Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon Gen 13 USB or Thunderbolt device is not recognized

The checks in more detail

Power matters. A bus-powered drive or a docking station may need more power than a port can supply, particularly on battery, so connect the laptop to its charger and use the port that Lenovo marks for charging. A dock needs its own firmware and driver; update them from the Lenovo support page for the dock and use Lenovo Vantage to update the laptop's Thunderbolt firmware. A hub with a failing cable shows random disconnects. Remove other devices and add them back one at a time to find a conflict. If the port is dead for every device, restart, and then shut down fully;

also check the BIOS for the Thunderbolt and USB settings, which can be disabled. Windows has USB selective suspend, which can switch off a port to save power and cause a device to disappear; turn it off in the power plan's advanced settings. Look at the port for debris or a bent contact, but do not poke it with metal. A device that charges but does not transfer is a cable or driver issue. If a port has physically failed, Lenovo can repair it under warranty; give them the serial number.

The X1 Carbon Gen 13 is thin, so it has two Thunderbolt 4 ports on the side and a few other ports, with USB-C used for charging on one of them; if a device works on one USB-C port and not the other, look at which ports have charging and which have data speeds. Lenovo's own documentation lists the port speeds, and a USB 3 hub with its own power supply will usually work better than a bus-powered one. A device that disconnects when the laptop sleeps may be affected by the USB selective suspend setting, found in the power plan's advanced options. Check Device Manager's Universal Serial Bus controllers for a device with a yellow mark and uninstall it, then restart so Windows reinstalls it.