Why does my computer keep making this sound?

My laptop frequently makes the "Device Disconnect" sound -- that little sound you get when you pull something out of a USB port -- for no apparent reason.

The laptop can be sitting there completely still -- without my doing anything or even touching the keyboard or mouse -- and it'll throw that sound out randomly. It happens several times an hour.

Is there anyway I can find out what's causing this?

Bootcamp does not like Windows running on your MacBook. When you are using a Virtual Machine like Bootcamp, you really need to address your questions over at the Apple.com Support forums. They are more familiar with Bootcamp.

If I had to make a fair guess, your Macbook is dropping a virtual USB connection while you are using Bootcamp. As long as it does not do it in Mac OS-X. Then your problem lies with the Virtual Machine.

Bootcamp isn't a VM.

Also, I've done some more searching, and it appears a lot of other people have had this problem on non-Bootcamp setups:

Device Disconnect sound plays continuously - Microsoft Community

audio - Windows keeps making these random "device connect" and "device disconnect" sounds - Super User

I still haven't found a solution that works for me.

Isn't there some way to log these events? I found a program that does it for Windows 7, but not 8.1.

Yes mikenmar, Boot camp & Parallels is actually Virtual Machine. The only way that Jobs would agree to allow Windows to run on his company's hardware, was to run it inside Boot Camp or Parallels. Your question needs to be addressed in the Boot Camp Support forum over at apple.com, since it is an issue with their hardware and Boot Camp.

broe23 said:

Yes mikenmar, Boot camp & Parallels is actually Virtual Machine.

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No, you're confused. Parallels and Boot Camp are two different things. Parallels is a VM, but I'm not using Parallels. I'm using Boot Camp to boot directly into Windows. (And while it's possible to use a Boot Camp partition in Parallels, that's not what I'm doing.)

I can't rule out the possibility that it's a Boot Camp issue, but I'm not particularly convinced by your technical expertise, sorry. More to the point, I suspect there's a way to chase down the problem from within Windows, e.g. by using an event logger or looking a log somewhere, or using Device Manager somehow.

Again I am not confused about the difference. They both work the same way. Boot Camp just works at the Hardware level, not at a Software level like Parallels does.

As I stated, the problem has nothing to do with Windows, it has been a long ongoing issue with Boot Camp & the Apple Hardware. You need to be addressing this at the Apple Support forums for Boot Camp at Boot Camp - Apple Support . There is nothing we can do about it on this forum, because it is not Windows or "Beige Box" hardware related.

Also since you really doubt my expertise, you may want to realize that again I have well over 35 years dealing with computers, and if I have not told you three times already where you need to go for the issue, I could have just stated to use a search engine.

I have been around this stuff, since the Home Brew Computer Club days. This issue that you are having, has been in Boot Camp since the first day that Apple started using the Intel Hardware, so that they could allow users of their hardware, to also run Windows. That was always the biggest complaint when they were using the RISC chips, that users had to use two different pieces of hardware, if their job required them to use both Windows & Mac OS.

broe23 said:

Again I am not confused about the difference. They both work the same way. Boot Camp just works at the Hardware level, not at a Software level like Parallels does.

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They do not "work the same way". The fact that Boot Camp "works at the Hardware level", as you put it, is exactly why it is not a virtual machine. When I boot up, there is only one OS running on my machine: Windows. There is no virtual machine running.

Did you even click on the links I posted above? This problem is not limited to Boot Camp users.

Again you have a Apple Mac computer. Your issue is with the fact that you are trying to run Windows in Boot Camp, which both Boot Camp and Parallels has issues with Windows and Linux, due to incompatible drivers.

Stop arguing and take it over to the Apple Support forums for the third time already.

mikenmar said:

The laptop can be sitting there completely still -- without my doing anything or even touching the keyboard or mouse -- and it'll throw that sound out randomly. It happens several times an hour.

Is there anyway I can find out what's causing this?

Click to expand...

We had that problem as well - it turned out to be the wired (USB) mouse had broken a wire internal to its USB cable right where it entered the mouse body - the slightest vibration was enough to make it disconnect and reconnect.