XP not finding drivers for new hardware

[Jason Bowen]

Subject line says it all. I did a fresh install of XP Pro on hardware
it has been installed on before and updated it to SP2. Now the
installation of each piece of hardware I've tried has failed. I've
tried to connect a Sidewinder 2 and an iPod via firewire and USB and
both have installed the software but when each is plugged in they are
correctly identified but Windows claims to not find the drivers for
them. Any ideas?

 

[Jim]

Up-dating to SP-2 says it all - if you can remove SP-2 and things will be
back to normal.

Jim

 

[Cari \(MS-MVP\)]

For the Sidewinder, go to the Control Panel, click on Game Controllers and
use the AutoDetect feature.

Ask Apple for the iPod device.

 

[Jason Bowen]

For the Sidewinder, go to the Control Panel, click on Game Controllers and
use the AutoDetect feature.

Ask Apple for the iPod device.

You just read scripts don't you? Been there, done that.

 

[Malke]

Up-dating to SP-2 says it all - if you can remove SP-2 and things will
be back to normal.

Jim

Did you install the drivers for your motherboard?

Malke

 

[Jason Bowen]

For the Sidewinder, go to the Control Panel, click on Game Controllers and
use the AutoDetect feature.

Ask Apple for the iPod device.

Just for yuks though I'll give you the error message,
Your gameport or gameport drivers are not properly configured.
Please consult the device manager.

And I can see the ipod and the sidewinder there with there yellow
question marks. I had installed the sidewinder software as instructed
previously and when it went to detect it it told me that it couldn't
find the drivers, even though I had just watched it say it had.

 

[Malke]

Just for yuks though I'll give you the error message,
Your gameport or gameport drivers are not properly configured.
Please consult the device manager.

And I can see the ipod and the sidewinder there with there yellow
question marks. I had installed the sidewinder software as instructed
previously and when it went to detect it it told me that it couldn't
find the drivers, even though I had just watched it say it had.

There's no point in getting cross with people who are trying to help
you. I understand that you are frustrated and am sympathetic, but we
are all volunteers and we can't see your computer from here. Since you
have done a clean install and attempted to install all hardware drivers
with no success, it is time to do some hardware testing. Yes, the
hardware worked before, but that doesn't mean some component hasn't
failed now. You didn't mention what hardware you have (except for the
peripherals), so perhaps your older motherboard or marginal RAM has
reached the end of its life. Even if the hardware is new, that is no
guarantee it hasn't failed. I'll give you general hardware
troubleshooting steps, but a better course of action may be to take the
machine to a good local professional (not a BestBuy or CompUSA type of
store) for diagnosis and a fix.

1) Open the computer and run it open, cleaning out all dust bunnies and
observing all fans (overheating will cause system freezing). Obviously
you can't do this with a laptop, but you can hear if the fan is running
and feel if the laptop is getting too hot.

2) Test the RAM - I like Memtest86+ from www.memtest.org. Obviously, you
have to get the program from a working machine. You will either
download the precompiled Windows binary to make a bootable floppy or
the .iso to make a bootable cd. If you want to use the latter, you'll
need to have third-party burning software on the machine where you
download the file - XP's built-in burning capability won't do the job.
In either case, boot with the media you made. The test will run
immediately. Let the test run for an extended period of time - unless
errors are seen immediately. If you get any errors, replace the RAM.

3) Test the hard drive with a diagnostic utility from the mftr. Usually
you will download the file and make a bootable floppy with it. Boot
with the media and do a thorough test. If the drive has physical
errors, replace it.

4) The power supply may be going bad or be inadequate for the devices
you have in the system. The adequacy issue doesn't really apply to a
laptop, although of course the power
supply can be faulty.

5) Test the motherboard with something like TuffTest from
www.tufftest.com. Sometimes this is useful, and sometimes it isn't.

Good luck,

Malke

 

[Jason Bowen]

I had to reinstall and then everything worked like a charm. I just find
it unacceptable that the best answer for what is happening is
uninstall/reinstall. It smacks of not really knowing what is happening.

 

[cquirke (MVP Windows shell/user)]

4) The power supply may be going bad or be inadequate for the devices
you have in the system. The adequacy issue doesn't really apply to a
laptop, although of course the power supply can be faulty.

Sometimes it's the power management circuitry in the laptop's mobo
that gets flaky. But more to the point; some USB devices that have
sockets "optional" additional power, may be inadequately powered when
run without them, and present as flaky in this way.

The poster mentions FireWire as well as USB, which is interesting.
I'd want to know about the driver history, i.e. in what order things
were installed - in case it's XP, drivers, SP2 where the drivers
aren't OK with SP2, or something like that.

Also, I'd review the instructions that came with the peripherals, to
see whether they advise the hardware to be plugged in and detected
before the drivers are proffered, or drivers to be installed first.

There's often a collision between the CD's autorun and PnP.

