Win XP Pro device manager corrupt, hidden or ???

[Pieter_R_Ned]

Dear All

2 days ago I noted that opening Device Manager {Start|CP|P&M|System |
HW\DM}} I only see a blank window.

Since I need DM to diagnose a networking problem: I have consulted
Help&Suppirt, the on-line XP Solutions Center, this newsgroup, not found a
clue

Three possible causes come to my mind:
a. in toggling between XP view and Classic view for Control Panel I have
modified a Folder view setting without being aware of it
b. like a. but inherited through MMC
c. I have lost a permission needed to access DM without realizing what I did

Somehow this seems trivial, but I cannot think of a solution. I have pressed
all the "set to default" buttons I can think of.

Ring a bell, someone? Any suggestions?

Regards, Pieter

 

[Nepatsfan]

Dear All

2 days ago I noted that opening Device Manager {Start|CP|P&M|System |
HW\DM}} I only see a blank window.

Since I need DM to diagnose a networking problem: I have consulted
Help&Suppirt, the on-line XP Solutions Center, this newsgroup, not found a
clue

Three possible causes come to my mind:
a. in toggling between XP view and Classic view for Control Panel I have
modified a Folder view setting without being aware of it
b. like a. but inherited through MMC
c. I have lost a permission needed to access DM without realizing what I did

Somehow this seems trivial, but I cannot think of a solution. I have pressed
all the "set to default" buttons I can think of.

Ring a bell, someone? Any suggestions?

Regards, Pieter

If you haven't done so already, you might want to take a look at this article.

No Items Appear in the Device Manager List When You Open It
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;311504

Good luck

Nepatsfan

 

[mhc]

Dear All

2 days ago I noted that opening Device Manager {Start|CP|P&M|System |
HW\DM}} I only see a blank window.

Since I need DM to diagnose a networking problem: I have consulted
Help&Suppirt, the on-line XP Solutions Center, this newsgroup, not found a
clue

Three possible causes come to my mind:
a. in toggling between XP view and Classic view for Control Panel I have
modified a Folder view setting without being aware of it
b. like a. but inherited through MMC
c. I have lost a permission needed to access DM without realizing what I did

Somehow this seems trivial, but I cannot think of a solution. I have pressed
all the "set to default" buttons I can think of.

Ring a bell, someone? Any suggestions?

Regards, Pieter

Click Start, click Run, type: devmgmt.msc and then click OK.

If Device Management displays properly, something is wrong with your Control
Panel settings. If Device Management doesn't display properly, something is
wrong in the file system (permissions, missing file(s), etc). Good luck!

 

[Pieter_R_Ned]

If you haven't done so already, you might want to take a look at this article.

No Items Appear in the Device Manager List When You Open It
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;311504

Good luck

Nepatsfan

Thanks, had not seen the article! Howver ....
did what the article said; "services.msc" shows that PnP was set to
automatic start-up and was running changing to manuak and back to automatic
brought no relief.

So ... any more suggestions?

Rgds, Pieter

 

[Pieter_R_Ned]

Click Start, click Run, type: devmgmt.msc and then click OK.

If Device Management displays properly, something is wrong with your Control
Panel settings. If Device Management doesn't display properly, something is
wrong in the file system (permissions, missing file(s), etc). Good luck!

Thanks for helping me close off the CP-settings route; running devmgt.msc
gave a blank screen

will try restoring .msc files and see what gives,

Rgds Pieter

 

[Nepatsfan]

Thanks, had not seen the article! Howver ....
did what the article said; "services.msc" shows that PnP was set to
automatic start-up and was running changing to manuak and back to automatic
brought no relief.

So ... any more suggestions?

Rgds, Pieter

Here are a couple of simple procedures you might want to try to see if they
help.

Device Manager Snap-in fails to initialize
http://windowsxp.mvps.org/devmgr.htm

"Action Canceled" error while opening Device Manager
http://windowsxp.mvps.org/dmocx.htm

If you're still having problems, you might want to take a look in Event Viewer
(Start -> Run - > Eventvwr.msc) and see if there are any errors or warnings in
the Application or System branches related to this issue.

Good luck

Nepatsfan

 

[Nepatsfan]

Thanks, had not seen the article! Howver ....
did what the article said; "services.msc" shows that PnP was set to
automatic start-up and was running changing to manuak and back to automatic
brought no relief.

