Solved USB Hub Driver Problems

[Whisperss]

I have an ASUS ROG G75W with some seriously funky USB driver problems. First, anything that plugs directly into the USB port functions just fine. However, plugging in a USB 4-port hub (tried three different ones in each of my USB 2 ports as well as my USB 3 port) causes a failure to read anything. I know there is power to the hub, I can see the lights on it and I can charge my phone and or mouse while plugged into it, my machine just can't read or even recognize a flash drive (tried four different ones of those).

When I plug in the hub the first time, I get the dialog box saying that it is installing the drivers for it but that installation inevitably fails. Attempts to install generic USB drivers also fail. Inspection in the Device Manager yields no clues as to any problems.

If I insert a flash drive into the hub, it again gives the box saying it is installing drivers for it but again, it always fails and yet I can unplug that same drive, insert it directly into the USB port, and it runs flawlessly without attempting to install any additional drivers (used the flash drives on this laptop before). Any ideas?

 

[fireberd]

What type of hub are you using? An unpowered hub that gets its power from the USB port? or a "powered" HUB that has its own separate power supply?

The Powered Hub is preferred.

 

[Whisperss]

One was powered, the other not. Why is the powered one preferred?

 

[LuzTeTT]

One was powered, the other not. Why is the powered one preferred?

Because adding more sockets to a channel does not magically give you more power to play with.

 

[LMiller7]

According to the USB standards a port can supply up to 500 MA of current for USB 2 (900 MA for USB 3). That is only 2.5 watts. With an unpowered USB hub all attached devices must share this limited power. Many conventional hard drives can require that full power themselves. If more than rated current is drawn from the port the voltage may drop to a point where normal operation cannot be maintained. If voltage drops all devices will be effected, whether they are the cause of the excessive drain or not.

Powered hubs are preferred because they do not rely on the USB port to supply power.

Not saying this is your problem, just something you need to be aware of.

 

[matts6887]

One was powered, the other not. Why is the powered one preferred?

From the sounds of it; you might want to try switching to a "powered hub"(the type that has its own separate power supply) as there might be something causing a drop in voltage when you plug the hubs in. What that something is remains to be seen. It almost sounds like there could be some kinda hardware conflict or something along those lines.

 

[ComputerGeek]

<snip>When I plug in the hub the first time, I get the dialog box saying that it is installing the drivers for it but that installation inevitably fails. Attempts to install generic USB drivers also fail. Inspection in the Device Manager yields no clues as to any problems.

1. I'm concerned that you see driver installation failure when you plug in the hub (that shouldn't occur whether the hub is self-powered or not). If the hub isn't installed correctly it could be the reason devices don't work through it. (Though i also agree self-powered hubs are still better to use)

2. What do you mean "Attempts to install generic USB drivers also fail."? Are you seeing two different installation attempts???

Watch Device Manager when you plug in the hub. You should see a "Generic Hub" entry when you plug it in, and it should disappear when you remove it.

Are you saying it appears in Device Manager with a notice of driver install failure yet no yellow icon is displayed for the device? (The yellow icon means a device driver error)

Are you seeing any yellow icons in Device Manager?? Anything under USB saying "Unknown Device"? Or a category labeled "Other devices"?

 

[Whisperss]

<snip>When I plug in the hub the first time, I get the dialog box saying that it is installing the drivers for it but that installation inevitably fails. Attempts to install generic USB drivers also fail. Inspection in the Device Manager yields no clues as to any problems.

1. I'm concerned that you see driver installation failure when you plug in the hub (that shouldn't occur whether the hub is self-powered or not). If the hub isn't installed correctly it could be the reason devices don't work through it. (Though i also agree self-powered hubs are still better to use)

2. What do you mean "Attempts to install generic USB drivers also fail."? Are you seeing two different installation attempts???

Watch Device Manager when you plug in the hub. You should see a "Generic Hub" entry when you plug it in, and it should disappear when you remove it.

Are you saying it appears in Device Manager with a notice of driver install failure yet no yellow icon is displayed for the device? (The yellow icon means a device driver error)

Are you seeing any yellow icons in Device Manager?? Anything under USB saying "Unknown Device"? Or a category labeled "Other devices"?

What I'm saying is that after attempting to reinstall drivers from the computer, I went to ASUS' website and downloaded generic drivers, then attempted to install them which also failed. Looking in the Device Manager yielded no yellow triangles indicating problems, neither before nor after attempted installations. No. I did not see two different installation attempts that I noticed, although in fairness, I did not think to bring up and watch the Device Manager while attempting to install the drivers or when plugging in the hubs. I'll try that next.

 

[ComputerGeek]

Try this next

Use link below for instructions to remove all the old USB hub and mass storage drivers currently installed. That way we can see the results of all clean re-installs. (so make sure you unplug your hub as well before running the DriveCleanup tool)
> How to Cleanup and Remove old USB Storage Drivers

Next, remove any devices from your hub. Then plug the hub into a computer USB port while DevMbr is open
> Watch the sequence of Desktop messages. Does they STILL say installation failed?
> Do you see the Generic Hub Device appear in DevMgr. No yellow icons?

/* EDIT */
Tip: Windows installs a new "instance" of the driver for a flash drive EACH time you connect the flash to DIFFERENT USB ports. (Only one set of driver files are on disk. Each new driver "instance" is a new registry entry associating the drive with the USB port and the driver files on disk. That's why, if you reconnect the flash to same port, you don't see a new install. (Until you use the DriveCleanup tool to remove all "instances" so you can get clean re-installs)

 

[Whisperss]

Well I got the issue fixed. I finally found a driver update program (from Iobit) that updated the driver properly and it seems to be functioning fine. @ComputerGeek, I will give this a couple of days and if I get any more problems, I will try your solution. I would have tried it first bit I ran across the Iobit program first before I could come back here and check for further advice. Thanks for all of your guys' help.