USB Problem Diving Me Nuts !!!!

  • Thread starter Thread starter Ricky
  • Start date Start date
R

Ricky

Good Lord this is frustrating.

I run a P4 Intel 2.4 Ghz processor; Intel D845WN board; 512 MB Ram;
running Win98 SE. I have 2 rear USB ports and 2 front. It's a very
stable system. I only run 2 USB devices - optical mouse and a webcam.

3 days ago, I was running the webcam and Y messenger and got a freeze
while disengaging the webcam. I should mention that this has happened
before, maybe 2 or 3 times in the past year, but I was always OK after
reboot.

This time, on reboot I noticed the optical mouse didn't light on the way
up. Then I got a Windows message 'Found new hardware' => an 'Unknown USB
Device' and Windows installs it. The mouse pointer appears, and displays
a small hourglass for a few seconds as it always has, but doesn't work
(obviously not powered).

Now, I seem to no longer have USB support on any port. Optical mouse and
webcam don't function. In device manager, under USB, I have 2 USB
Controllers and 2 Root Hubs, and the single 'Unknown Device' item with a
red cross through it (disabled). I simply cannot get rid of this item.
If I remove it, Windows 'finds new hardware' and reinstalls it when I
reboot.

I've tried everything that I know how to do. Webcam is completely
uninstalled and I'm using a PS2 mouse. With no USB devices connected, it
still finds the 'unknown USB device' and installs it. If I disable USB
Legacy support in the BIOS, it still finds the unknown device on boot
and reinstalls it.

A tech friend suggested that it may be the board itself, however I've
seen it freeze with the cam before and I have a suspicion that it may not
be the board.

If I run the utility 'USBReady.exe', it reports:
- Win 98 with Full USB Support
- System hardware has full USB support
- USB driver connection is operating correctly

It's driving me nuts. If you've seen this sort of thing anywhere before,
or have any ideas about the issue, I'd be extremely grateful if you might
share your wisdom with me. I love the optical mouse, and I miss the
webcam.

much thanks,

Ricky
 
try MS knowledge base for info. best fix is a bullet through 98 I
think USB and USBII support were grafted on to 98 long after the fact
even XP needs service pack 1 to function properly with USBII.
 
try MS knowledge base for info. best fix is a bullet through 98 I
think USB and USBII support were grafted on to 98 long after the fact
even XP needs service pack 1 to function properly with USBII.
Click to expand...

Thanks for taking the time to reply. I spent hours at the MS Knowledge
base but couldn't find anything that really addresses the issue.
Closest solution was 'reinstall Windows'. What gets to me is that the
two USB devices have been working almost flawlessly during the past year
on this machine. I've got a feeling that it's Win98 alright, and I guess
I was hoping that someone had a similar issue and might have found a way
to fix it.

thanks again,

Ricky
 
Thanks for taking the time to reply. I spent hours at the MS Knowledge
base but couldn't find anything that really addresses the issue.
Closest solution was 'reinstall Windows'. What gets to me is that the
two USB devices have been working almost flawlessly during the past year
on this machine. I've got a feeling that it's Win98 alright, and I guess
I was hoping that someone had a similar issue and might have found a way
to fix it.

thanks again,
Click to expand...

I don't know what the problem is but Win98Se doesn't have significant USB
problems. It works fine with any/everything so long as you have the
proper driver. In other words, the drive is the key, a buggy driver can
be a problem so if there are newer device drivers available for the USB
devices, update those drivers.

A few things you might try:

Unplug ALL USB devices then boot up and delete all USB entries in Device
manager. Reboot with all usb devices disconnected and leave them
disconnected till you have two controllers and two root hubs showing up
working in device manager. If there is any kind of problem at this point,
BEFORE reconnecting the actual USB devices, get it resolved prior to
reconnecting those USB devices.

You might try restoring a prior version of the registry, if it's been less
than (was it 4 or 5?) days since the poblem started. Registry restore can
be done by booting to dos and tying "scanreg /restore", then pick the
earliest, oldest registry copy available.
 
