Vista - Many USB Devices are "Unknown Device" in Device Manager

Hello-

All of a sudden a few days ago, many of my USB devices started showing as
Unknown Devices in the Device Manager. I've read that this sometimes happens
in WinXP too- but no post that I found about the problem proposed a solution
(for Vista or XP.) If I disable the "Standard Enhanced PC to USB Host
Controller", the system then locates drivers for all of the devices, but runs
them in USB 1.1 (slow!) mode.

I'm seeing this for flash storage devices (thumb drives, flash card readers,
ipod), logitech quickcam 5000, plantronics USB headset etc. Oddly, my MS
Intellimouse Explorer 3.0 and APC UPS work fine!

Anyone know what to do?
I have a ton of USB devices defined in the registry under
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet002\Enum\USB\ , but regedit does not
allow me to remove any of these.

I also unfortunately don't have a System Restore Point to back when my USB
devices were working.

If anyone has ideas for something to try, please post! Thanks, Al

ControlSet002? thats a backup. you should be looking in currentcontrolset to
see whats loaded and being used



"A L" <AL@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:1C776F35-42C2-454C-A252-0EF6AC4F4E61@microsoft.com...
> Hello-
>
> All of a sudden a few days ago, many of my USB devices started showing as
> Unknown Devices in the Device Manager. I've read that this sometimes
> happens
> in WinXP too- but no post that I found about the problem proposed a
> solution
> (for Vista or XP.) If I disable the "Standard Enhanced PC to USB Host
> Controller", the system then locates drivers for all of the devices, but
> runs
> them in USB 1.1 (slow!) mode.
>
> I'm seeing this for flash storage devices (thumb drives, flash card
> readers,
> ipod), logitech quickcam 5000, plantronics USB headset etc. Oddly, my MS
> Intellimouse Explorer 3.0 and APC UPS work fine!
>
> Anyone know what to do?
> I have a ton of USB devices defined in the registry under
> HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet002\Enum\USB\ , but regedit does not
> allow me to remove any of these.
>
> I also unfortunately don't have a System Restore Point to back when my USB
> devices were working.
>
> If anyone has ideas for something to try, please post! Thanks, Al

Okay. I can't delete any of the entries out of currentcontrolset either-
they're all protected by Vista's security stuff...

Thanks for any help- Andy

"Troy McClure" wrote:

> ControlSet002? thats a backup. you should be looking in currentcontrolset to
> see whats loaded and being used
>
>
>
> "A L" <AL@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
> news:1C776F35-42C2-454C-A252-0EF6AC4F4E61@microsoft.com...
> > Hello-
> >
> > All of a sudden a few days ago, many of my USB devices started showing as
> > Unknown Devices in the Device Manager. I've read that this sometimes
> > happens
> > in WinXP too- but no post that I found about the problem proposed a
> > solution
> > (for Vista or XP.) If I disable the "Standard Enhanced PC to USB Host
> > Controller", the system then locates drivers for all of the devices, but
> > runs
> > them in USB 1.1 (slow!) mode.
> >
> > I'm seeing this for flash storage devices (thumb drives, flash card
> > readers,
> > ipod), logitech quickcam 5000, plantronics USB headset etc. Oddly, my MS
> > Intellimouse Explorer 3.0 and APC UPS work fine!
> >
> > Anyone know what to do?
> > I have a ton of USB devices defined in the registry under
> > HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet002\Enum\USB\ , but regedit does not
> > allow me to remove any of these.
> >
> > I also unfortunately don't have a System Restore Point to back when my USB
> > devices were working.
> >
> > If anyone has ideas for something to try, please post! Thanks, Al
>
>

I solved this issue by installing a spare USB 2 PCI card I have. Everything
works there just fine. I have XP on another partition- all my motherboard
USB ports work fine there, so this issue is definitely a software Vista
problem.

