Does anyone know about USB Driver Issues on Windows Vista?

Question

I had installed Windows Vista Ultimate Edition on my HP dv5000 laptop some time ago. When i did, everything was working in order, and I was able to automatically plug and play usb devices and automatically install drivers. However about a week back, I had a virus, and I simply reformatted my OS, and reinstalled Vista. However since ive done that Ive been having problems with USB Devices. Everytime I plug in a device (lets say ext. hardrive) it will automatically search for the driver, but will fail to find it. Then Windows will look for a solution, but it wont find it, hence resulting into a failure. Hence I cannot use my USB device, and now days most devices dont release drivers since windows usually detects it. Is this a common problem? Is there any way to fix this? My Vista is up-to-date upgrade wise, so I know it cannot be that. What do you suggest?

Answer 1

Your problem may not be with Vista, but with the USB ports. Read this:

Problem With USB Port – Can’t Reinstall USB Device – Plug & Play Problem
- With Windows Plug & Play feature, Windows is supposed to recognize any device plugged into a USB port -- the problem is after it recognizes something once, Plug & Play will never again try to install that device. You need to erase all memory of the device (printer etc) from the computer.
- Right-click on My Computer, cl Properties, click Hardware, click Device Manager.
- Click on the plus sign next to “Universal Serial Bus.” Look for the problem device’s name and right-click. Now Remove. Restart and reinstall.

Source: Article by James Coates, Chicago Tribune.
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Personal Notes:
1. I found that if I did not go through the “safely remove” procedure before unplugging a USB device, the computer did not recognize another item. I had to reinsert the first item, “safely remove,” then plug in another item. This must be like shutting down for USBs.
2. Some flashdrives are to be removed at shutdown, and reinserted after startup. This is stated on the literature that accompanied my SONY 1G flashdrive. I do not recall seeing this instruction for my Cruzer 1G, but I suspect it is the same. I found that if I leave it connected, I cannot access files. After removing it and reinserting, files are there. A couple other smaller, older flashdrives do not seem to have this problem.
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Answer 2

Try this:

Windows Logo >> Computer >> System Properties >> Device Manager >> Windows Security Option Comes Up >> Continue >> Device Manager opens.

Go down to Universial Serial Bus (USB) controllers and look there.

Good Luck.

Answer 3

did you look in the device manager,and see if the USB port for the device was there?Also try to uninstall from the device manager than reboot,or after the process you tried,do a power restore,unplug your PC from the back then restart.Otherwise go to the support.microsofrt.com.

Answer 4

Hence you should reinstall Vista again. :D

Look for drivers online for the hardware you are trying to use. I have not experiance something of this sort with Vista, but you mentioned that the first time, it was all working perfectly, then maybe you should reinstall it again.

Your options:

Reinstall Windows again.\

Looks for drivers online for each device.\