Here's the Hardware IDs for it now. If it is indeed the card reader (and I'm not implying you're wrong at all) how come a) it's showing as a storage device when nothing's actually plugged into it and never has been, and b) why hasn't it always been there?!
And what connection does it have to the WPD as the two are definitely linked?
Think of what you see when you connect a USB CD/DVD drive (USB CD drive is also USB Mass Storage device). When you connect a USB CD drive:how come it's showing as a storage device when nothing's actually plugged into it and never has been
> The CD/DVD drive appears as a CD drive device, whether or not a CD actually inserted
> You just can't open/use the CD device until media is inserted
Likewise, a card reader appears as disk storage device whether or not media is present. You just can't open/use the reader device until media is there.
At some point during the evolution of Portable devices, Windows started considering a flash drive (and all removable storage devcies) as Portable devices.And what connection does it have to the WPD as the two are definitely linked?
Everything that happens is best demonstrated by example (see snapshot below) what happens inside Windows when a card reader is connected. I have a WPD Monitor trace tool. It shows you the Plug and Play events when a Portable device is inserted/removed. Here's a trace of my card reader.
First, I connect the card reader with NO media card inserted. Note events 1 -7 are all generated before a media card is present. Only event 8 (which I guess reports media is now available) occurs when i insert the media card
Note that events 1,2 and 3 are device interface events. Each one registers an interface
> Event 1 - A USB Mass Storage Device
> Event 2 - A Disk (this is the Storage device - generated regardless if media inserted)
> Event 3 - A Storage Volume
My guess is Event 4 notifies Windows that the Device interfaces are done and the hardware device is now connected.
Events 5, 6 and 7 immediately follow 4 (ie. media card still not inserted). Event 5 notifies the UMB Bus enumerator of a new device (UMB enumerates WPD devices) Events 6 and 7 show that the card reader is being enumerated as a Portable device.
That's the end of the card reader connect sequence. Only upon inserting media, Event 8 occurs.. It looks like that event tells Windows media is now present and the media volume gets mounted to drive letter H:\
So notice all those devices (including the Disk Storage device) appear before any media inserted (Will follow up later with your question about why you believe you'r e just seeing the storage device now)
Last edited by ComputerGeek; 06 May 2014 at 15:57.
Appreciate the response as usual mate. I don't know if you want to get your teeth into this one, but as I mentioned earlier I've only ever used my Microsoft SideWinder X4 with this rig, no other keyboard ever. But then I noticed these other two non-existent keyboards in my BIOS the other day and subsequently in Device Manager. I've no idea what these are or when they appeared, all I know is they've never been attached.
Sure. Let's take a crack at those too
First thing i see in your DevMgr snapshot: all devices in question connect through TWO composite devices connected to your USB 3.0 controller
- Each composite device corresponds to a single, physical USB male plug
- A composite device has two or more "peer" devices connected to it. Example: A USB transceiver is a composite device. It gives Windows a single interface to both the wireless mouse and keyboard, which are peers
- This, in contrast to last case. While the USB Mass Storage device also represents a single plug interface. Its child devices aren't peers. Rather, they're daisy chained along a single path
It looks like USB Composite #2 connects to the MS keyboard so is the male plug for the keyboard. (It's possible the numeric key pad is being presented as an additional, separate input device. Just a possible scenario). Looks like your USB Composite #1 is generated by a different male plug? Is that possible? We can look deeper if need be on this one
/* EDIT */
Maybe a simpler way to view the distinction, is that a USB composite device provides a multi-branch device connection to the USB port. While non-composite devices are only one device or a single branch of layered devices
/* EDIT 2 */
I suppose is also possible composite device #1 could also be something wired to the USB bus vs. being a removable male plug? But i'm guessing more likely the latter
Last edited by ComputerGeek; 07 May 2014 at 22:35. Reason: Made some corrections and addon edits
SUCCESS!!!
Finally, the weird drive is gone! I've been looking into this still on and off over the last week as it's still been niggling at me. So eventually while skirting through the BIOS I noticed that Legacy USB was enabled so I switched to Auto and voila! No more weird drive and the WPD has disappeared too. That really feels like a win, I can now relax.
Last edited by Boozad; 14 May 2014 at 14:33.
That is good news. I was not following this thread once I came to know that it is not due to a non-present device. So I was curious when the solved tick mark appeared, to find what actually did it.:)
And what a surprise! It was a surprise that no one ever thought of or even remotely connect.. Hope that strange device really stays off henceforth. Good going and thanks for sharing the secret.:) ( though we really don't know the why of it - atleast I don't know.)
I'm still certain this was caused by my trying to apply USB 3.0 Boost to one of my Kingston Data Travellers. It's been so long ago now that I can't remember exactly what I did so any assumption would be mainly guesswork, I suppose I'll just have to take solace in the fact that it's finally sorted!
Good find! even tho i'm not sure why that works, good info to know! :)
/* EDIT */
And a curiosity question should you ever have the will or opportunity to try: Does the card reader (that seemed responsible for the extra disk device) work when USB Legacy is set to Auto?
Last edited by ComputerGeek; 15 May 2014 at 21:34.
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