Solved USB Problem. Driving me nuts!

[fedupwith72]

It may be coincidental, but I bought a memory stick off ebay which turned out to be fake. Since that time, I found that every time I turn on my Acer Aspire laptop it will not recognize anything (stick, drive, camera, ipod etc.) plugged into the USB ports or a card in the memory card socket.
No messages or anything, just no reaction to anything plugged in.
DeviceManager shows nearly all the ports (Intel ICH9 Family USB Standard and Enhanced Controllers) and the USB Root Hub(s) with little yellow exclamation marks.
At first I uninstalled all the hubs manually and restarted the computer and this got the hubs working, but next time I booted up, the same thing had happened and I had to go through the whole thing again.
I then found that the Troubleshooter and Windows Fix It (ha ha) would reinstall all the hubs automatically, but they would still be corrupted next time I booted up, so I had to go through the whole rigmarole again to use the USB ports.
Each time i use the Troubleshooter it fixes all the ports, but I get a message - "Hardware changes might not have been recognised" and a yellow warning triangle.
Fix It does exactly the same with nothing else to offer regarding the "Hardware changes...." message.
Next time I start the computer I am back to square one!
I have tried updating the drivers - I always get told they are up to date.
My computer OS is totally up to date with "Windows Update".
I always remove the USB devices properly.
Another post elsewhere suggested checking that the Windows Installer in Services is set to Automatic - it is.
How do I get it to recognize the hardware changes so that it starts up with all the ports working every time?

 

[AbMaster]

What is your computer model ?

 

[fedupwith72]

Its an Acer Aspire 5732Z. Intel T4300 processor.

This has been going on for about a month now and I have looked at lots of similar posted problems for help. This "hardware changes..." message seems to be generated a lot when people have problems with sound, and there are other problems with USB ports on Win 7, but I have not seen a post about my particular problem anywhere, except for one poor soul with the same thing who posted a cry for help on another forum but got no replies.

 

[pebbly]

Hi fedupwith72, Welcome to the forums, Visit the acer website and download and reinstall the motherboard chipset, this contols the usb ports which have got corrupted, You may also try right clicking on the little yellow exclaimation marks and selecting " update driver" see if windows update will find the drivers for you

 

[fedupwith72]

I've tried updating the drivers. They are up to date. even tried updating via the net. same result.
One thing that puzzles me is that it has 7 USB controllers and 7 hubs in Device Mangr, but only two physical ports and one card slot on the laptop. I'll try the chipset update and report back Thanks.

 

[Thorsen]

The 7 Controllers and Hubs listed is to detail how many the USB Host Controller can handle. For example say a Desktop has 8 controllers supported. It has 4 on the back panel and 2 in front. that makes 6 already installed. The computer owner could add another USB card to the expansion slot with 2 extra USB ports.

In each USB port, you can use a USB Hub that acts as 4 USB ports to 1 USB port. This does not affect the total. Usually I think the Host controller can handle about a 100 connections so usually, you wont reach that cap. Its 127 according to wiki: USB hub - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

It is possible that when you plugged in the fake device, it damaged the Host Controller. I have not seen this before, but seems possible. the USB port has a good bit of power running through it.

 

[fedupwith72]

Thanks for that USB info.
The stick was all packaged right and looked like a real Kingston stick, but instead of being the size advertised it was just 4gb.
I seem to have had problems since then.
I went to the Acer site and found the Chipset Drivers it recommends (2009), but when I tried to load them I got a "these are older than the installed ones" type message. 9.1.1.1015 instead of 9.1.1.1020. So I didn't install them.
I went to the Intel site and the Chipset they show as 9.1.1.1020 is for XP and 2003 so that seems to be just a revision number. .
There were loads of other free chipset download sites on Google, but they looked very dodgy!
Intel do a chip ID check, but it does not support Win7 64bit, so I am not 100% sure which chipset I have. Intel update checker says its a 6, 5, 4, 3, 900 type chipset.
As I have not updated chipset drivers before, should I just the earlier version, or should I load one of these latest .inf chipset files?Support for the Intel® 945 Express Chipset Family

 

[AbMaster]

I think this should do it:
http://downloadcenter.intel.com/Det...fined&DownloadType=undefined&ProdId=undefined

 

[fedupwith72]

Thank you for your help so far but:
I installed the chipset drivers and it has not made any difference. When I start the laptop all the USB ports and hub are u/s. I have to run the troubleshooter and this restores them to normal, but with the same "Hardware changes..." message. They work until the PC is turned off but when I turn it on again I have to use the troubleshooter again to get them working.

 

[AbMaster]

Check this out: Hardware devices are not working or are not detected in Windows

 

[fedupwith72]

That was one of the first things I tried. It downloads the Fix It I mentioned in my first post, which does the same as the Troubleshooter on Win 7. It restores all the ports, but gives you the "hardware changes not recognized" message and when you reboot the computer all the ports have crashed again.
This is a real puzzler!

 

[AbMaster]

Click on Start, search for "Services" and then find "Windows Installer". Right-click on it, Properties and change Startup type to Automatic.

 

[fedupwith72]

Thank you, but read my first post. I have done that. I will check the Windows Installer settings to see if anything else has changed and report back.

 

[fedupwith72]

Checked. It is set to auto, and I also checked the settings. All seem ok. Also checked it when the computer had booted and the windows installer is started. Still got the same problem.

 

[AbMaster]

I am sorry for not reading your first post carefully
Check from the same Services window if "Plug and Play" service is started and set on automatic.

EDIT: I would also run "sfc /scannow" in Command Prompt (Start > search for "cmd" > enter command)

 

[fedupwith72]

thank you. I had checked it before but I rechecked and plug and play is set to auto. For some reason it won't let me use DOS via CMD, says admin only even though I am the admin. I will set up admin acct and try from that.

 

[AbMaster]

Search for cmd again but this time use right-click on the result and Run as Administrator.

 

[fedupwith72]

Did the scan. It found some corrupt files. When I restarted the computer I got the Windows Not Genuine "nag" and a message on my Desktop. I uninstalled windows update KB917033 and tried running WAT. It got rid of the nag but it didn't clear the desktop message so I had to download WGA Remover, which did the trick.
Still have the same USB problem!
I hate computers.

 

[seavixen32]

Forgive me for asking, but do you have a genuine copy of Windows?

If so, is it a DVD or ISO?

Hating computers doesn't get them fixed, but working through the problems does.

 

[fedupwith72]

Its an acer laptop. It was my daughters. She bought it from Amazon and it is a genuine version of windows. It did go back to Acer under warranty as it had a hardware fault, so I don't know if they did anything to it. It was perfectly ok before I did the scan. We don't have a disc for it as it has a recovery partition. As far as I can see that KB971033 update will give the 'not genuine' message for the slightest infringement, thats why people have had to bring out ways to stop it. I hope MS will do something about it in the next service pack upgrade. Obviously the scan affected a file and WGA saw it as bogus.
Not getting the baby bathed, though! USB still not starting on startup.