Solved CP210x problem NOT Discovered

[MountainLad]

Hello, I am a newbie to this forum but I have a really tough question. I have may years of expereince (>15) and have written large Windows programs.
I know this is a familiar problem looking at the internet and can usually be solved simply. The problem is I am trying to use a ESP32 Devkit for communications, this module contains a CP210x chip as a USB interface. Normally you plug this device into a USB port an WIN7 says unknown device failed. The you proceed to get and intall the correct driver. What I get is NOTHING no indication anything is plugged in. The power light on the module is lit.

Tried:
Reboot system
Other ports 6 available (4 USB2 and 2 USB3)
Swap USB cables, tried 4 and the same cable work with different devices (data & power)
Re-install root HUB drive and reboot
Windows USB trouble shooter
Windows hardware troubleshooter
Add a new USB HUB with 4 more USB ports
Deleted hidden devices in Device Manager
Re-installed driver from Silicon Labs (silab) many times (used x64 driver)
(both enumerated and un-enumerated_)
Follow troubleshooting info from silab
Used "USBview"
Used HHD "Device Monitor" in USB mode to track next install
Tried Zadig
Checked an added Usbflag to registery

1. Most of these method assume the computer recognizes the device and cant find the driver.
2. After installing the diver many times no indication that it is installed, ( file name is in ...Drivers)
3. I fell the problem is in the PnP system, since it is not discovered at all.

HELP!!

 

[Megahertz07]

Welcome to the Forum

I think you've already covered all possibilities.
Open Device Manager. Is there any yellow alerts of missing drivers?

It will only pop up for a driver if it's working? Is it?
Did you try on another computer?

 

[torchwood]

Hi

something else that might be blocking it your AV... as this device requires a dedicated port has it been blocked or is it being used by something else

Establish Serial Connection with ESP32 - ESP32 - — ESP-IDF Programming Guide latest documentation

 

[MountainLad]

Addtional Info

Megahettz07: idea is simple and the answer is no yellow anything anywhere.
Tourchwood: the problem is NO com port in device manager. I did try using Putty to talk to a com port but not port found.
I did try something else I used several more copies of the same module on different port and different cables with the same result. Then I tried the original suspect device on different computers. One was win10 and one was UBUNTU, same results. OK, now I tried a different module with a different interface chip (CH340). Ah this module was recognized by the other computers and not the WIN7 one.
Is their a way of rebuilding the pnp or USB port system?

 

[Megahertz07]

If the different interface chip (CH340) was recognized on the other computers but not the WIN7 one, it is working.
The difference may be that the other OS's has it's driver and Win 7 doesn't.
On device manager there should be a yellow alert of missing driver. Can you find out the device ID?

 

[MountainLad]

additional Info

Their is no CP210x or unknown device in the Device Manager.
Now for the ID part yes I have a manufacture's ID and a device ID. I did a search of the registry where their is a collections of ID, mine is not their. This leads to a question if I install the driver from the manufacture where did it go? The manufacturer supplies three versions for windows.
1. Universal
2. Enumerated
3. UN-enumerated
All three have a x86 and x64 installer.
After some preliminary study of USB operations when a device is plugged in some preliminary handshaking to determine what type of device it is. If it can't determine the type it send back a error reply. MFC handles the USB port as a serial port. So if their is no driver how to handle the port is totally lost. Are talking a problem with HAL?

 

[Megahertz07]

I can't help for CP210x. Can't you contact the manufacture?

 

[MountainLad]

Solved !!

No I didn't give up. Yes I started the deeep dive into the world of USB drivers. The first thing I noticed was that they (Microsoft) talked about two levels of drivers, current and legacy. So I tried the advance install of a legacy driver and low in behold the driver was installed and showed up in the device manager as a yellow flag. Now what the driver was installed but still not recognized by the device being plugged in. Now for the magic (who knows what) I stumbled on the startup managed and what was started and what was not started. I found a module "Windows Module Install Manger" not enabled. I also found another module that looked possible (sorry I don't remember the name) and enable it. Voila !! it works.
Thanks for everybody help and encouragement.
Jim