Strange boot behaviour ('partial hangs'). Any ideas?

martinlest · 05 May 2017

Sorry John - yes, I didn't get round to doing all the USB ports as I meant to and then I forgot about it (only reading the latest answers in the thread) - but I just found what surely must be the problem: I said above that there were no yellow or red flags in the Device Manager, and that's true after the freeze clears. However, I just managed to get Device manager open during the freeze-up, and under System Devices, the 'AMDA00 Interface' entry has a yellow exclamation mark against it. When the freeze-up stops, all the entries reload and the yellow ! disappears.

I am not sure what that entry is as I write this, but will Google tomorrow (need to get to bed now, 1.30am). Presumably it's a software rather than hardware issue (though I could still get down under the desk and try juggling all the USB connections. Is that likely to help now??). Meanwhile, maybe the problem (and solution???) is now clear to someone more familiar than I am with what this implies in practical terms.

Thanks again.

johnhoh · 05 May 2017

checked on the asus forum and its a common problem. Try installing these two drivers for your board...

Intel USB 3.0 Driver V3.0.1.41 for Windows Win7 32bit & Win7 64bit---(WHQL).

http://dlcdnet.asus.com/pub/ASUS/mis...in7_V30141.zip

ASUS Probe II Sense Driver V1.0.1.0 for Windows 7/8/8.1/10 32bit & 64bit.(WHQL)

http://dlcdnet.asus.com/pub/ASUS/mis...-10_Vv1010.zip

if that does not fix the issue, just try right-clicking the device in device manger and disabling it. Some asus users said they do not have the option of disabling, but its worth a try.

martinlest · 06 May 2017

Thanks John. I did get as far as seeing that this is a known Asus issue (cold comfort) last night before going to bed... I'll try what you suggest later today and report back. 'Disable' is greyed out for now, perhaps I need to install the Asus Probe utility to resolve that??

martinlest · 06 May 2017

Just occurred to me also, I had to disable USB3.0 Intel support in the BIOS: the PC in question is used almost exclusively for MS Flight Simulator and the Saitek hardware I use with hates (as Saitek admits - though no fixes have ever been made available AFAIK) the USB3 Intel drivers, causing CTDs and even BSODs. That problem disappeared as soon as I disabled USB3.0 support in the BIOS. Is AMD00A basically the Intel USB 3.0 Driver then? I thought it was to do with Asus Probe?? If so, I could try uninstalling it (though won't it be reinstalled automatically on a reboot?).

I can try the Asus Probe driver, but Autoruns does not show this programme as loading at startup, so...

I guess I need to experiment a bit, but any thoughts on the above very welcome meanwhile. Thanks again.

UPDATE: I uninstalled AMD00A and the driver via Device Manager and then (backed up and) deleted the AMDA folder in C:/Program Files/ASUS. I have tried a few boots and reboots and the freeze-up has stopped. Way too early to say that this has fixed the issue though - I have had too many hopeful results that proved not in fact to be working after a day or so, but at least this is a good start. Will keep you posted!

There is (I see now) so much about this same problem all over the internet (and many people suffering far worse consequences than mine) that this thread might prove useful - IF (a big IF) what I have done continues to work of course!

UPDATE to UPDATE: Problem came back (of course). In Device Manager the yellow exclamation mark is now against 'Other Devices/Unknown Device'. I have disabled that and so far boots are OK again... Not at all confident, given the history of troubleshooting this, that that will last for very long, however.

martinlest · 06 May 2017

I've reinstated the AMDA folder/AMD00A (and System restore) as that clearly made no difference.

99% sure this is USB related - on my last boot, the mouse froze up too until the 'bug' cleared. I'll have a go tomorrow with the USB plugs/ports....

johnhoh · 06 May 2017

I saw three potential solutions the other day when reading through asus posts on this topic. None worked for everyone.

1) disable it in device manager
2) install the drivers in my post #12
3) try older versions of the asus probe sense driver

For 3), best way to find every version out there for Probe Sense imo is to use Driver Identifier. Most driver updaters are invasive but I just tried this out and had no problems. Went like this...
1) download, install, and run driveridentifier DriverIdentifier - The most simple & easy driver updating tool. let it scan your system
2) find the AMDA00 device on your results, click update
3) it then shows you 29 different internet sources for (you hope) various versions of the driver. Try them.
3) Uninstall driveridentifier

EDIT: I noticed today that my malwarebytes scan came up with a bunch of driveridentifier hits. Not good.

martinlest · 07 May 2017

Ok, I swapped around the USB connectors at the back of the PC - but that didn't fix anything, sadly.

Next installed driverindentifier... there are indeed lots of options for AMDA00 - most are the same version as I already have installed, though the size of the file varies from 37 to 51 MBs.

There is an earlier version available, so I have tried installing that (14.47.2.348), and we'll see how that goes for a while

martinlest · 10 May 2017

I am tempting fate by saying this - and I wouldn't dare mark this as solved just quite yet - but ever since I installed the older version of the AMDA00 driver the issue of Windows partially hanging for a minute or so after the desktop appears has not occurred. Every boot or reboot has been normal.... If this continues I will come back and mark this as solved. Fingers crossed...

Megahertz07 · 10 May 2017

Have a look
- AMDA00 INTERFACE
- Search for drivers amda00

martinlest · 10 May 2017

Yes, I found the older drivers a couple of days ago via driverpac... but most of the ones on the page you link to are the latest version (1.0.1.0), which were the drivers which were seemingly causing the problem. I found and installed version 14.47.2.348 with a file date of 13.05.2013 and since then (so far) I haven't had any further problems.

:)