Vista - USB Devices Not Recognized

Vista stopped recognizing my installed USB devices yesterday. System
restore, Last Known Good Config and reinstalling the device drivers have not
corrected the problem. Also did a registry clean and repair.

Tried renaming INFCACHE.1 to INFCACHE.1.bak
Tried the hotfix mentioned in a similar post.
Ran a registry scan and repair.

Devices include memory stick, webcam, printer, wireless KB and mouse. USB
ports have power, and Vista sees new hardware when its is plugged in, but
always sees it as unknown device and cannot find or install drivers.
All devices worked fine 2 days ago.

Vista Home Premium 32 bit
Acer Aspire 5100
AMD Turion 64 bt processor
2 gb RAM
120 GB hard drive
No new updates available.

Acer service is crap, and I'm not finding much help from Microsoft either.
Acer also does not provide an install disk so I don't see how I can do a
clean reinstall of Vista.

I can put another OS on this machine, but was kinda having fun with some of
the Vista bells and whistles.
So, is there a definitive fix for this?

"Typicalgirl" <Typicalgirl@xxxxxx> wrote in message
newsA4254F1-4989-492B-B678-D313747FC3B3@xxxxxx
Try going into Device Manager and uninstalling everything USB. Then reboot
the computer. Do this with only the keyboard and mouse connected.

One by one, add the other USB devices. You may have picked up a bad driver,
possibly from Windows Update.

Also, quit using registry cleaners or any software which claims to fix all
ills..

--
Mike Hall - MVP
http://msmvps.com/blogs/mikehall/default.aspx

I'll try that Mike.
And thanks for the advice on the registry cleaner. Just installed it
recently - don't actually remember why.

I'll let ya know if this works.

TG

"Mike Hall - MVP" wrote:

OK - I uninstalled all the USB stuff and rebooted. No change.
Then I went poking around in the Vista System Information and found
something interesting.
In System Information>system summary>software environment>system drivers I
can see a list of drivers and their status. The drivers for the devices that
Vista is not recognizing are "turned off".

I have a screen shot here:
http://bxf.box49.com/up/main/USB%20snap.jpg

So that seems to be the problem, but what's the solution?
Is there a way I can set the Start Mode to system or auto?
Is there a way I can manually turn them on?

any input appreciated - thanks!

"Mike Hall - MVP" wrote:

HI Typicalgirl:


When Windows Vista does not recognize a USB device when plugged:

1. Disconnect all USB devices that are working with conflicts (they are
shown in the Device Manager).

2. Restart and see that no Windows popup offers to install drivers, and
never can.

3. Go to start > Computer > Windows > inf > INFCACHE.1, which is the file
causing the trouble and we want to delete it. To do so we need to have
maximum authorization as Administrator Privileges.

4. Right click INFCACHE.1 > Properties > Security tab > Edit the permission.
If you are the Administrator give yourself Full Control (all options with
checks), for you need it to delete and move a Windows Operating System file,
and click Ok.

5. Before deleting the INFCACHE.1 file, copy it to any other place, just in
case. Delete the original Windows INFCACHE.1 inside the inf file. Restart.

6. Start connecting your USB devices one by one, giving Windows Vista enough
time to install the drivers and show the Successfully Installed popup display.

7. Look where you saved the copy of the INFCACHE.1 file and delete it.

Efrain Morales



"Typicalgirl" wrote:

Efrain,
Thanks. just tried this with the same (no) results.
Vista just lists every USB device I try to install as an unknown device and
tells me the best driver is already installed for it.

I broke down and bought an OEM version of the OS and will try a clean
install after reformatting the drive. If the problem persists, I'll just
reformat again and put 2003 server on, since that's what runs on my other
computers.

I'm only using Vista because it came on this system, and I sort of suspected
I would eventually have to remove it.

I appreciate your time and help.
Thanks!

"EfraÃ*n Morales" wrote:

Another idea:

In Install/Uninstall Windows Components there is an option "Manage Removable
Storage Devices." Try to check it. I have this problem myself but haven't
had a chance to find out yet if this idea is working.

"Typicalgirl" <Typicalgirl@xxxxxx> wrote in message
news:8D7CB3D4-C6CC-4A76-B814-E4E01C3990EA@xxxxxx

And yet another thought:

Go to your manufacturer's website, find driver updates for CHIPSETS.
download it and install. they are motherboard specific. This is he first
thing their technicians do when you call them and they walk you with this
problem.

I've had this problem for years with XP and now Vista and when I called them
and we downloaded the chipsets which I actually downloaded and installed
myself a month before it did not help at all. Nonetheless I am going to do
it again today or tomorrow. Just FYI.

Post back if anything worked for you. It is helpful to know how other people
resolve their problems.

"Typicalgirl" <Typicalgirl@xxxxxx> wrote in message
news:8D7CB3D4-C6CC-4A76-B814-E4E01C3990EA@xxxxxx