Resolved Weird USB problem

I'm having a problem with USB on my machine and would appreciate suggestions. I have several USB devices and can't get them to work

My system is an eMachines 3256, about 5 years old, running WinXP with SP3. I have a Lexmark printer that communicates through USB and is working fine.

The problem is that I can't get any other USB devices (a web cam, an HP Photosmart 100 printer, an external hard drive and a Logitech web-cam) to work, regardless of which port I plug them into - even the one the Lexmark uses. I get a diagnostic that says "the device you tried to install has developed a problem and will probably not function correctly ".

When I went looking at Device Manager, USB isn't even listed. I ticked through the four display options in Device Manager and on one of them, I got a message that "MCC has detected a problem with a snap-in ".

The only thing my son (an MCSE) or my son-in-law (a self-taught whiz) can suggest is that the USB controller chip has been compromised (loose in its socket, covered in dust, etc.)

Tomorrow, I plan to open the case and go in there with a cleaner blow canister, looking for a loose chip or shorted pins.

If anyone can cast other light on this, I'd sure like to know. My biggest hernia is that I can't print photos, as my HP Photosmart printer is USB-only. Why it won't play when I substitute it for the Lexmark on the same cable is a real mystery.

I'll post an update if tomorrow's blow-can exercise improves things. We live close to salt water (across the street) and get a lot of fine sand getting sucked into the house through the heating system, so it's possible that there's a salt-air corrosion issue at work here.

 

First try booting into Safe Mode and check in Device Manager there.

The USB ports at the back of the computer will be part of the motherboard, the ones at the front though, will have a cable connecting them to the motherboard. Follow the cables, pull off and reconnect the cable connectors (the connectors should be labelled USB).

You can get a USB PCI card if the in-built ones are broken. For example
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...cm_re=usb_adapter_card-_-15-158-045-_-Product
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...cm_re=usb_adapter_card-_-15-105-102-_-Product

External hard drives can draw a lot of power through the USB port if it is not self-powered. Be careful that the USB system hasn't been "burnt out ".

Matt

 

Thanks for the tips, Matt. My external HD is separately powered, so that shouldn't be an issue. What really is puzzling is that Device Manager doesn't list ANYTHING.

 

I opened the case and blew out all the dust, but it didn't help. The four sockets attached to the mother-board will all drive the printer, but, even with the printer disconnected at the motherboard, none of the other USB devices will work. At the front panel socket, nothing works.

After reading Matt's post and thrashing about for a while, I decided to look into PCI cards for USB. I found an IOGear card with 4 external ports and one internal port at Amazon for less than $20. Since I have one PCI slot not occupied, I decided that $20 was a very reasonable alterntive to having the problem professionally diagnosed and fixed. I'll look into hooking the internal port to the front-panel USB socket.

I'll flag this thread "Resolved ", pending delivery and installation of the card.

Thanks for suggesting the PCI solution, Matt.

 

That's OK

Did you check Pete's suggestion?

Thanks for marking it Resolved.

 

Well, it gets more strange. I got a new IOGear 5-port USB PCI card and installed it in the spare slot. No reaction - computer didn't recognize new hardware. Based on other posts about PCI slots not really being the same, I switched the USB card and the Firewire card. Still NADA.

I went into "System Tools" - "System information" and then to "Components - System Information - Problem devices" and found that the "Standard Enhanced PCI - USB Host Controller" needed to be re-installed, as did the "Universal Serial Bus USB Controller ". The report also showed that the FireWire controller and two USB Controllers were "incorrectly configured ".

My newly installed PCI USB card doesn't work. I can't print (USB Priter hook-up), back-up things (USB portable hard drive), download photos (USB camera interface) or use my web-cam (also USB).

Running the CD that came with the PCI-USB card doesn't make any difference, nor does running the installation CD for the web camera.

Where do I find downloads for the two things that the diagnostic said should be re-loaded? Microsoft's web site assumes more familiarity with the problem than I have.

Even if I fix the problem with the two controllers that need reloading, what about ths things that are "configured incorrectly "? What ever happened to "plug and play "?

 

I'm a bit leery of goiong to Bios and resetting it, as my last external save was about 6 weeks ago and I haven't done any specific restore points in a few months. My external "save" drive is USB, and I'm not comfortable potentially screwing up USB to where I can't get the save back. I do have Norton's save system, so maybe all is not lost.

Frankly, since this computer is 6 years old, maybe I should consider getting a new box with Win 7?

 

Most probably something in Win XP has gone wrong.

Faced the same situation with one of my client - all his existing USB devices would work, but if I added a new device, it would detect it ok but the device wouldn't work.

Have found no solution till now short of formatting & reloading XP.

 

You might need to upgrade higher level drivers...and the higher level ones are the chipset drivers.

Emachines only seem to supply the chipset drivers with the original installation. Try checking for updates at their website, but I generally send people here
http://www.e4allupgraders.info/

Matt

 

Matt:

I found that the website you pointed to is having significant problems with "excessive bandwitdth use" and has suspended download capability.

I decided to go look at nVidia, who provided an "integrated" hardware package that seems to have included USB. I donwloaded a driver from there, and although it showed several problem issues, a combination of that and a download from eMachines' site seemsto have solved at least the problem with my original four mother-board USB outlets. I can now print and run my USB portable hard drive on those outlets.

Next test will be whether the newly installed IOGear card is also working.

Since we're getting ready for a 10-day RV trip along the Oregon Coast, that test maybe a couple of weeks away. I'll post again when we get back.

Incidentally, my MCSE son suggested reloading SP3 for Win XP as that "has frequently resolved OS problems ". Since he lives in Tokyo, I can't easliy get him to come and kick the tires!

Comments?

 

Is the main (only) problem getting the PCI card working now? That might be solved quite easily if you take the PCI card out and put it into another PCI slot. If not, you would still take the card out, startup the computer without it, then shutdown again and reinsert it. Check that it seated straight and that the blot or clip that holds it doesn't pull it out of alignment. Watch carefully when you start up for if it gets recognised.

Go to Control Panel -> System -> Hardware tab and open Device Manager and check the listings there. If you see unidentified hardware, try updating the drivers.

Matt

 

Follow-up to USB problem (solved!)

I though I'd let you guys know that I finally got my USB issue sorted. I treid the suggestions from Matt and Pete, but neither had any effect. I also reloaded WinXP SP3 at my son's suggestion, but that didn't help either.

I came to the conclusion that, first, I needed to get my blank Device Manager fixed, so I could see what was going on. I found a fix at "helpdeskgeek.com" that involved a registry edit. I'm always leery of messing with the registry, but this one worked.

Once I had DM back up, I found that the USB drivers were corrupted. A driver update from nVidia fixed that. Then I found that my PCI card USB (recommended by Matt) hadn't been recognized, so I went through an uninstall-reinstall and that was fixed. I now have 10 working USB outlets, though one of them is on the IOGear card so I can't use it.

I also found a problem with Google Earth. It didn't like the new nVidia drivers, so I forced it over to use Direct X and it's fine also.

I just have one anomaly remaining. In the tray alongside the date and time display, there's an icon for "safely remove hardware ". Somehow the box has got the idea that I want to uninstall the C: disk, the DVD unit, the CD unit and all the card reader slots. How do I kill this thing?

 

Since my original thread was 5 weeks old, I thought it waold have been "put out to pasture ". I apologise for messing up. I'll put the remove hardware query in as a separate item as you suggest.

I sure appreciate all the help, particularly from Pete and Matt. Although I've been around computers since 1970, I've never been an OS programmer and I'm a bit leery of messing with registry entries and BIOS. My work was all in flight simulators, doing the simulation software.