USB Ports Not Working - Windows Vista

[SteveB]

Hi
Have a problem with all of the USB ports on my Dell Laptop. It has been
fine and the USB ports were all working. I have gone to use them and have
tried to attach a memory stick, digital camera, and other devices and nothing
is being recognised. Does anyone have any ideas what I have done?

The devices work on other computers.
I dont really want to have to reinstall vista again as I will lose everything.

Thanks
Steve

 

[Mark L. Ferguson]

One good try at a fix is to remove the Root Hub drivers and refind them.

Go to Start/Run, and type DEVMGMT.MSC , highlight the USB Root Hub devices,
Action menu, "Uninstall", (do Not put a check in 'delete driver") then
Action menu,"scan for hardware changes", to find the device drivers again
automatically.

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Mark L. Ferguson
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[SteveB]

Hi
Thnaks for the reply.
I have tried that and it still does not work.

After the reinstall I plug in the devices and it says found new hardware and
tries to find the drivers. I have never had to use a driver for a usb memory
stick. It tries to find some drivers and then comes back and says no drivers
are found. This is really weird. I have been using the devices without any
problems, very strange.

Any other ideas

 

[Mark L. Ferguson]

Your error reminds me of the post by someone lately complaining of overuse
of the plugnplay discovery feature. He claimed the system got 'too full' and
needed to be reset in the registry.

This command will open the 'safely remove hardware' feature
RunDll32.exe shell32.dll,Control_RunDLL hotplug.dll

If you are hung on some installed plugNplay device, this may remove it for
you.
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[SteveB]

Mark

Thanks I will try that. I have also just read that someone suggest this
following course of action? Do you recommend it?

Method used:
1. Locate the file INFCACHE.1 in C:\Windows\inf

2. Right click on the INFCACHE.1 file, select Properties >Security > Edit,
and give your account full control.

3. Delete INFCACHE.1 (Or just to be safe, rename it to INFCACHE.1.BAK or
temporarily move to your desktop but you shouldn't need to, windows doesn't
need that file to run, and if it needs to it recreates it).

4. REBOOT

 

[SteveB]

Sorry to be stupid, but how do I run these commands??

Steve

 

[Mark L. Ferguson]

Not seen that one, but I think it's a good try. Windows File Protection is
there to replace system files, so there's no real worry.

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[Mark L. Ferguson]

Click the start orb, and type CMD . Hit enter to open a prompt.

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