Solved Driver for USB 3.0 PCIe Card

[bigmck]

I got a new USB 3.0 4-port card in the mail today. I installed the card and Windows could not find the driver for it. It came with a CD which has drivers for every product they make so I don't know which one to install. Of course there were no instructions and it came from, right China and I don't see a product brand on the box. I contacted the shipper but don't hold out much hope for a reply. I am about to write this off as a loss. Anyone have any ideas on where I might find a driver?
Thanks,

 

[Phone Man]

Here is a process to identify your card using the Ven and Dev numbers.

How To Find Unknown Device Drivers By Their Vendor & Device ID

Going out to eat and will return later.

Hope this helps.

Jim

 

[Layback Bear]

Thanks Phone Man I bookmarked that puppy.

 

[bigmck]

Here is a process to identify your card using the Ven and Dev numbers.

How To Find Unknown Device Drivers By Their Vendor & Device ID

Going out to eat and will return later.

Hope this helps.

Jim

Thanks for posting that. There is no "Yellow Mark" next to the USB Controller in the Device Manager so it is now "Unknown", except to me. The numbers to identify in the link do not show.

 

[dsperber]

I got a new USB 3.0 4-port card in the mail today.

You bought in online? What is the URL of the page advertising the product that you bought? That should presumably provide some info regarding what this device is?

I installed the card and Windows could not find the driver for it. It came with a CD which has drivers for every product they make so I don't know which one to install.

Is it from Transcend? StarTech?

Many vendors use electronics from Renesas, so the drivers are for Renesas.

Of course there were no instructions and it came from, right China and I don't see a product brand on the box.

What are the names of the folders/files on the CD that supposedly has the correct driver for your particular card?

If you go into Device Manager (right-click on Computer, select Properties, then select Device Manager) you should show some unknown device as "other", probably with yellow exclamation mark on it or something like that.

Right-click on the unknown item, select Properties, then select Details tab. It might show something in the value details for the first item (device description) in the Property dropdown list. Does it? Something like Renesas USB 3.0 controller?

If you select the second item (Hardware ID's) in the Property dropdown list for your unknown card you will hopefully see a series of values. These define the manufacturer and hardware device codes, which correspond to the required driver. Can you please post a screenshot of the values shown here.


Finally, are the supposed driver installers on the CD in "EXE" form, or are they folders which somewhere in a sub-folder they contain an "INF" file? The EXE driver installers might be unpacked/extracted by running them (if they are self-installing), and the imbedded folders could then be examined to look for a README or INF file (which provides detailed driver info).

If they are already expanded driver installation folders (which contain INF files), you could try getting Windows to do all of the searching for you. Again, right-click on the unknown item in Device Manager, and select "update driver software.... Then from the resulting dialog window asking "how to search", select "browse my computer for driver software", navigate to the CD, be sure the "check sub-folders" item is checked, and OK. Hopefully Windows will drill down through all sub-folders on the CD, and will hopefully find the matching INF file to correspond to that Hardware ID I asked for earlier, and then perform the correct driver install automatically.


Report back.

 

[bigmck]

I got a new USB 3.0 4-port card in the mail today.

You bought in online? What is the URL of the page advertising the product that you bought? That should presumably provide some info regarding what this device is?

New 4 Port USB 3.0 Hub PCI-E Express Card Adapter 5Gbps For Windows 2000 XP Vista Win 7 - Newegg.com

I installed the card and Windows could not find the driver for it. It came with a CD which has drivers for every product they make so I don't know which one to install.

Is it from Transcend? StarTech?

Many vendors use electronics from Renesas, so the drivers are for Renesas.

Of course there were no instructions and it came from, right China and I don't see a product brand on the box.

What are the names of the folders/files on the CD that supposedly has the correct driver for your particular card?

See Below

If you go into Device Manager (right-click on Computer, select Properties, then select Device Manager) you should show some unknown device as "other", probably with yellow exclamation mark on it or something like that.

Right-click on the unknown item, select Properties, then select Details tab. It might show something in the value details for the first item (device description) in the Property dropdown list. Does it? Something like Renesas USB 3.0 controller?

See Below == It is not Unknown. No Yellow Mark. I clicked on the "Update Driver" below but Windows could not find one and also I installed Renesas but that didn't work either. == I also install the "NEC 3.0" from the CD, but no help there.

If you select the second item (Hardware ID's) in the Property dropdown list for your unknown card you will hopefully see a series of values. These define the manufacturer and hardware device codes, which correspond to the required driver. Can you please post a screenshot of the values shown here.


Finally, are the supposed driver installers on the CD in "EXE" form, or are they folders which somewhere in a sub-folder they contain an "INF" file? The EXE driver installers might be unpacked/extracted by running them (if they are self-installing), and the imbedded folders could then be examined to look for a README or INF file (which provides detailed driver info).

