of the 12v plug. 2nd one: in large cubby for the armrest, slide cup holders back to view straight down to the deep set bottle holder. Should be a flip up cap that covers the 2nd USB port on the front facing side of the cubby. It's on page 213 of my owners manual

 

[tymsg]

I believe the "*Not available on all models" footnote in the owner's manual, page 213, applies
to the 2018 Civic LX sedan: there is no USB port in the console compartment of my
2018 Honda Civic LX sedan.

http://owners.honda.com/vehicles/information/2018/Civic-Sedan/specs#mid^FC2F5JEW

shows only 1 USB port in the front/center for all 2018 Honda Civic LX's.

All the other (higher) trim levels (EX, etc) do have the second USB port in the center console.

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