My Microsoft Surface laptop decided not to recognise that anything was plugged into its USB ports today. No idea why. But this meant I couldn’t charge it or use the vast array of bits and pieces I have plugged into its dock. No amount of cable swapping or rebooting helped.

What eventually solved it, thanks to a tip from a colleague, was to shut down the laptop and unplug the USB-C cable. Then to hold the power button for 20 seconds until the Windows logo appeared, went away, and appeared once more. Once the computer finished loading up the USB-C charger and everything else that was plugged into it worked just fine.

No idea why it worked, but it did.