Device Manager - Unknown Devices

  • Thread starter Thread starter John G
  • Start date Start date
J

John G

I have one item listed in Other Devices as Unknown Device
with a ? before it. Boot up says "Found New Hardware" but
does not say what that hardware is. A search for drivers
comes up empty. I don't have any hardware that has not
been installed. What is XP looking for?
 
John, just right click on the unknown device and
uninstall it, as long as you do not have any devices
(printers, scanners, cameras etc.) that are not listed in
the device manager.
 
I tried that and it tried to install an unknown device at
the next reboot. Every device I have is listed in the
device manager.
 
Hi,

Go to Start/Control Panel/Add New Hardware.....it will be listed there.
Also, in the Device Manager is there any + signs open showing errors in any
category?

To remove Unknown or Other Devices: You can delete the non-present devices
from registry. To determine the hardware key of the device:

Go to Start/Run/CMD. At the command prompt, type the following commands and
press enter after each line:

set DEVMGR_SHOW_DETAILS=1
set DEVMGR_SHOW_NONPRESENT_DEVICES=1
start devmgmt.msc

Click the View menu and select Show hidden devices. Right click the device
you want to delete and click Properties. Click the Details tab.

Select Device Instance ID. The value of Device Instance ID is the hardware
key of the device.

For example, if you see the value is Root\Image\0000, the full hardware key
is: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Enum\Root\Image\0000

Then go to Start/Run/Regedit and navigate to the key. The data of the
Driver value is the software key of the device. Delete both the hardware
key and software key.
 
Hi Kelly,

Thanks for the help. I went through the procedures you
described and found 2 hidden unknown devices and one not
hidden. I got rid of both of the hidden unknowns. The one
not hidden has a detail of Root\Serial\0000. That one
will not stay away. In the registry, device parameters
shows a port name of Com4. Other names showing are
forcefifoenable and maskinverted. Control also has
entries and so does logconf. If this has something to do
with com4, how do I get rid of it? The only com's I use
are com1, com2, and my modem card on com3. Device manager
lists only com1 and com2.

John G
(e-mail address removed)
 
Back
Top