problem with USB "unknown device"

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dlarren

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im on an acer aspire m1201 and using vista and have my piano/keyboard plugged in with the usb and all i get is unknown device it worked for like the first year and now it just stop'd i cant think of any updates i did that would do it but maybe i cant think of it..im so sick of fiddling with the device manager uninstalling and disabling stuff i just miss playing and i would really like some ideas on what to do here
 
if worse comes to worse im just gonna restore my computer to factory default and try that im to stressed out to deal with this anymore
 
what kind of keyboard is it?

There are times where USB devices can be affected by software or other hardware installations. USB can also be tricky when trying to get things to indentify properly. HP printers, for example, come with an "easy to use installation CD." I don't know anyone that has installed one from one of these CDs in recent times and NOT had an issue with their USB printer connection.

The key is when to connect the device to the computer. Most software installations for these devices require you to leave the device disconnected while the installation occurs and it will prompt for you to connect. Did you notice any of these prompts?
 
its a casio wk 500 and there was never any installation i would always plug it in and it would say device ready to use and i would then just use the program that used it and it worked fine then out of the blue it stoped
 
tried connecting it to another computer? better yet, new USB cable. try that. if the machine does not recognize it anymore, then you have to look at possible hardware failures. it's a process of elimination. I would start with the new cable. it is probably the easiest for you to get. unless you have another machine right next to you.
 
on my second cable now and still nothing but i just tried it on my bros computer which is the same as mine and it worked fine so now its just finding with hardware or which program i have that is making it do this? thanks for helping so far but i still need more help.. what should i do now?
 
kick it real hard. :lol:

but seriously....

well, you've proven the keyboard works, and at least one functional cable. good start. now we look at the machine you use normally. is there a port you normally plug it into? it is possible that the port could have malfunctioned. have you tried all USB ports? The drivers are installed in the system (we assume at this point, correct?), so we should at least get a prompt to install new hardware. OR is could get recognized and installed automatically. Point is, there should be something that lets you know you just plugged it in. A noise, a dialog box, something. If not, keep moving.

On the same note, if you get no notification that you just plugged it in, try another usb device in those same ports. USB mice work well. they are automatically installed and work when plugged in without the need to download drivers. A cheap, corded USB mouse is the best test. This will prove that the hardware in the machine works.

check that out and see what happens.
 
well when i plug the piano in it makes a beeping noise telling me that it reads it and it says in the dialog box that the device is ready to use when i check the device manager it says unknown device idk what to do im not going out and buying a mouse and yeah its the same story when i plug it into each port it just says unknown device for them all everything els works except the piano
 
well, if you get noise, and the unknown, then it sees it. now we need the software. let me check and see what I can find. do you have any links that you have recently seen? it may help reduce my search time.
 
find anything that can help? :\ i tried all usb ports and after installation it still says unknown device i guess i should just reset computer to factory default?
 
didnt realize there was a second page to this thread anyway i downloaded the driver and it still says unknown device im not sure what i do when i install it i read the instructions and i did exactly what it says do i need to move the file somwhere its just on my desktop now
 
downloading from the internet does not necessarily install it. You have to click on what you downloaded to run the installation process. (sorry, that's how i interpret your post.)

If you ran the software, you should have seen some installation bars and a prompt to connect the device. Did this happen? What did the system do when you connected it after the software installation?
 
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