Looks like XP has this issue too and there's a hotfix out for it:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/920875

Hopefully MS will release the same fix for Vista at some point. Thanks
again for your help, Al

"A L" wrote:

> Okay. I can't delete any of the entries out of currentcontrolset either-
> they're all protected by Vista's security stuff...
>
> Thanks for any help- Andy
>
> "Troy McClure" wrote:
>
> > ControlSet002? thats a backup. you should be looking in currentcontrolset to
> > see whats loaded and being used
> >
> >
> >
> > "A L" <AL@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
> > news:1C776F35-42C2-454C-A252-0EF6AC4F4E61@microsoft.com...
> > > Hello-
> > >
> > > All of a sudden a few days ago, many of my USB devices started showing as
> > > Unknown Devices in the Device Manager. I've read that this sometimes
> > > happens
> > > in WinXP too- but no post that I found about the problem proposed a
> > > solution
> > > (for Vista or XP.) If I disable the "Standard Enhanced PC to USB Host
> > > Controller", the system then locates drivers for all of the devices, but
> > > runs
> > > them in USB 1.1 (slow!) mode.
> > >
> > > I'm seeing this for flash storage devices (thumb drives, flash card
> > > readers,
> > > ipod), logitech quickcam 5000, plantronics USB headset etc. Oddly, my MS
> > > Intellimouse Explorer 3.0 and APC UPS work fine!
> > >
> > > Anyone know what to do?
> > > I have a ton of USB devices defined in the registry under
> > > HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet002\Enum\USB\ , but regedit does not
> > > allow me to remove any of these.
> > >
> > > I also unfortunately don't have a System Restore Point to back when my USB
> > > devices were working.
> > >
> > > If anyone has ideas for something to try, please post! Thanks, Al
> >
> >

Today's automatic updates fixed my USB problem. It must have been KB925528:

"Install this update to resolve reliability issues with some USB hardware
devices and controllers."

Thanks MS, now I can remove this PCI USB 2 card from my system! AL



"A L" wrote:

>
> I solved this issue by installing a spare USB 2 PCI card I have. Everything
> works there just fine. I have XP on another partition- all my motherboard
> USB ports work fine there, so this issue is definitely a software Vista
> problem.
>
> Looks like XP has this issue too and there's a hotfix out for it:
>
> http://support.microsoft.com/kb/920875
>
> Hopefully MS will release the same fix for Vista at some point. Thanks
> again for your help, Al
>
> "A L" wrote:
>
> > Okay. I can't delete any of the entries out of currentcontrolset either-
> > they're all protected by Vista's security stuff...
> >
> > Thanks for any help- Andy
> >
> > "Troy McClure" wrote:
> >
> > > ControlSet002? thats a backup. you should be looking in currentcontrolset to
> > > see whats loaded and being used
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > "A L" <AL@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
> > > news:1C776F35-42C2-454C-A252-0EF6AC4F4E61@microsoft.com...
> > > > Hello-
> > > >
> > > > All of a sudden a few days ago, many of my USB devices started showing as
> > > > Unknown Devices in the Device Manager. I've read that this sometimes
> > > > happens
> > > > in WinXP too- but no post that I found about the problem proposed a
> > > > solution
> > > > (for Vista or XP.) If I disable the "Standard Enhanced PC to USB Host
> > > > Controller", the system then locates drivers for all of the devices, but
> > > > runs
> > > > them in USB 1.1 (slow!) mode.
> > > >
> > > > I'm seeing this for flash storage devices (thumb drives, flash card
> > > > readers,
> > > > ipod), logitech quickcam 5000, plantronics USB headset etc. Oddly, my MS
> > > > Intellimouse Explorer 3.0 and APC UPS work fine!
> > > >
> > > > Anyone know what to do?
> > > > I have a ton of USB devices defined in the registry under
> > > > HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet002\Enum\USB\ , but regedit does not
> > > > allow me to remove any of these.
> > > >
> > > > I also unfortunately don't have a System Restore Point to back when my USB
> > > > devices were working.
> > > >
> > > > If anyone has ideas for something to try, please post! Thanks, Al
> > >
> > >

Did you get the one for compatibility issues for a wide range of
applications many of which I've already installed?

--------------------------------------------------------------------


The Windows Vista Application Compatibility Update
Article ID : 929427
Last Review : January 30, 2007
Revision : 2.0

SUMMARY
The Windows Vista Application Compatibility Update is a package of
software updates that address common application compatibility issues
in Windows Vista. When you try to install and run certain legacy games
or applications in Windows Vista, you may experience one or more of the
following symptoms:
• The game or application may not be installed correctly.
• The game or application may cause system instability.
• The primary functions of the game or application may not work
correctly.

This update improves support in Windows Vista for the following
applications:

[ ... long list ... including things I have installed ]


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