There are many different ones, appears to be for different products.

If they are already expanded driver installation folders (which contain INF files), you could try getting Windows to do all of the searching for you. Again, right-click on the unknown item in Device Manager, and select "update driver software.... Then from the resulting dialog window asking "how to search", select "browse my computer for driver software", navigate to the CD, be sure the "check sub-folders" item is checked, and OK. Hopefully Windows will drill down through all sub-folders on the CD, and will hopefully find the matching INF file to correspond to that Hardware ID I asked for earlier, and then perform the correct driver install automatically.

I was not able to get Windows to search the CD. == There were a couple Help files, but they were written in broken English and not much help. This is the last time I buy a "no-name" product from China. Luckily it was only $11 so not a big loss.


Report back.

I appreciate the help on this and hopefully you can decider something from my attachements.

 

[ComputerGeek]

The NEC 3.0 folder has your USB 3.0 drivers

 

[dsperber]

The NEC 3.0 folder has your USB 3.0 drivers

I would agree that this seems the most likely place.

Also, if Windows was unsuccessful in "browsing for drivers", then the contents of this NEC 3.0 folder is probably some EXE to run to install the software.

Bigmck, can you please expand that folder and show us the contents? Is there an EXE to run in it? This would seem to be the required software.

Is there a "\Drivers" or "\Bin" sub-folder in it (probably not, since Windows didn't find it if you "browsed" correctly)? Is there an *.INF file down in that sub-folder structure?

Please show the contents of that particular NEC 3.0 folder and all sub-folders.

 

[dsperber]

The NEC 3.0 folder has your USB 3.0 drivers

NOTE: if this is an NEC chip, rather than a Renesas chip, that certainly would explain why the Renesas driver software did not install correctly, and why Device Manager shows "card did not start" as status.

Which is why I wanted to see the screenshot of Hardware ID's. This would tell us EXACTLY what that "generic" card has inside it, and whether it is from Renesas or NEC or what.

Bigmck... again, can you please provide this requested screenshot of Hardware ID's (in Device Manager, details tab, second item in the dropdown list). That is REQUIRED INFO for us to help.

Also, show the contents of that NEC 3.0 folder on the CD, as well as sub-folders.

 

[ComputerGeek]

I'd say, if the folder contains a Setup.exe (or similar file present with "setup" in its name), Run it.

Otherwise, right click the device in Device Manager->Update, select Update Driver, the select Browse My Computer and browse to the NEC3.0 folder. Make sure the Include subfolders box is checked. Then click Next and allow windows to do the install

 

[ComputerGeek]

Rensas and NEC are the same company. They merged in 2010.

I just skimmed the thread so don't think OP has actually tried installing this driver yet. If NEC3.0 doesn't have a setup.exe, OP needs to point Windows to the folder when doing the Update Driver.

 

[bigmck]

The NEC 3.0 folder has your USB 3.0 drivers

NOTE: if this is an NEC chip, rather than a Renesas chip, that certainly would explain why the Renesas driver software did not install correctly, and why Device Manager shows "card did not start" as status.

Which is why I wanted to see the screenshot of Hardware ID's. This would tell us EXACTLY what that "generic" card has inside it, and whether it is from Renesas or NEC or what.

Bigmck... again, can you please provide this requested screenshot of Hardware ID's (in Device Manager, details tab, second item in the dropdown list). That is REQUIRED INFO for us to help.

Also, show the contents of that NEC 3.0 folder on the CD, as well as sub-folders.

The Details tab is shown in Message 6, but no Hardware ID shows as the device is identified.

The first screenshot below is when I press the Driver Details button. It says no driver required which is strange.

The second screenshot has the setup file, which I installed but no dice.

I think all of us have spent enough time on this $11 problem. I am going to just ditch it and get a reputable brand that should install easily. Thanks for your help.

 

[Phone Man]

Jim, you missed a step. In the Detail tab click the down arrow and look for Hardware ID (it should be near the top) and select it.



Jim

 

[dsperber]

The Details tab is shown in Message 6, but no Hardware ID shows as the device is identified.

No, you have NOT shown the Hardware ID in the screenshot of Details tab shown in message 6. The "Hardware ID" is the SECOND DROPDOWN ITEM in the "Property" listbox. You are showing the FIRST DROPDOWN item, which is "Device Description".

Click on the down-arrow at the right of the Property listbox, and you'll be presented with a dropdown list.

The SECOND item on the dropdown list is "Hardware IDs". Select it, and then you'll see something like I posted earlier:

Unless you post your version of the above "hardware IDs" screenshot, we don't know what your hardware really is. With that screenshot, we can at least move forward properly to try and get your driver installed correctly for this hardware.

The first screenshot below is when I press the Driver Details button. It says no driver required which is strange.

