USB installation hell

[Chris]

Ok, I've tried absolutely everything to install a USB printer. Now I can't
install any USB device.

When I plug in a USB device, the Found New Hardware dialog comes up, it does
its thing for a minute, and then fails with the error "the data is invalid".
This problem was caused by trying to install an HP 6200 AllInOne printer,
and the HP installation software copied a ton of stuff over. In the course
of doing the installation the audio quit working as well. Nothing comes out
of the speakers now.

I have tried to fix it using these steps:

1. Enable permissions on as many relevant registry keys as I could.
2. Tried everything on this list: http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=310575
3. Bought a new cable, tried a different USB slot.
4. Examined setupapi.log. Didn't see anything useful.
5. Upgraded the system bios

The problem with the audio and the inability to install a simple USB mouse
leads me to believe that it isn't a problem with the printer, although it's
entirely possible that the HP software messed something up.

How do I debug this? There has got to be some way to get a better error
message than "the data is invalid".

The hardware:
Dell Dimension 2400
1 Gb memory
XP SP2

 

[Richard Urban]

It seems that you have done everything except contact HP about the problem
with their printer. You always go to the manufacturer "first".

--


Regards,

Richard Urban
Microsoft MVP Windows Shell/User

Quote from George Ankner:
If you knew as much as you think you know,
You would realize that you don't know what you thought you knew!

 

[Guest]

Usually the trick is,when the "found new hardware" wizard starts,install the
cd
with the software,but do not let the wizard close until youve run the
software
installation from the cd.XP wizard installs drivers of the cd,you need to
install
the software.From here,delete all you can find related to the hardware,after,
plug into another usb connection and retry.

 

[Opinicus]

Ok, I've tried absolutely everything to install a USB printer. Now I can't
install any USB device.

When I plug in a USB device, the Found New Hardware dialog comes up, it
does its thing for a minute, and then fails with the error "the data is
invalid". This problem was caused by trying to install an HP 6200 AllInOne
printer, and the HP installation software copied a ton of stuff over. In
the course of doing the installation the audio quit working as well.
Nothing comes out of the speakers now.

Did you attach the printer before or after you installed the software?

HP's manuals specifically say to install the software FIRST and they also
tell you exactly when to attach the device.

If you attached the printer before installing the HP software you are
largely (but not irrevocably) screwed. As soon as it detected the device,
WinXP tried to install its own drivers. These are wildly incompatible with
HP's. At this point the best thing to do is disconnect the device. Uninstall
any HP drivers you may have installed after attaching the device. Reboot
your computer and roll back to a restore point before you originally
attached the device. If you don't have such a restore point then you are
screwed a little bit more and will have to do a registry search & destroy to
eliminate any references to the device and its drivers.

RTFM.

 

[Chris]

It seems that you have done everything except contact HP about the problem
with their printer. You always go to the manufacturer "first".

I did go to them first. I traded a dozen emails with them. Many of the
things I tried were their suggestions.

You missed one thing in my posting: I can't even install a USB mouse. So
it's no longer just an HP problem.

 

[Chris]

Usually the trick is,when the "found new hardware" wizard starts,install
the
cd
with the software,but do not let the wizard close until youve run the
software
installation from the cd.XP wizard installs drivers of the cd,you need to
install
the software.From here,delete all you can find related to the
hardware,after,
plug into another usb connection and retry.

Thanks for the suggestion. Those were the original HP instructions, and I
followed them.

 

[Chris]

Did you attach the printer before or after you installed the software?

HP's manuals specifically say to install the software FIRST and they also
tell you exactly when to attach the device.

That's correct. I followed their instructions exactly.

If you attached the printer before installing the HP software you are
largely (but not irrevocably) screwed. As soon as it detected the device,
WinXP tried to install its own drivers. These are wildly incompatible with
HP's. At this point the best thing to do is disconnect the device.
Uninstall any HP drivers you may have installed after attaching the
device. Reboot your computer and roll back to a restore point before you
originally attached the device. If you don't have such a restore point
then you are screwed a little bit more and will have to do a registry
search & destroy to eliminate any references to the device and its
drivers.

RTFM.

RTFM is fine advice, unfortunately, though, I jumped through all of HP's
hoops and still had the problem.

I will try to go back to the restore point, though, and see if the problem
with USB devices other than the printer persists.

 

[Guest]

I have a similar error. I've tried to plug my iPod shuffle on every usb port
in my new computer. Win XP sp2 recognizes that the new device and it asks me
to install drivers for it. Afterwards, the system tells me that my iPod can't
be installed because the data is invalid.

I tried to plug my shuffle on my other computer and it recognizes it just
fine. Have no idea how to go about this.