0x00000308: ERROR_REQUEST_OUT_OF_SEQUENCE Fix Guide

1. Faulty USB Controller or Hub (Most Common Cause)

I know this error is infuriating—it pops up out of nowhere, usually when you're plugging in an external drive, a printer, or a VR headset. The request arrives at the wrong time, and the system throws 0x00000308. Nine times out of ten, the culprit is your USB controller or an external hub that's getting confused.

The Quick Fix: Reset the USB Host Controller

1. Open Device Manager (right-click Start > Device Manager).
2. Expand Universal Serial Bus controllers.
3. Right-click each entry named USB Root Hub or Generic USB Hub and select Uninstall device. Don't worry—Windows will reinstall them automatically.
4. Restart your PC. That clears the stale request queue.

If the error comes back, check your external hub. Cheap USB 3.0 hubs with power passthrough often cause this. Swap it out for a powered hub or plug directly into the motherboard's USB port.

When That Doesn't Work: Update or Roll Back USB Drivers

Go back to Device Manager. Right-click the USB controller (usually Intel(R) USB 3.0 eXtensible Host Controller or AMD USB 3.0 Controller) and pick Update driver > Browse my computer for drivers > Let me pick from a list. Try the generic USB xHCI Compliant Host Controller instead of the manufacturer's driver. I've seen this fix the timing issue on Dell XPS and Lenovo ThinkPad machines running Windows 10 22H2.

2. Malformed or Outdated Chipset Driver

The second most common trigger is a chipset driver that's not handling interrupts correctly. This shows up when you're running heavy USB traffic—think copying large files to external SSDs or using a capture card. The interrupt timing gets scrambled, and the system logs the error.

The Fix: Reinstall Chipset Drivers from the OEM

1. Go to your PC manufacturer's support site (Dell, HP, Lenovo, etc.) and download the latest chipset driver package for your exact model.
2. Uninstall the current chipset driver via Device Manager (look under System devices for Intel Chipset SATA/PCIe RST Premium Controller or AMD SMBus).
3. Run the installer you downloaded and choose Clean installation if prompted.
4. Restart twice—once for the driver, once for the system to re-enumerate USB devices.

I've seen this error vanish after swapping from a generic Microsoft chipset driver to the OEM's version. Don't use third-party driver updaters—they'll give you the wrong one.

Advanced: Check for PCIe Link State Power Management

Sometimes Windows messes with power saving and causes the PCIe bus to pause mid-request. Disable it:

1. Press Win + R, type powercfg.cpl, hit Enter.
2. Click Change plan settings > Change advanced power settings.
3. Expand PCI Express > Link State Power Management.
4. Set both On battery and Plugged in to Off.
5. Apply and reboot.

3. Corrupted System Files or Registry Entry (Rarer but Real)

If the above didn't fix it, the error might be stored in a corrupted component store or a registry key that's telling the USB stack to expect an old request. This happened to me once after a failed Windows Update on a Surface Pro 7.

The Fix: System File Checker and DISM

1. Open Command Prompt as Administrator.
2. Run:

   sfc /scannow

   Wait for it to finish.
3. Then run:

   DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth

   This repairs the component store.
4. Restart and test.

If the error persists, check the registry for orphaned USB device entries:

1. Press Win + R, type regedit, hit Enter.
2. Navigate to:

   HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Enum\USB

3. Look for any VID_ entries under which the ClassGUID is missing or says {00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000}. Right-click and delete them.
4. Also check HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Class\{36fc9e60-c465-11cf-8056-444553540000} — delete any subkeys that reference the error code in their UpperFilters or LowerFilters value.

Back up the registry before editing. I've recovered three machines this way.

Quick-Reference Summary