So ... any more suggestions?

Rgds, Pieter

In addition to my previous suggestions, here's a discussion I came across which
you might want to take a look through.

http://www.annoyances.org/exec/forum/winxp/t1051715405

The two suggestions that I think might be useful to pursue are one about running
sfc /scannow from the Run box and another which refers to checking the
permissions on the following registry key.

HKLM\SYSTEM\CURRENTCONTROLSET\ENUM

The System account should have Full Control permissions for this key.

Note: I'd advise being very careful about trying some of the other suggested
solutions in that discussion. Make sure you've created a Restore Point and
backed up the appropriate registry keys before making any drastic changes.

Good luck

Nepatsfan

 

[Pieter_R_Ned]

In addition to my previous suggestions, here's a discussion I came across which
you might want to take a look through.

http://www.annoyances.org/exec/forum/winxp/t1051715405

The two suggestions that I think might be useful to pursue are one about running
sfc /scannow from the Run box and another which refers to checking the
permissions on the following registry key.

HKLM\SYSTEM\CURRENTCONTROLSET\ENUM

The System account should have Full Control permissions for this key.

Note: I'd advise being very careful about trying some of the other suggested
solutions in that discussion. Make sure you've created a Restore Point and
backed up the appropriate registry keys before making any drastic changes.

Good luck

Nepatsfan

Nelatsfan,

followed up on the notion that permissions in registry
HKLM/SYSTEM/CURRENTCONTROLSET/ENUM had been corrupted, tried a few of the
minor steps referred to in the article you quoted ....
ended up on the most drastic path: deleting the whole enum branch, rebooting
and letting the enum branch re-populate itself
result was a nightmare I would not wish on my enemeis; among other things
THe whole set of USB controllers was gone [and my system backup was on an
external USB drive ....)
I ended up recovering the file ntuser.dat on a different computer;
re-imported that and got most of my system back

would not advixe this to anybody but .... I got deivce manager back [and
network location I had been missing too ... and the network adapter install
problem whcih started me off initially has resolved itself

conclusion: the permissions in ENUM have a a lot to do with the disappearing
act of DM ... but a more gentle method has to be found of identifying the
sub-branch of ENUM which is guilty. IF this problem manifests itself right
after installation of new components it seems sensible to start looking there.

leaving me with one problem: I have lost all sound functions ... the device
manager tells me the [on-board] cortroller is working properly and is
enabled, but "has not been started"

more later if I find relevant data

rgds, Pieter

 

[Nepatsfan]

In addition to my previous suggestions, here's a discussion I came across
which
you might want to take a look through.

http://www.annoyances.org/exec/forum/winxp/t1051715405

The two suggestions that I think might be useful to pursue are one about
running
sfc /scannow from the Run box and another which refers to checking the
permissions on the following registry key.

HKLM\SYSTEM\CURRENTCONTROLSET\ENUM

The System account should have Full Control permissions for this key.

Note: I'd advise being very careful about trying some of the other suggested
solutions in that discussion. Make sure you've created a Restore Point and
backed up the appropriate registry keys before making any drastic changes.

Good luck

Nepatsfan

Nelatsfan,

followed up on the notion that permissions in registry
HKLM/SYSTEM/CURRENTCONTROLSET/ENUM had been corrupted, tried a few of the
minor steps referred to in the article you quoted ....
ended up on the most drastic path: deleting the whole enum branch, rebooting
and letting the enum branch re-populate itself
result was a nightmare I would not wish on my enemeis; among other things
THe whole set of USB controllers was gone [and my system backup was on an
external USB drive ....)
I ended up recovering the file ntuser.dat on a different computer;
re-imported that and got most of my system back

would not advixe this to anybody but .... I got deivce manager back [and
network location I had been missing too ... and the network adapter install
problem whcih started me off initially has resolved itself

conclusion: the permissions in ENUM have a a lot to do with the disappearing
act of DM ... but a more gentle method has to be found of identifying the
sub-branch of ENUM which is guilty. IF this problem manifests itself right
after installation of new components it seems sensible to start looking there.

leaving me with one problem: I have lost all sound functions ... the device
manager tells me the [on-board] cortroller is working properly and is
enabled, but "has not been started"

more later if I find relevant data

rgds, Pieter

Sorry to hear you ended up with a mess after trying some of the suggestions from
that web site. Just out of curiosity, did you create a Restore Point before you
made changes to the registry? If you did, was there a problem using System
Restore after you made the changes?

