Arbanak
asked on
USB Problems on Dell Inspiron 700m
I have a Dell Inspiron 700m computer running Windows XP Home SP2. A few weeks ago, I started having trouble with its USB ports. In a nutshell, the computer would not recognize devices that were plugged in to either of its USB ports. Sometimes it would not respond at all when something is plugged in; at other times, the computer said that the device was not recognized. I troubleshot the devices by using them with other computers.
Dell suggested I reinstall the USB drivers, which did not help at all. During the process of troubleshooting, they had me boot from a disc that came with the computer which has some diagnostic programs on it. That program did not detect any errors with the USB ports. Although they were reluctant to do so (due to the diagnostic revealing no problems), they finally agreed to send a technician to replace the motherboard. That immediately solved the problem. That was about two weeks ago.
However, today I once again began having problems. I keep getting a Windows error message saying that a USB device is not recognized, when I have nothing at all plugged in (something that never happened with the first motherboard). If I click on the error bubble, the dialog box that comes up shows my two ports, and says that one of the ports is empty and the other one has an unknown device attached. I also get the same error when I plug something in ("USB device not recognized"). I have tried plugging in multiple devices that work fine in other computers with the same result.
I just got through running the complete diagnostics from that Dell disc I mentioned earlier. The only error had to do with a timeout waiting for the audio controller to generate an interrupt.
When I first contacted Dell about this problem, they told me to reinstall my OS. I know how to do that, but it is a major pain. Therefore, I would very much like to solve the problem without resorting to that. Any help would be much appreciated.
Dell suggested I reinstall the USB drivers, which did not help at all. During the process of troubleshooting, they had me boot from a disc that came with the computer which has some diagnostic programs on it. That program did not detect any errors with the USB ports. Although they were reluctant to do so (due to the diagnostic revealing no problems), they finally agreed to send a technician to replace the motherboard. That immediately solved the problem. That was about two weeks ago.
However, today I once again began having problems. I keep getting a Windows error message saying that a USB device is not recognized, when I have nothing at all plugged in (something that never happened with the first motherboard). If I click on the error bubble, the dialog box that comes up shows my two ports, and says that one of the ports is empty and the other one has an unknown device attached. I also get the same error when I plug something in ("USB device not recognized"). I have tried plugging in multiple devices that work fine in other computers with the same result.
I just got through running the complete diagnostics from that Dell disc I mentioned earlier. The only error had to do with a timeout waiting for the audio controller to generate an interrupt.
When I first contacted Dell about this problem, they told me to reinstall my OS. I know how to do that, but it is a major pain. Therefore, I would very much like to solve the problem without resorting to that. Any help would be much appreciated.
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go to start < run < type in sfc /scannow and hit ok
this link explains it, http://www.updatexp.com/scannow-sfc.html
Have an xp cd handy in case it asks for one.
this link explains it, http://www.updatexp.com/scannow-sfc.html
Have an xp cd handy in case it asks for one.
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ASKER
Thanks for suggesting the scannow, tim_qui. I just finished it and restarted my computer, and saw that it did not solve my problem.
That PC Card USB adapter is an interesting idea, garycase. Do you know if it relies on Windows XP built-in USB drivers or its own? If it relies on its own drivers, then it probably would not be a very good way to troubleshoot. If it relies on Windows' drivers, then it might be worth ordering in order to troubleshoot before resorting to a clean OS install.
I am going to back up my computer when I go to bed tonight (using Acronis TrueImage to back up onto my desktop's hard drive over the network). Then I will try a repair install tomorrow. I will let you know how that goes.
Thank you both for your suggestions.
That PC Card USB adapter is an interesting idea, garycase. Do you know if it relies on Windows XP built-in USB drivers or its own? If it relies on its own drivers, then it probably would not be a very good way to troubleshoot. If it relies on Windows' drivers, then it might be worth ordering in order to troubleshoot before resorting to a clean OS install.
I am going to back up my computer when I go to bed tonight (using Acronis TrueImage to back up onto my desktop's hard drive over the network). Then I will try a repair install tomorrow. I will let you know how that goes.
Thank you both for your suggestions.
Arbanak,
The sfc /scannow was a "safe" shot it in the dark. I hope the repair install works. Let me know.
The sfc /scannow was a "safe" shot it in the dark. I hope the repair install works. Let me know.
