I'm going right off computers

Bristolian

Bristolian

Suspended / Banned
Messages
4,428
Name
Steve
Edit My Images
Yes
Whoever said it never rains but it pours was definately thinking of me :'(

Two new problems have reared their ugly heads today:

1. My wife's laptop (W7 Ultimate 32 bit) has suddenly decided that the USB ports don't work. Whatever is plugged in gets a "this device has malfunctioned" message and when I look in the device manager there is a "unknown device" message. Was working perfectly okay this morning ... now giving me grief :gag: I've tried uninstalling all the USB ports and controllers, removing the battery for 10 minutes and then powering back up but the fault remains. :help:

2. My laptop (W7 Home Premium 64 bit) can't see anything in the "devices and printers" area of the control panel and it takes forever to search and tell me there's nothing there.

Any ideas?
 
Tried doing a system restore to an earlier time when they were working correctly?
 
DekHog said:
Tried doing a system restore to an earlier time when they were working correctly?
Click to expand...

Ooh, good idea. Didn't think of that ... off to give it a try (fingers crossed) :)
 
What changed? windows updates? antivirus?

Bit of a coincidence that both got stuffed on the same day with somewhat similar issues
 
PaulF said:
What changed? windows updates? antivirus?

Bit of a coincidence that both got stuffed on the same day with somewhat similar issues
Click to expand...

As far as I can tell, nothing has changed. I haven't installed any updates for a couple of weeks - they don't get installed automatically.

I'll try disconnecting from the network and switching off the firewall and AV. Watch this space .........
 
Very odd that both machines are having device issues at the same time.

No hardware has been plugged in to both recently has it? Sounds very much like chipset drivers/hardware issue to me. Might be worth trying the latest chipset drivers for both machines.
 
Bristolian said:
Well, that didn't work :shake:
Click to expand...

That's a pity - USB errors in Windows can be such a pain; it wouldn't be the first time I've had to reinstall Windows due to seemingly unfixable USB errors.... you can try what Neil said, but I wouldn't hold out much hope of it working.... it's never worked for me anyway, but I always try it!
 
Had similar recently after a failed iTunes update - system restore didn't work so had to restore from a recent Acronis image, all then okay.
 
Install ubunto linux :D

Is there a bios reset thingy in it somewhere? Might be worth doing a reset. Check the laptop manufacturer's site as they may have an explanation of what triggers it.

I know mac laptops have a reset system where you drop the battery out and hold the power button for a few seconds and it resets its equivalent of bios. Your laptops might have something similar.

USB ports often shut down if the device takes too much power. If it is directly connected try via a powered hub and see if that changes it.
 
Last edited:
Issue 1.
Have you tried uninstalling the USB drivers?
Head into device manager and go into the usb devices and uninstall drivers from the drivers tab. Then do a restart and it should pick them back up again sometimes sorting out a few issues.

Regarding issue 2.
Do you have (or once had installed ) an HP printer?

Had a few issues with their drivers causing problems with opening devices and printers. A restart of the print spooler service can sometimes be a short term fix.


Matt
 
Blame it all on the wife and demand a series of single malts while you mull things over.
 
Latest update:

USB problems - can't seem to do anything with it :'( Officially given up and agreed to buy SWMBO a new laptop :gag: Well this one was getting on a bit ...

Printers & Devices - sorted :clap: Through trial and error I found that if I turned the wifi off on the laptop and connected to the network via a cable everything worked fine. Having updated the wifi adapter drivers all is okay again :thumbs:

I just wonder what else can go wrong .... NO! I didn't ask that :bang:

Cheers for the suggestions guys :clap:
 
m0rph said:
Issue 1.
Have you tried uninstalling the USB drivers?
Head into device manager and go into the usb devices and uninstall drivers from the drivers tab. Then do a restart and it should pick them back up again sometimes sorting out a few issues.
Click to expand...

Yes, First thing I did :)

Regarding issue 2.
Do you have (or once had installed ) an HP printer?

Had a few issues with their drivers causing problems with opening devices and printers. A restart of the print spooler service can sometimes be a short term fix.


Matt
Click to expand...

Nooooo, I'm an affirmed Epson person - never use anything else :D
 
You could uninstall the USB ports altogether and then restart.
Windows will discover 'new' USB ports, find drivers and install them.
Or it might not work but this is unlikely to be an unresolvable issue.
 
neil_g said:
Bit extreme to buy a new laptop, have you downloaded the chipset drivers?
Click to expand...

I know, but I'm fed up to the back teeth with it ... wasted two days tinkering with absolutely ZERO progress. TBH she's been pestering for one for a while now and I did just flash £550 on a lens :D

I already had a cd with all the original drivers on it (and there weren't any more recent ones on the web) but installing them didn't help so i'm leaning on the idea it's actually a hardware fault. At least, that's the justification I'm using for the new one :nuts:
 
4wd said:
You could uninstall the USB ports altogether and then restart.
Windows will discover 'new' USB ports, find drivers and install them.
Or it might not work but this is unlikely to be an unresolvable issue.
Click to expand...

Done this more times than I care to remember but to no avail :'(
 
USB ports with device malfunctioned could be a worn or broken joint on the board ... or a fault in the USB socket itself.

have you tried more than one device?
 
kentdiscos said:
USB ports with device malfunctioned could be a worn or broken joint on the board ... or a fault in the USB socket itself.

have you tried more than one device?
Click to expand...

I've tried 5 different devices, all of which work on my laptop.

I'm not so sure about broken joints as there are 3 USB ports on the laptop. 2 are next to each other but the third is on the other side of the computer. I'm thinking its possibly a chip failure?

Thanks for taking the time to respond :)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top