LG portable usb dvd writer shows up as unknown usb device

ron7000 · 12 Jan 2016

have an LG slim portable DVD writer. model GP30NB30.
s/n 206H1AL0.... ROM versions 1.00.
to be honest i don't know if this thing got switched out of my desk drawer with some other model usb dvd writer i had been using which worked. i have a few of these portable usb dvd drives and they all look the same, but i'm pretty sure this one has worked.

went to use it today and on work computers where i'm pretty sure it has worked in the past, now windows shows it as "unrecognized device, driver not installed". This was on some computers that have not had windows update in a while, some of which are off network lab computers which are pretty reliable and never have a problem. I tried it on a test pc that has all windows updates as of now, same deal.
In device manager it shows up as a problem device with yellow triangle.

I try it on my home pc, and that says driver installed but then shows up as Unkown Device under Universal Serial Bus Controllers in device manager. I did windows update with it connected as unknown device and windows update did not help. go under device manager and look at the properties of device, Hardware ID comes up as unknown. The driver key property shows up as
{36fc9e60-c465-11cf-8056-444553540000}\0030.

In every case, this usb dvd writer never shows up under my computer, or in disk manager.
anyone know of a way to troubleshoot this more to figure out why the generic usb cdrom driver in windows does not work for this device?

i'd be willing to update the firmware of this thing with anything to make it work.

this is all on Windows 7 sp1 64-bit.
I have also tried uninstalling from device manager, rescan and letting it check online via windows update for driver, it comes back saying driver is up to date but still shows up as unknown device.

ron7000 · 19 Jan 2016

so get this,
doing a reinstallation of windows 7 sp1 on a different dell computer, using the dell restore cd.

a) if i have this usb dvd writer plugged into a usb port prior to booting the windows dvd and installing windows, then when windows is finished installing this usb dvd drive shows up as drive E: and is usable, with drive D: being the sata dvd rom installed in the tower.

b) for kicks to satisfy curiosity i did a reinstallation of windows 7 without this dvd reader plugged in. Once windows was installed, and before any windows updates i plugged the usb dvd reader in and it comes up as unknown device. in process now of doing windows updates and doing a "search online for driver" for it. doubt it will help, if it does i'll post back. unfortunately i forget to save off a copy of cdrom.sys and cdrom.inf from the working install the first time.

someone let me know what files to look at from a working install of windows 7.1 that recognizes this p.o.s. usb dvd drive.

ComputerGeek · 19 Jan 2016

It shows up as Unknown even after a clean reinstall??? Yet the drive works on another PC? is indeed strange

Delete C:\Windows\inf\setupapi.dev.log. Right click the unknown device and select Update driver. Update will fail as before. Do a reboot. Then zip and attach the new setupapi.dev.log file (windows will have created a new one)

whs · 19 Jan 2016

Does this device need a special driver ??

ron7000 · 19 Jan 2016

ComputerGeek said:

It shows up as Unknown even after a clean reinstall??? Yet the drive works on another PC? is indeed strange

Delete C:\Windows\inf\setupapi.dev.log. Right click the unknown device and select Update driver. Update will fail as before. Do a reboot. Then zip and attach the new setupapi.dev.log file (windows will have created a new one)

the only way i got this thing to work so far is to have it plugged in the usb port of a computer BEFORE and DURING the entire reinstall of Windows 7. Once windows was done installing and i was at the desktop, I could see this drive under My Computer and in Disk Manager.

whs · 19 Jan 2016

That sounds logical. The installer had to "see" the device in order to pick up the driver.

ron7000 · 19 Jan 2016

below is the c:\windows\inf\setupapi.dev.log per your instructions.
I attached setupapi.dev.log0 which is that file having everything up until i deleted it.
Also attached is the setupapi.app.log file which showed up after reboot.

[Device Install Log]
OS Version = 6.1.7601
Service Pack = 1.0
Suite = 0x0100
ProductType = 1
Architecture = amd64

[BeginLog]

[Boot Session: 2016/01/19 22:50:51.125]

>>> [Device Install (DiShowUpdateDevice) - USB\VID_0000&PID_0000\5&2769C222&0&4]
>>> Section start 2016/01/19 22:53:10.132
cmd: "C:\Windows\system32\mmc.exe" "C:\Windows\system32\compmgmt.msc" /s
dvi: {DIF_UPDATEDRIVER_UI} 22:53:10.132
dvi: No class installer for 'Unknown Device'
dvi: No CoInstallers found
dvi: Default installer: Enter 22:53:10.132
dvi: Default installer: Exit
dvi: {DIF_UPDATEDRIVER_UI - exit(0xe000020e)} 22:53:10.132
ndv: {Update Driver Software Wizard for USB\VID_0000&PID_0000\5&2769C222&0&4}
inf: Opened PNF: 'C:\Windows\INF\usb.inf' ([strings.0409])
ndv: {Update Driver Software Wizard exit(00000000)}
<<< Section end 2016/01/19 22:53:19.243
<<< [Exit status: SUCCESS]

ron7000 · 19 Jan 2016

i will probably mess with this, this coming weekend, and do another clean install with the usb dvd reader plugged in.
when/after i do, what files should i look at to see what is happening and what is making this usb device successfully install under that specific condition?

ComputerGeek · 19 Jan 2016

USB\VID_0000&PID_0000 indicates a plug and play problem between the USB controllers and the USB device. The controller detected a USB device connected but was unable to read the device's hardware ids. The VID and PID are always non-zero values otherwise

Have you installed latest chipset drivers (reinstall them)?
have you checked you have the latest BIOS?
Have you checked if there's a firmware upgrade for the device?

/* EDIT */
You can simply check the Hardware ID value under the device Properties->Details tab would reveal this 0000 hardware ID value too

ComputerGeek · 19 Jan 2016

ron7000 said:

<snip>go under device manager and look at the properties of device, Hardware ID comes up as unknown.

Oh yea.... Forgot. Windows started substituting "USB|Unknown" when the underlying hardware ID VID/PID values were 0000. But I believe if you look under Properties->Details tab and have a look at Device Instance Path instead you'll still see the original values (using Device manager) as we otherwise found by looking in the log file