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ASKER
My USB ports are working right now, and I know I did not do anything to fix things. That seems to indicate that it is most likely a hardware issue rather than an OS/driver issue, right?
I just ordered the PC Card USB adapter that garycase recommended. I will report back after I have received it whether it works when my built-in ports do not.
I just ordered the PC Card USB adapter that garycase recommended. I will report back after I have received it whether it works when my built-in ports do not.
could be a bad contact in the port?
ASKER
nobus, the same behavior results when I plug something in to either port, so I doubt it is a contact issue, as that would make one port behave differently to the other...no?
ASKER
ok...this is weird. Right after I posted my last comment, I once again checked my two ports. Now, the bottom one is working, but the top one is reporting unknown device. This was not happening last night...both were reporting unknown device.
For those who are more expert than I, is it really conceivable that drivers would cause such erratic behavior?
For those who are more expert than I, is it really conceivable that drivers would cause such erratic behavior?
I agree that's very unlikely -- especially since the troublesome devices work perfectly in other computers. It will be interesting to see if the add-in card works perfectly (I suspect it will).
Crossed posts -- so I'll respond to your 9:49 post: No, it's not likely this is caused by drivers. It's more likely that you're having a power issue on the USB ports. This is more common on laptops than desktops. The add-in card will likely resolve this.
you can have a dying device of course.... sometmes good, sometimes bad.
I am experiencing very similar problems. I also have a Dell 700m, with XP Pro SP2.
Here is the history:
1) I bought a Samsung mp3 player at Radio Shack (YP-F1 XB), thinking I would save $ over an iPod (plus this had a radio)
2) Excited, I brought it home, unwrapped, and plugged it into one of my USB ports
3) The mp3 player was initially detected as a Mass Storage Device, and XP ran its default window which prompts the user how you'd like to interact with the new USB Mass Storage Device.
4) Later, while the mp3 player was still plugged, I popped in the Samsung CD which installs the Music Management software and the USB driver.
5) That's when things started to go haywire.
6) The mp3 player, after having installed the driver for it, suddenly was undetectable. I kept receiving "USB Device Not Recognized" popup windows from the bottom right toolbar.
7) This operation apparently screwed up both my USB ports somehow, because when I tried to plug in my printer, external hard drive, and blackberry, they were all "USB Device Not Recognized". On both ports.
8) That's when I called Dell Support.
---DELL DIAGNOSES MISADVENTURES BEGIN
9) Dell Support Round 1 - Support call had me verify that the 4 separate devices I was trying to connect weren't faulty. Fine. I verified that the printer, blackberry, and external drive all worked since I plugged them into another computer I have. Then, he had me check to see if there were any "yellow question marks" when viewing any of the items under "Universal Serial Bus Controllers" of the Device Manager. There were none. In fact, whenever I connected a device, a new item went underneath it "Unknown Device", which, when you clicked on its Properties, showed that "No drivers are installed for this device". So the guy had me pull our my Dell utilities CDs and find the one to reinstall USB drivers - a section titled something like Notebook Utilities on the CD. So I did, and as I needed to restart, and I was on support chat, I lost my support guy.
10) Dell Support Round 2 - So, after restarting, that didn't work. I went on Dell chat support again, and after waiting 20 minutes, finally got someone. This time, after explaining my situation, they wanted me to perform a "System Restore" (Start -> All Programs -> Accessories -> System Tools). Fine. He explained that it would restore the entire system to a previous state in the past. Okay, that made good sense. So I went in there and specified to have my system restored to a few hours back, just before I installed the mp3 player. Restart needed, lost rep again.
11) Dell Support Round 3 - After restarting, that didn't work. I was really starting to get pissed now. So I logged unto Dell chat support again, and when I got someone (after 40 mins), I explained my current situation, and they stepped thru the same scripted recommendations, which I told him I already performed. He finally gave me an actual Dell Support number to call, 1-866-497-2661. His final recommendation, and he said that this would 100% work, was to do a System Restore. I told him I already tried that, and ended that session.
12) Dell Support Round 4 - 2am in the morning. I called the Dell support people using the hard-to-find number I was given. Was put on hold, patched thru to one person, who patched me unto another person in Canada. This person was actually pretty helpful. We tried a lot of different things:
- We went into BIOS, and she had me have CAPS, Num, and Scroll Locks on. Then she gave me this wierd key combo to strike - Alt+E, Alt+F, and Alt+B. I heard beeps every time I did one set. This, she explained, ran activities in the background which reset some utilities to factory settings.
