USB drives won't recognize anything after Virus removal

  • Thread starter Thread starter Maureen D.
  • Start date Start date
M

Maureen D.

My daughter's Averatec Notebook, which is running XP SP2, got hosed by
viruses and spyware which necessitated us bringing it to a technician
to straighten it out. They said it was completely infested - one of the
worst cases they'd ever seen. After 4 days we got the notebook back and
it runs like a charm now.

Only problem we have now that she can no longer use the external USB
mouse and keyboard. In fact any USB device that we plug in to one of
the 3 ports gives the message "Unrecognized USB Device".

With the mouse, all the drivers are there but the Add New Hardware
wizard won't pick it up, and manually trying to install it by picking
the device from a list doesnt seem to work because the list doesnt show
anything like "human interface device", or "mouse", or "pointing
device" etc.

I am a fairly competent person, having worked in a high tech industry
for the last 6 years and have been the fix-it person in my house for a
while now, but this has got me stumped.

Before I bring it back to the shop to see if they can fix that now,
does anyone have any advice? Could viruses have damaged the USB drives?
They don't seem to be completely dead because it knows that something
has been plugged in, it just can't recognize anything.
 
One or more USB devices may not work after you start your Windows XP-based computer
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/885624/en-us

General USB troubleshooting in Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/310575/en-us

--
Carey Frisch
Microsoft MVP
Windows - Shell/User

Enjoy all the benefits of genuine Microsoft software:
http://www.microsoft.com/genuine/default.mspx

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:

| My daughter's Averatec Notebook, which is running XP SP2, got hosed by
| viruses and spyware which necessitated us bringing it to a technician
| to straighten it out. They said it was completely infested - one of the
| worst cases they'd ever seen. After 4 days we got the notebook back and
| it runs like a charm now.
|
| Only problem we have now that she can no longer use the external USB
| mouse and keyboard. In fact any USB device that we plug in to one of
| the 3 ports gives the message "Unrecognized USB Device".
|
| With the mouse, all the drivers are there but the Add New Hardware
| wizard won't pick it up, and manually trying to install it by picking
| the device from a list doesnt seem to work because the list doesnt show
| anything like "human interface device", or "mouse", or "pointing
| device" etc.
|
| I am a fairly competent person, having worked in a high tech industry
| for the last 6 years and have been the fix-it person in my house for a
| while now, but this has got me stumped.
|
| Before I bring it back to the shop to see if they can fix that now,
| does anyone have any advice? Could viruses have damaged the USB drives?
| They don't seem to be completely dead because it knows that something
| has been plugged in, it just can't recognize anything.
|
 
Sounds like the cleaning went too far and damaged some of the
system code. Based on your description, I wouldn't put a good
deal of faith in the System integrity at this point. You might try a
update of the motherboard Chipset drivers. However, to get a
proper remedy with the shop/technicians I wouldn't undertake
many fixes yourself. They'll use that to exclude themselves from
any kind of resolution. I would take a look at the System and
Application Event logs - they should be error free (Red Icons).
Click Start, Run (Type) EventVwr.Msc [Enter]

There are way too many people who market themselves as PC,
Computer technicians that should find other work. If you ever
take a PC to be worked on and you are not asked if your data
or Personal data is backed up - find someone else.
 
Maureen said:
My daughter's Averatec Notebook, which is running XP SP2, got hosed by
viruses and spyware which necessitated us bringing it to a technician
to straighten it out. They said it was completely infested - one of the
worst cases they'd ever seen. After 4 days we got the notebook back and
it runs like a charm now.

Only problem we have now that she can no longer use the external USB
mouse and keyboard. In fact any USB device that we plug in to one of
the 3 ports gives the message "Unrecognized USB Device".

With the mouse, all the drivers are there but the Add New Hardware
wizard won't pick it up, and manually trying to install it by picking
the device from a list doesnt seem to work because the list doesnt show
anything like "human interface device", or "mouse", or "pointing
device" etc.

I am a fairly competent person, having worked in a high tech industry
for the last 6 years and have been the fix-it person in my house for a
while now, but this has got me stumped.

Before I bring it back to the shop to see if they can fix that now,
does anyone have any advice? Could viruses have damaged the USB drives?
They don't seem to be completely dead because it knows that something
has been plugged in, it just can't recognize anything.
Click to expand...

The shop should fix the problem. OF course, there is nothing
to stop you from getting into Device Manager and manually
deleting the mouse and all of the USB ports. Turn off the
laptop and then turn it back on. This is the "brute force"
method of detecting new hardware. If the computer re-detects
the mouse and the USB ports, they should be functional again.
If not, then the virus eradication might have gone too far
or the infestation was quite extensive. After repairing, by
luck or by the shop, install good anti-virus and anti-adware
applications.
 
Thanks. I tried that and there were several red icons in the System and
Application logs. Of the ones I checked in Application they said:
SetServiceStatus() failed. And the System ones said something about
DHCP and IP addresses which sounds like it is unrelated. There hasnt
been any problem with internet connectivity.

What would be the way to correct the "SetServiceStatus() failed"
message? Would it be best to let the technician look at it?

Appreciate the help.
 
Technician, unfortunately very few actually take the time to check
and resolve Event Log errors before releasing a machine to the
customer.
 
Hi Aaron,

How do I find out if the USB drivers are there?

All of the human interface device system files are there because I did
a check for those and even overwrote the ones currently on there with a
fresh set of files from a working system.

I could try that also for the USB drivers if you let me know which
files they are.
 
Thanks everyone - after a lot of aggravation I just took the laptop
back to the Geeks and they said they'd take care of it. Fingers
crossed...
 
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