I burned Ubuntu to disk and when I booted it up, all my USB ports worked.
I need my computer for other things tomorrow but if I get a chance I will download the malware software and see if that does any good to get the USBs to work on Windows.I will entertain any other suggestions.
That's good news - it proves the hardware is ok. CompGeek and I thought it was driver/software and TVeblen suggested Ubuntu as a good way to test the HW.
One more thing eliminated!
I sent you a Private Message (PM) basically saying "Hey take a break if you want to" and then I see that you posted pretty much just that.
I was a little concerned that one of the things I asked you to do incapacitated your machine. Phew!
The malware tools will not fix the USBs, they might not find anything. It will make me feel better knowing what they report, especially after seeing that MSE ran so long.
Did you ever get a chance to run Windows Update (sans Touchpad update)?
'til your next post then.
Bill
.
I'll offer another suggestion - and explain why.
All evidence points to ===> your USB problem is due to software corruption. The digital signatures on the driver files are bad. Device manager has been screaming that to us with code 52 errors which were only highlighted and reconfirmed when we saw DevMgr tell us in the Device Manager trace that it wouldn't load/start the device because of an unsigned driver error.
Getting your BIOS fixed is good, for sure. But IMO you're only going to be able to fix this problem if you can fix the corrupt files on the disk. That means fixing either
> The driver files. If one or more files are corrupt, the file's digital sig is broke, or
> Fixing the System Catalog where Windows stores the "golden" signatures it uses for comparison.
So short of a system restore (which you've tried) or a system re-install (which you can't till May) we can try a few things that come to mind
(p.s. I'm better at fixing corrupt driver files. I've never fixed a System Cat file before - but let's see how this goes).
Crabby, let's start by looking at your driver files. Go to Device Manager, right click either of the broken USB Enhanced controllers, select Properties. Click the Driver tab. Click Driver Details button. (fyi... I'm running 32 bit Windows so don't worry if your driver version #'s are different from my snapshot below. Tho, Slarty i see you're running 64-bit Windows 7 too? I may ask you to check some things on your machine as well later :) ) Click on each driver file. Look at the Digital Signer. Which file(s) are not signed by Microsoft?
While you're at it, why don't you do the same for the USB 3.0 driver files on the USB 3.0 controller
Last edited by ComputerGeek; 15 Jan 2015 at 00:15.
@CompGeek,
I had a few logs in the fire and the catroot repair / rebuild was next on the list.
We'll have to wait until Crabby gets back to the thread, but I'm good with switching the order.
The only thing I want to bring up is a code 52 caused by malware. MSE came back with a browser threat that was actually in AdwCleaner's quarantine. The threat was minor and mitigated, MSE simply saw it again.
When an issue like this (chipset drivers) is being considered and a malware scan runs abnormally long, it's a good idea to look deeper for a threat.
To be honest, it's a coin toss - the catroot or malware.
You're up batter, I'm rooting for you. We need a grand slam!
@Crabby,
We're switching gears, CompGeek has been very patient
The catroot repair was already discussed and it makes sense to go through the process.
Everything that I've already suggested (Windows Update and the two malware scans) is put on hold until CompGeek does his magic.
Bill
.
I hadn't noticed this before, but the drivers have changed with various things we have done over the last couple days. Right now they seem to be generic drivers from Microsoft, but before that they were Intel drivers. If you look at some of the previous screen shots I posted you will see. I am posting screen shots of the drivers I have on the computer right now. The one listed under other devices has no driver and is code 28. The other two are code 52. I have to confess that I don't know which drivers go to which ports USB3 or USB2.
The "Other" Device in Device Manager
Right now, your USB 3.0 driver isn't installed. So your USB 3.0 controller is listed under "Other" device category. That's OK for now. Ignore it. We'll start by looking at the other 2 controllers
Your "Enhanced" Controllers
fyi.... Crabby: USB 2.0 controllers have the word Enhanced and/or USB 2 in their name. The devices you see in Device Manager under USB named "Enhanced PCI to USB Controller" are your USB 2.0 controllers.
@Crabby and @Slartybart please do the following
@Crabby Adownload the attached Set LogLevel Default.zip file. Unzip and apply the .reg file to reset Device Manager trace logging back to normal (so it's not constantly writing to disk)
- Download sigcheck Unzip and place sigcheck.exe in your C:\Windows\System32 folder
- Download attached file CheckSigs.bat file and save on your Desktop
- Right click CheckSigs.bat and you must Run as Administrator
- Upload file C:\sig.txt to your next post
I see sigcheck on my computer already. Did we do this step already, Bill. I await your response.
Geek, I am confused by what you told me. My notebook supposedly has 3 USB3 ports and 1 USB2 port so why am I seeing two enhanced controllers in device manager?
Here is the old sigtest.txt zipped. Let me know if I need to run a new one.
Oh my! I'm so sorry. I never saw your reply to my original request in post #114. I was notified when you first replied to someone else but didn't get a subsequent email alert when you actually posted the data - and by then i was distracted and not keeping up with the thread for some time so i missed it. So sorry...
But, yes, I now have the data i requested in your original reply. Now let's see what SB's data shows. And, yes, all those "UNSIGNEDs" show the digital signature for the USB 2.0 driver "package" is broken. (fyi...A driver "package" contains all the files needed to install/deploy a driver. A single signature is calculated for the entire package. If any one file in the package changes, the dig signature for the package fails. Is why no file shows it's digitally signed)
As to your other question about usb ports, it can get a bit confusing. But (to generalize)
- Every USB Controller has a "Root hub"
- Every Root hub has ports
- Controllers, root hubs and root hub ports are all on the motherboard
- Separate from all that are the physical USB ports you see on your computer - let's call these the "computer ports"
- It's quite common to have many root hub ports but only a limited number of comupter ports
- Sometimes, an onboard device (like a card reader) may be connected directly to a Root hub port
- But most often there are simply many more root hub ports then computer ports
You can see the relationship between Controllers, Root Hubs and devices that connect to them using Device Manager. Click View->Devices by Connection. Expand the ACPI devices. Then PCI bus. Then your controllers and their Root Hubs to see their connections. Note: a "Generic Hub" is a USB hub that is EXTERNAL to your computer. Root Hubs are on the motherboard and connect to the Controller.
Note in my snapshot, I don't have a USB 3.0 Controller on this computer. You can see my webcam connected to the "Enhanced" controller. You can see my logitech keyboard/mouse transceiver connected to my USB 1.1 controller. (I know it's 1.1 based on the naming convention for controllers)
It can also get confusing because (depending on how a computer is built) the connection from computer port to Root Hub port is a dynamic decision Windows makes when the device is plugged in! A particular computer port doesn't always mean you'll connect to the same controller each time.
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