As for your sound issues, download the latest drivers for your audio adapter
from the computer or motherboard's support web site. Next, right click the
problem entry in Device Manager and select Uninstall from the menu. Restart your
computer and direct Windows to the location where you saved the drivers you
downloaded earlier.

Good luck

Nepatsfan

 

[Pieter_R_Ned]

Long time spent on diagnosing; state of plsy:

went back to oldest recovery point (Norton Ghost) and now have a working
system (sound and CD/DVD), but ....
I also have tje blank device manager back (And a blank network connections)

tried most of the suggestions in the long annoyances thread, to no avail. Am
clear about the following:
a. there is a corrupt subkey in the [HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Enum\Root
key
b. this corrupt item does not let itself be deleted or allows its
permissions changed
c. inspecting that branch [open a .reg export file in Notepad; trying reg
query in safe mode w, command prompt] the corrupt item does not show and
refuses to be deleted
d. this item causes the whole Enum key to refuse permissions to be passsed
on to child keys
e. can't make out what caused the corruption [not Apropos]

Any suggestions on howw to get rid of the corruption and hwo to keep it out
afterwards? a frsh WinXP install starts looking positievely attractive!

:

Dear All

2 days ago I noted that opening Device Manager {Start|CP|P&M|System |
HW\DM}} I only see a blank window.

Since I need DM to diagnose a networking problem: I have consulted
Help&Suppirt, the on-line XP Solutions Center, this newsgroup, not found
a
clue

Three possible causes come to my mind:
a. in toggling between XP view and Classic view for Control Panel I have
modified a Folder view setting without being aware of it
b. like a. but inherited through MMC
c. I have lost a permission needed to access DM without realizing what I
did

Somehow this seems trivial, but I cannot think of a solution. I have
pressed
all the "set to default" buttons I can think of.

Ring a bell, someone? Any suggestions?

Regards, Pieter

If you haven't done so already, you might want to take a look at this
article.

No Items Appear in the Device Manager List When You Open It
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;311504

Good luck

Nepatsfan


Thanks, had not seen the article! Howver ....
did what the article said; "services.msc" shows that PnP was set to
automatic start-up and was running changing to manuak and back to automatic
brought no relief.

So ... any more suggestions?

Rgds, Pieter


In addition to my previous suggestions, here's a discussion I came across
which
you might want to take a look through.

http://www.annoyances.org/exec/forum/winxp/t1051715405

The two suggestions that I think might be useful to pursue are one about
running
sfc /scannow from the Run box and another which refers to checking the
permissions on the following registry key.

HKLM\SYSTEM\CURRENTCONTROLSET\ENUM

The System account should have Full Control permissions for this key.

Note: I'd advise being very careful about trying some of the other suggested
solutions in that discussion. Make sure you've created a Restore Point and
backed up the appropriate registry keys before making any drastic changes.

Good luck

Nepatsfan

Nelatsfan,

followed up on the notion that permissions in registry
HKLM/SYSTEM/CURRENTCONTROLSET/ENUM had been corrupted, tried a few of the
minor steps referred to in the article you quoted ....
ended up on the most drastic path: deleting the whole enum branch, rebooting
and letting the enum branch re-populate itself
result was a nightmare I would not wish on my enemeis; among other things
THe whole set of USB controllers was gone [and my system backup was on an
external USB drive ....)
I ended up recovering the file ntuser.dat on a different computer;
re-imported that and got most of my system back

would not advixe this to anybody but .... I got deivce manager back [and
network location I had been missing too ... and the network adapter install
problem whcih started me off initially has resolved itself

conclusion: the permissions in ENUM have a a lot to do with the disappearing
act of DM ... but a more gentle method has to be found of identifying the
sub-branch of ENUM which is guilty. IF this problem manifests itself right
after installation of new components it seems sensible to start looking there.

leaving me with one problem: I have lost all sound functions ... the device
manager tells me the [on-board] cortroller is working properly and is
enabled, but "has not been started"

more later if I find relevant data

rgds, Pieter

Sorry to hear you ended up with a mess after trying some of the suggestions from
that web site. Just out of curiosity, did you create a Restore Point before you
made changes to the registry? If you did, was there a problem using System
Restore after you made the changes?