- We went into each of the "USB Root Hub" USB items via Device Manager, and went Properties -> Power Management tab -> uncheck the "Allow computer to turn of device to save power".
- We manually uninstalled all USB items from the Device Manager, then reinstalled with the Dell Utility CD I had.
- We did a System Restore to a previous point 2 WEEKS prior.
After all that, at around 4am, she asked me "Do you have anything important on your laptop?" "Oh, crap...." I knew what that meant.
She suggested a full OS reinstall - clean install.
---DELL DIAGNOSES MISADVENTURES END
13) After a few hours backing up my files unto several CDs (Arbanak - wish I knew about that network utility), I was ready. But I decided to sleep first.
14) Next day, while at work, I began the OS clean reinstall. XP Pro SP2 (I have the Dell reinstallation CD).
15) I found some pretty good instructions on the Dell support site to step me through this. Not to hard. Booted from disc, deleted existing partition, created new partition to install OS on.
16) After the install of XP, I didn't have any internet connections, so I couldn't update XP. I decided instead to reinstall the Dell drivers for my laptop. So I installed the drivers off my CD one at a time (though I did not know which specifically I needed to install, and in what sequence...there was a recommended path of Utilities & Drivers, Chipset, Video, Audio, Network drivers. Then I installed the other application drivers (for printer, etc)
17) Anyway, after everything I did, I was able to get the following results:
TOP usb port - mouse OK, external drive NOT RECOGNIZED, printer NOT RECOGNIZED, mp3 player NOT RECOGNIZED
BOTTOM usb port - mouse OK, external drive OK, printer OK, mp3 player NOT RECOGNIZED
See? Basically errant, inconsistent behavior.
I'm hoping this forum/thread can shed some light here....
MY CURRENT STATUS:
--------------------------
After the above, I actually tried an XP Repair Install, which also didn't work. I'm going to try a clean OS install again. I may have made a mistake with installing the Dell drivers, sequence of it? Not sure...
QUESTIONS FOR ALL:
-------------------------
1) After a clean OS reinstall, does anyone know which drivers exactly are needed for install on a Dell 700m, and in what sequence?
2) Will purchasing the USB Hub Card do the trick?
3) Do you know what name the port on top is (Port 0?) versus the port on the bottom? Just trying to map exactly which of the 4 "Intel USB..." items and 4 "USB Root" items map to the port on top, which map to the port on the bottom.
4) When I get a "USB Device Not Recognized" and click on the balloon, how come under the USB Root, there are 5 ports listed? That's just doesnt make sense.
Nothing is ever easy.
Here is the history:
1) I bought a Samsung mp3 player at Radio Shack (YP-F1 XB), thinking I would save $ over an iPod (plus this had a radio)
2) Excited, I brought it home, unwrapped, and plugged it into one of my USB ports
3) The mp3 player was initially detected as a Mass Storage Device, and XP ran its default window which prompts the user how you'd like to interact with the new USB Mass Storage Device.
4) Later, while the mp3 player was still plugged, I popped in the Samsung CD which installs the Music Management software and the USB driver.
5) That's when things started to go haywire.
6) The mp3 player, after having installed the driver for it, suddenly was undetectable. I kept receiving "USB Device Not Recognized" popup windows from the bottom right toolbar.
7) This operation apparently screwed up both my USB ports somehow, because when I tried to plug in my printer, external hard drive, and blackberry, they were all "USB Device Not Recognized". On both ports.
8) That's when I called Dell Support.
---DELL DIAGNOSES MISADVENTURES BEGIN
9) Dell Support Round 1 - Support call had me verify that the 4 separate devices I was trying to connect weren't faulty. Fine. I verified that the printer, blackberry, and external drive all worked since I plugged them into another computer I have. Then, he had me check to see if there were any "yellow question marks" when viewing any of the items under "Universal Serial Bus Controllers" of the Device Manager. There were none. In fact, whenever I connected a device, a new item went underneath it "Unknown Device", which, when you clicked on its Properties, showed that "No drivers are installed for this device". So the guy had me pull our my Dell utilities CDs and find the one to reinstall USB drivers - a section titled something like Notebook Utilities on the CD. So I did, and as I needed to restart, and I was on support chat, I lost my support guy.