YOU DO NOT CURRENTLY HAVE THE PROPER DRIVER INSTALLED!!! That's the problem we're trying to solve!

The "Driver Details" button on the Driver tab simply repeats what we already know... that you did NOT run the SETUP driver installer EXE file in that NEC 3.0 folder on the CD as you should have!! THAT IS THE PROPER DRIVER (or else there is a BIN or DRIVER sub-folder underneath that, which has an INF file which could be installed if you would "update driver software"on this device through Device Manager).

If you would provide an expanded screenshot of that NEC 3.0 folder on the CD, we could tell you exactly what to do next. The problem is not that the generic Chinese hardware is broken or crap, it's that you haven't run the driver software installation correctly.

So show us the contents of the NEC 3.0 folder on the CD, and we'll probably be able to make progress. The card is probably working, but you just haven't installed the driver software correctly yet.

The second screenshot has the setup file, which I installed but no dice.

Well, this is promising. What does "no dice" mean??

There's also a "Release_note.txt" file in that \Nec 3.0\Upd720200 sub-folder. What does that TXT file say?

Also, you didn't show the expansion of the Nec 3.0 folder itself. Is \Upd720200 the only contents below the \Nec 3.0 folder? Or is there something else we should know about?

I think all of us have spent enough time on this $11 problem. I am going to just ditch it and get a reputable brand that should install easily. Thanks for your help.

(1) What does the Release_note.txt file in \Upd720200 sub-folder say?

(2) What do you get when you run that Setup.exe? Any error messages? Normal successful completion with confirmation?

(3) What does "no dice" mean? Yes, it doesn't appear you have the card driver software installed correctly yet as you'd have TWO items in Device Manager (Renesas USB 3.0 Root Hub, and Renesas USB 3.0 Host Controller) and you only have one right now... with a yellow exclamation mark indicating "no driver installed". But what happens when you run Setup.exe... since I'm sure it must be failing with some kind of message about a problem.

(4) What does the "Hardware ID" (second dropdown item) screenshot look like in the Details tab of Device Manager?

(5) What is the contents of \NEC 3.0 folder on the CD?

 

[bigmck]

Here is the Hardware ID

No Dice means No Luck.

I appreciate everyone's help but I am tired of fooling with this. It is not worth the trouble for $11.

Thanks,

 

[Phone Man]

That's a Via chip. Here is what I found. On first link at bottom of page is the 3483 Dev. and a VL805-q6 chip.
On the 2nd link at bottom of page is the Driver for the VL805 chip.

PCI Vendor and Device Lists

VIA Labs, Inc. - VIA Labs Collaborates with American Megatrends to Deliver xHCI Compliant UEFI Support for the VL800 USB 3.0 Host Controller

Jim

 

[bigmck]

That's a Via chip. Here is what I found. On first link at bottom of page is the 3483 Dev. and a VL805-q6 chip.
On the 2nd link at bottom of page is the Driver for the VL805 chip.

PCI Vendor and Device Lists

VIA Labs, Inc. - VIA Labs Collaborates with American Megatrends to Deliver xHCI Compliant UEFI Support for the VL800 USB 3.0 Host Controller

Jim

Thanks very much. I will give that a try and let you know what happens

 

[dsperber]

On your driver CD, the 2nd-to-last folder is for VIA_VT6202VT6212_drv262LM.

Could be that this is the VIA driver installer folder for your VIA chipset card, instead of that NEC 3.0 folder whose SETUP.EXE obviously failed. Clearly the card you have does NOT have Renesas/NEC chipset on it.

What is in that VIA folder on the driver CD? Is there a README? What does it say? Is there a SETUP.EXE that you can run and try it?

NOTE: Just to be sure, I'd probably first UNINSTALL whatever remnants got installed from the failed earlier attempts to install a Renesas driver, or that SETUP.EXE from the NEC 3.0 folder. Go to Control Panel and uninstall whatever remnants you see in the Installed Programs list that looks relevant.

 

[Phone Man]

The VT6202 and VT6212 are USB 2 chips and not what he has.

Jim

 

[dsperber]

That's a Via chip. Here is what I found. On first link at bottom of page is the 3483 Dev. and a VL805-q6 chip.

Absolutely.

Clicking on the download link URL in that last screenshot page should download a ZIP file containing the proper driver installer file for the VIA VL805/VL806 XHCI Host Controller, which is your card's chipset.

NOTE #1: it's a 63MB download, and it's coming from Taiwan at a VERY SLOW speed... so it'll take a bit of time. Be patient.

NOTE #2: while this should be be the latest driver installer file (released Jan 24, 2014) for this card, I still think the VIA folder on the driver CD you have could possibly contain the same content. Worth a look-see anyway, as it will save you at least 30 minutes of download time from Taiwan for the absolute most-current driver.

There's also a download link URL for the changelog PDF for the driver file.