By the (Microsoft) book, hardware is supposed to be connected first,
so that it's discovered by Plug and Play. This then searches for
drivers, finds them, and installs them.

It seems as if hardware vendors usually reject this arrangement.
Instead, they want their driver CD to autorun, which typically runs
the Setup.exe on the CD that then installs the drivers, as well as
related software (PnP would install the drivers only).

Often the CD autoruns when it's inserted in response to the PnP prompt
for drivers. Now you have two duelling installation processes, and
YMMV according to how you resolve this - i.e. which instance you close
and which you allow to proceed.

Many vendors, e.g. HP, advise the software to be installed first,
before the hardware's even plugged in. When the hardware is later
plugged in, the PnP detection is routed towards the drivers that the
installation process has already lined up, and all is well.

A tech may not expect the baby-talk fluff that comes with the hardware
to be worth reading, but this one has learned to RTFM

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Gone to bloggery: http://cquirke.blogspot.com

 

[Jason Bowen]

I very much agree with you there. Reinstall = maintenance failure.

Is that the new buzzword? Well genius, aside from the tried and true
blame it on the victim ploy, it's sad that the best that can be done is
to offer up reinstalling instead of finding a solution. The only
solutions offered up by MVPs were reinstalling. The lack of
understanding at more than a superficial level is well noted.

 

[Jason Bowen]

I very much agree with you there. Reinstall = maintenance failure.

I'm sorry I was beligerent in the previous message.

 

[cquirke (MVP Windows shell/user)]

I had to reinstall and then everything worked like a charm. I just find
it unacceptable that the best answer for what is happening is
uninstall/reinstall. It smacks of not really knowing what is happening.

I very much agree with you there. Reinstall = maintenance failure.

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Gone to bloggery: http://cquirke.blogspot.com

 

[Malke]

I'm sorry I was beligerent in the previous message.

Jason - As I said to you in one of my other replies, I am sympathetic
but you are blaming and criticizing people who are trying to help you.
You have to recognize the limitations of getting tech support via
newsgroup posts. We can't see your computer. We're going on information
you've provided, and maybe you've missed something that would make the
situation obvious to an on-site tech. If I had your computer in the
shop, I might have been able to diagnose it quickly or it might have
taken hours to figure out what was happening.

It can be very difficult to diagnose subtle computer problems hands-on,
let alone with words about a machine never seen. Tech support from
Usenet is really most effective with known issues or issues that lend
themselves to being researched or handled with standard procedures.
With those types of problems, the poster has the advantage of access to
many skilled people who've probably seen the issue before and
immediately know the answer.

That said, I do hope you'll continue to post if you need help - with a
clearer understanding of the limitations of this medium and more
realistic expectations.

Good luck,

Malke

 

[Treeman]

"I did a fresh install of XP Pro on hardware it has been installed on
before and updated it to SP2."
Hmmmm. Sounds like he's saying he has a fresh install & updated to
SP2.

Subject line says it all.
And all his hardware was working before SP2. Wierd!

"Install mobo chipset drivers."
Well o.k. that could be the reason why his ports don't work.

"1) Open the computer and run it open, cleaning out all dust bunnies
and observing all fans (overheating will cause system freezing).
Obviously, you can't do this with a laptop, but you can hear if the fan
is running and feel if the laptop is getting too hot."
I don't think the issue is with his system freezing, I think it's a
device driver problem. I like the "dust bunnies thing," since it's
Easter.

"I had to reinstall and then everything worked like a charm."
Gasp! I hope is isn't using XP SP1 again.

"There's no point in getting cross with people who are trying to help
you."
You're absolutly right! We didn't write the code for SP2, deal with
it!

"I very much agree with you there. Reinstall = maintenance failure."
You guys are really going to make points with that helpful statement.

RTFM
What, there's a manual out for SP2. I guess if you put all the SP2 KB
articles for fixing the problems SP2 caused together in one book, it
would be quite the tome!
Treeman-ND

 

[cquirke (MVP Windows shell/user)]

Is that the new buzzword? Well genius, aside from the tried and true
blame it on the victim ploy, it's sad that the best that can be done is
to offer up reinstalling instead of finding a solution.

I quite agree with you! It's not the "victim" I blame here, it's the
nature of a product that leaves that as the only "solution".

The only solutions offered up by MVPs were reinstalling. The lack
of understanding at more than a superficial level is well noted.

Yup. Unfortunately - especially as set up as duhfault, on NTFS with
AutoChk automatically "fixing" file system errors, etc. - that's too
often the endpoint. Can't see what causes the crashes because the OS
is left to auto-restart on errors and RPC failures, can't see what
files Autochk has "fixed" to death in the past; shrug, reinstall.

Now some might argue that reinstalling the OS can be a valid general
maintenance approach. For this to be acceptable from a collateral
damage perspective, we'd need better tools to retain all data and
settings than what we have now. As it is, even a repair install may
spawn new user accounts as if it were a fresh install, etc.

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Gone to bloggery: http://cquirke.blogspot.com