Looking for a program that can check what a Micro-USB cable can do

Looking for Software Forum
1

I’ve got a ton of older USB-A to Micro-USB cables, and I want to be able to plug them into my PC and find out if they can handle both charging and data transfer or if they’re just for charging. Does anyone know if there’s a program that can do this?

2

I’d say just give it a shot and try transferring a large file. If that goes smoothly, the cable is probably good to go!

3

thanks! Unfortunately, I’m having a hard time getting Windows to recognize my Kindle, so transferring anything to it is proving to be a challenge. That’s ultimately what I’m trying to do!

4

You don’t need Kindle working to test cables. Copy files to any device, like a cell phone or solid state memory or a Sat Nav, or an MP3 player.

5

You probably need a second device to plug the other end into before you can make any tests

6

Thanks. I’m struggling to get any of my Micro-USB cables to recognise my Kindle, unfortunately.

7

None. Those information are not exposed to software. You’ll need at least a special hardware for that, where that special hardware retrieve the information and exposes it to software.

8

Thank you. I suspected as much.

9

You can often tell what a USB cable can do just by looking at the pins in the connector. For power-only cables, they usually skip the two center data pins on the A connector. If that doesn’t help, you’ll need to have devices connected to both ends of the cable to really figure out its capabilities. Personally, when I can’t tell by checking the pins, I use my Adafruit Gemma. If it doesn’t get detected when I plug it in, I know the cable doesn’t support data transfer.

10

Thank you. I’ve been trying to connect to my Kindle Fire but absolutely no cable seems to cause Windows to recognise it. So I don’t know if the cables are the issue, the Kindle itself or some error in Windows.

11

Charge only cables tend to have a thinner cable than charge and data cables, but this is not always the case. So if you notice some have a thicker cable than others, I’d give those a shot first.

12

Thanks! I’ll take a look at the pins and the thickness of the cables (for lack of a better word).