Sorry MS didn't help. I installed a cheap 3 port USB2 PCI card
yesterday and it was so simple I damn near fainted. powered off slid
the card in (I leave the case open) tightened the screw. powered up
the box and Xp an there it was. Connected an Epson scanner to it
turned it on and zap started scanning slides. Took 5 minutes.

Now on the down side I have Xp with just about all the latest patches
and driver revs and that takes a lot of time on the slow line I have.

I've installed and used DOS, Windows 3.0, 3.11, 95, NT and XP XP is
the best of the lot but it requires service pack 1 for USBII.
Reloading the OS is usually has a pretty good shot at fixing things.
Drivers get muddled and things get cluttered. A reload clears a lot of
stuff out.

LOL.
 
I don't know what the problem is but Win98Se doesn't have significant USB
problems. It works fine with any/everything so long as you have the
proper driver. In other words, the drive is the key, a buggy driver can
be a problem so if there are newer device drivers available for the USB
devices, update those drivers.

A few things you might try:

Unplug ALL USB devices then boot up and delete all USB entries in Device
manager. Reboot with all usb devices disconnected and leave them
disconnected till you have two controllers and two root hubs showing up
working in device manager. If there is any kind of problem at this point,
BEFORE reconnecting the actual USB devices, get it resolved prior to
reconnecting those USB devices.

You might try restoring a prior version of the registry, if it's been less
than (was it 4 or 5?) days since the poblem started. Registry restore can
be done by booting to dos and tying "scanreg /restore", then pick the
earliest, oldest registry copy available.
Click to expand...

Thanks very much for your reply kony. It' been a couple of days, and I
tried absolutely everything short of reformatting the whole thing - which
I'm glad I didn't. I thought as a last ditch effort, I'd try opening it
up and see if anything looked amiss. It was very dirty in the case and
there was lots of dust and crud all over the place. I spent a full hour
meticulously cleaning everything and blowing it out. When I hooked it
back up and booted up, I was shocked to see "Windows has found new
hardware... Microsoft Intellipoint Optical mouse"... etc etc.
Actually, I was quite amazed - and delighted. I reinstalled the webcam
software and the cam works perfectly again as well.
I guess the moral is... dirt is not our friend. I'll be more conscious
of keeping the machine clean inside and out from now on.
Thanks again for your reply.

Ricky
 
Sorry MS didn't help. I installed a cheap 3 port USB2 PCI card
yesterday and it was so simple I damn near fainted. powered off slid
the card in (I leave the case open) tightened the screw. powered up
the box and Xp an there it was. Connected an Epson scanner to it
turned it on and zap started scanning slides. Took 5 minutes.

Now on the down side I have Xp with just about all the latest patches
and driver revs and that takes a lot of time on the slow line I have.

I've installed and used DOS, Windows 3.0, 3.11, 95, NT and XP XP is
the best of the lot but it requires service pack 1 for USBII.
Reloading the OS is usually has a pretty good shot at fixing things.
Drivers get muddled and things get cluttered. A reload clears a lot of
stuff out.

LOL.
Click to expand...

Thanks so much again for your reply. As I explained to kony in the
message above, I found a huge amount of dust and crud when I opened the
case, and spent a full hour cleaning it all out. After, when I booted it
up, I was amazed to see Windows find new hardware and recognize it as the
MS Intellipoint mouse. I'd been pulling my hair out with it for the past
couple of days - and I am now nearly a baldy, but a very happy baldy.
The system also recognized and loaded the webcam perfectly as it always
has. So it was 'dirt'... plain and simple. To be honest, it was the last
thing that I considered. But I'm glad that I considered it before I
wiped the whole thing clean and had to start all over - which wouldn't
have resolved the issue anyway. Thanks again for your time and your
help... very much appreciated.

Ricky
 
Glad to read you got it going. USB seems to be something akin to
magic. I leave my case open since I'm too cheap to buy a tool-less
openable case and I do a fair amount of swapping. Dust doesn't seem
to be a problem so but heat might be. I've had one or more of our
cats (don't ask how many) piss in it and other than the perfume and
later the cleanup it doesn't seem to have done anything bad.

cio
 
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