10) Dell Support Round 2 - So, after restarting, that didn't work. I went on Dell chat support again, and after waiting 20 minutes, finally got someone. This time, after explaining my situation, they wanted me to perform a "System Restore" (Start -> All Programs -> Accessories -> System Tools). Fine. He explained that it would restore the entire system to a previous state in the past. Okay, that made good sense. So I went in there and specified to have my system restored to a few hours back, just before I installed the mp3 player. Restart needed, lost rep again.
11) Dell Support Round 3 - After restarting, that didn't work. I was really starting to get pissed now. So I logged unto Dell chat support again, and when I got someone (after 40 mins), I explained my current situation, and they stepped thru the same scripted recommendations, which I told him I already performed. He finally gave me an actual Dell Support number to call, 1-866-497-2661. His final recommendation, and he said that this would 100% work, was to do a System Restore. I told him I already tried that, and ended that session.
12) Dell Support Round 4 - 2am in the morning. I called the Dell support people using the hard-to-find number I was given. Was put on hold, patched thru to one person, who patched me unto another person in Canada. This person was actually pretty helpful. We tried a lot of different things:
- We went into BIOS, and she had me have CAPS, Num, and Scroll Locks on. Then she gave me this wierd key combo to strike - Alt+E, Alt+F, and Alt+B. I heard beeps every time I did one set. This, she explained, ran activities in the background which reset some utilities to factory settings.
- We went into each of the "USB Root Hub" USB items via Device Manager, and went Properties -> Power Management tab -> uncheck the "Allow computer to turn of device to save power".
- We manually uninstalled all USB items from the Device Manager, then reinstalled with the Dell Utility CD I had.
- We did a System Restore to a previous point 2 WEEKS prior.
After all that, at around 4am, she asked me "Do you have anything important on your laptop?" "Oh, crap...." I knew what that meant.
She suggested a full OS reinstall - clean install.
---DELL DIAGNOSES MISADVENTURES END
13) After a few hours backing up my files unto several CDs (Arbanak - wish I knew about that network utility), I was ready. But I decided to sleep first.
14) Next day, while at work, I began the OS clean reinstall. XP Pro SP2 (I have the Dell reinstallation CD).
15) I found some pretty good instructions on the Dell support site to step me through this. Not to hard. Booted from disc, deleted existing partition, created new partition to install OS on.
16) After the install of XP, I didn't have any internet connections, so I couldn't update XP. I decided instead to reinstall the Dell drivers for my laptop. So I installed the drivers off my CD one at a time (though I did not know which specifically I needed to install, and in what sequence...there was a recommended path of Utilities & Drivers, Chipset, Video, Audio, Network drivers. Then I installed the other application drivers (for printer, etc)
17) Anyway, after everything I did, I was able to get the following results:
TOP usb port - mouse OK, external drive NOT RECOGNIZED, printer NOT RECOGNIZED, mp3 player NOT RECOGNIZED
BOTTOM usb port - mouse OK, external drive OK, printer OK, mp3 player NOT RECOGNIZED
See? Basically errant, inconsistent behavior.
I'm hoping this forum/thread can shed some light here....
MY CURRENT STATUS:
--------------------------
After the above, I actually tried an XP Repair Install, which also didn't work. I'm going to try a clean OS install again. I may have made a mistake with installing the Dell drivers, sequence of it? Not sure...
QUESTIONS FOR ALL:
-------------------------
1) After a clean OS reinstall, does anyone know which drivers exactly are needed for install on a Dell 700m, and in what sequence?
2) Will purchasing the USB Hub Card do the trick?
3) Do you know what name the port on top is (Port 0?) versus the port on the bottom? Just trying to map exactly which of the 4 "Intel USB..." items and 4 "USB Root" items map to the port on top, which map to the port on the bottom.
4) When I get a "USB Device Not Recognized" and click on the balloon, how come under the USB Root, there are 5 ports listed? That's just doesnt make sense.
Nothing is ever easy.
ronaldopn -- to avoid having two different threads mixed together (yes, it's the same problem, but you've both tried different things) you should open another question on this. Include the detail you posted above -- it will save you having to listen to a lot of suggestions that you've already tried (although you'll probably still get a few from folks who don't take the time to read the whole question).
Thanks, garycase - reposted my saga here https://www.experts-exchange.com/questions/21655863/USB-Device-Not-Recognized-Errors-Errant-USB-Port-Behavior-on-Dell-700m-XP-Pro-SP2.html
ASKER