As for your sound issues, download the latest drivers for your audio adapter
from the computer or motherboard's support web site. Next, right click the
problem entry in Device Manager and select Uninstall from the menu. Restart your
computer and direct Windows to the location where you saved the drivers you
downloaded earlier.

Good luck

Nepatsfan

 

[Pieter_R_Ned]

Solved the problem:
a. isolateda single corrupt registry sub-key
b. removed this in safe mode with command prompt
c. issued cmd /u first, to make possible handling unicode characters in
keyName of corrupt item
d repeated process for CurrentControlSet, ControlSet001, ControlSet003
e. reboot

Thanks for your help and for those who contributed to
http://www.annoyances.org/exec/forum/winxp/1134095035
http://www.annoyances.org/exec/forum/winxp/1135283897

:

Dear All

2 days ago I noted that opening Device Manager {Start|CP|P&M|System |
HW\DM}} I only see a blank window.

Since I need DM to diagnose a networking problem: I have consulted
Help&Suppirt, the on-line XP Solutions Center, this newsgroup, not found
a
clue

Three possible causes come to my mind:
a. in toggling between XP view and Classic view for Control Panel I have
modified a Folder view setting without being aware of it
b. like a. but inherited through MMC
c. I have lost a permission needed to access DM without realizing what I
did

Somehow this seems trivial, but I cannot think of a solution. I have
pressed
all the "set to default" buttons I can think of.

Ring a bell, someone? Any suggestions?

Regards, Pieter

If you haven't done so already, you might want to take a look at this
article.

No Items Appear in the Device Manager List When You Open It
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;311504

Good luck

Nepatsfan


Thanks, had not seen the article! Howver ....
did what the article said; "services.msc" shows that PnP was set to
automatic start-up and was running changing to manuak and back to automatic
brought no relief.

So ... any more suggestions?

Rgds, Pieter


In addition to my previous suggestions, here's a discussion I came across
which
you might want to take a look through.

http://www.annoyances.org/exec/forum/winxp/t1051715405

The two suggestions that I think might be useful to pursue are one about
running
sfc /scannow from the Run box and another which refers to checking the
permissions on the following registry key.

HKLM\SYSTEM\CURRENTCONTROLSET\ENUM

The System account should have Full Control permissions for this key.

Note: I'd advise being very careful about trying some of the other suggested
solutions in that discussion. Make sure you've created a Restore Point and
backed up the appropriate registry keys before making any drastic changes.

Good luck

Nepatsfan

Nelatsfan,

followed up on the notion that permissions in registry
HKLM/SYSTEM/CURRENTCONTROLSET/ENUM had been corrupted, tried a few of the
minor steps referred to in the article you quoted ....
ended up on the most drastic path: deleting the whole enum branch, rebooting
and letting the enum branch re-populate itself
result was a nightmare I would not wish on my enemeis; among other things
THe whole set of USB controllers was gone [and my system backup was on an
external USB drive ....)
I ended up recovering the file ntuser.dat on a different computer;
re-imported that and got most of my system back

would not advixe this to anybody but .... I got deivce manager back [and
network location I had been missing too ... and the network adapter install
problem whcih started me off initially has resolved itself

conclusion: the permissions in ENUM have a a lot to do with the disappearing
act of DM ... but a more gentle method has to be found of identifying the
sub-branch of ENUM which is guilty. IF this problem manifests itself right
after installation of new components it seems sensible to start looking there.

leaving me with one problem: I have lost all sound functions ... the device
manager tells me the [on-board] cortroller is working properly and is
enabled, but "has not been started"

more later if I find relevant data

rgds, Pieter

Sorry to hear you ended up with a mess after trying some of the suggestions from
that web site. Just out of curiosity, did you create a Restore Point before you
made changes to the registry? If you did, was there a problem using System
Restore after you made the changes?

As for your sound issues, download the latest drivers for your audio adapter
from the computer or motherboard's support web site. Next, right click the
problem entry in Device Manager and select Uninstall from the menu. Restart your
computer and direct Windows to the location where you saved the drivers you
downloaded earlier.

Good luck

Nepatsfan