For the last few days, the USB ports on my Windows 7 Pro laptop have
refused to recognize any of the devices (other than the USB fan) newly
plugged into them.

More precisely, each time I turn on the computer, I can plug in one
device and have it recognized. If I remove it and try plugging it in
again to either the same port or another one, it’s not recognized. If I
leave it plugged in and try plugging another device into another port,
the other device is not recognized. If I leave a recognized device
plugged in, it will continue to work properly.

I’ve tried Googling this problem but haven’t found anything that matches
it. I’d be grateful for help.

--
Jo-Anne

On 2022-02-05 11:45 a.m., KenW wrote:
> On Sat, 05 Feb 2022 11:06:33 -0600, Jo-Anne <Jo-Anne@nowhere.com>
> wrote:
>
>> For the last few days, the USB ports on my Windows 7 Pro laptop have
>> refused to recognize any of the devices (other than the USB fan) newly
>> plugged into them.
>>
>> More precisely, each time I turn on the computer, I can plug in one
>> device and have it recognized. If I remove it and try plugging it in
>> again to either the same port or another one, it’s not recognized. If I
>> leave it plugged in and try plugging another device into another port,
>> the other device is not recognized. If I leave a recognized device
>> plugged in, it will continue to work properly.
>>
>> I’ve tried Googling this problem but haven’t found anything that matches
>> it. I’d be grateful for help.
>
> NirSoft has a program USBview.
> I have it on win11 and I probably used it on win 7. It shows what each
> usb port had connected the last time used and allows to uninstall what
> was last used, which may remove any confusion the port has. Not sure
> if that description is correct, but helped when I had a problem.
>
>
> KenW
>

I would think this may be a driver problem if not a hardware failure.

I would open device manager and uninstall ALL USB ports and controllers.
Then completely shut down the laptop, Not sleep or hibernate but a true
shutdown.

Then do a cold boot and Windows will enumerate the USB ports and set
them back to normal if there are no hardware problems.

Rene

On 2/5/2022 11:21 AM, Rene Lamontagne wrote:
> On 2022-02-05 11:45 a.m., KenW wrote:
>> On Sat, 05 Feb 2022 11:06:33 -0600, Jo-Anne <Jo-Anne@nowhere.com>
>> wrote:
>>
>>> For the last few days, the USB ports on my Windows 7 Pro laptop have
>>> refused to recognize any of the devices (other than the USB fan) newly
>>> plugged into them.
>>>
>>> More precisely, each time I turn on the computer, I can plug in one
>>> device and have it recognized. If I remove it and try plugging it in
>>> again to either the same port or another one, it’s not recognized. If I
>>> leave it plugged in and try plugging another device into another port,
>>> the other device is not recognized. If I leave a recognized device
>>> plugged in, it will continue to work properly.
>>>
>>> I’ve tried Googling this problem but haven’t found anything that matches
>>> it. I’d be grateful for help.
>>
>> NirSoft has a program USBview.
>> I have it on win11 and I probably used it on win 7. It shows what each
>> usb port had connected the last time used and allows to uninstall what
>> was last used, which may remove any confusion the port has. Not sure
>> if that description is correct, but helped when I had a problem.
>>
>>
>> KenW
>>
>
> I would think this may be a driver problem if not a hardware failure.
>
> I would open device manager and uninstall ALL USB ports and controllers.
> Then completely shut down the laptop, Not sleep or hibernate but a true
> shutdown.
>
> Then do a cold boot and Windows will enumerate the USB ports and set
> them back to normal if there are no hardware problems.
Rene, It's my belief that Win and any other OS that supports S3 and/or
hibernate, completely (re) enumeration; in particular of ports such as
USB, HDMI, etc. Even if this is true as I believe, your suggestion
should be tried. If it works, however, it surely points to either a
software (driver, device property, etc.) problem or something losing or
misinterpreting hardware state.
--
Jeff Barnett

On 2/5/2022 12:06 PM, Jo-Anne wrote:
> For the last few days, the USB ports on my Windows 7 Pro laptop have refused to recognize any of the devices (other than the USB fan) newly plugged into them.
>
> More precisely, each time I turn on the computer, I can plug in one device and have it recognized. If I remove it and try plugging it in again to either the same port or another one, it’s not recognized. If I leave it plugged in and try plugging another device into another port, the other device is not recognized. If I leave a recognized device plugged in, it will continue to work properly.
>
> I’ve tried Googling this problem but haven’t found anything that matches it. I’d be grateful for help.
>

You could get yourself a LiveDVD of LinuxMint and test
before and after plugging in test USB items.

https://linuxmint.com/download_all.php

https://linuxmint.com/edition.php?id=292 # 20.3 Una Cinnamon (for brand new hardware discovery)

https://linuxmint.com/edition.php?id=261 # 19.1 Tessa Cinnamon (QT4 ? Older Python versions ?)

Sometimes, if the package you want to use is only available
as source (something I worked on yesterday), that's when the
older release comes in handy. 20.3 Una only had QT5 support
when I was building. There was a very nice utility I was
testing, which was hobbled with QT4.

*******

Once the DVD boots, you click the black Command Prompt like item
you can see on their task bar. It is Terminal. Some distros are
obnoxious and they try to hide the Terminal. This is naughty,
when a new user has work to do.

lsusb # Lists USB devices, some of the names are almost understand-able

Looks like this (tested with 19.1 on the AMD machine):

[Picture] If frame is blank, right-click and select "Reload"

https://i.postimg.cc/4dD2P1R6/lsusb.gif

As you plug and unplug stuff, you can dump the
USB list again, and see if an excess number of
items have gone missing.

Paul

Paul <nospam@needed.invalid> wrote:
> On 2/5/2022 12:06 PM, Jo-Anne wrote:
> > For the last few days, the USB ports on my Windows 7 Pro laptop have refused to recognize any of the devices (other than the USB fan) newly plugged into them.
> >
> > More precisely, each time I turn on the computer, I can plug in one device and have it recognized. If I remove it and try plugging it in again to either the same port or another one, it???s not recognized. If I leave it plugged in and try plugging another device into another port, the other device is not recognized. If I leave a recognized device plugged in, it will continue to work properly.
> >
> > I???ve tried Googling this problem but haven???t found anything that matches it. I???d be grateful for help.
> >

> You could get yourself a LiveDVD of LinuxMint and test
> before and after plugging in test USB items.

> https://linuxmint.com/download_all.php

http://www.knopper.net/knoppix/ would work too. I had to do this for a
client who was still using Windows XP Pro SP3. :O

--
Beijing's Olympics are back again! ^-^ (L/C)NY (h2o tiger) & Black History Mo. Dang tiredness, sickness, bodies, works, times, colony, nest, tech, life, issues, etc. When will this groundhog day end? :(
Note: A fixed width font (Courier, Monospace, etc.) is required to see this signature correctly.
/\___/\ Ant(Dude) @ http://aqfl.net & http://antfarm.home.dhs.org.
/ /\ /\ \ Please nuke ANT if replying by e-mail.
| |o o| |
\ _ /
( )

On 2/5/2022 11:06 AM, Jo-Anne wrote:
> For the last few days, the USB ports on my Windows 7 Pro laptop have
> refused to recognize any of the devices (other than the USB fan) newly
> plugged into them.
>
> More precisely, each time I turn on the computer, I can plug in one
> device and have it recognized. If I remove it and try plugging it in
> again to either the same port or another one, it’s not recognized. If I
> leave it plugged in and try plugging another device into another port,
> the other device is not recognized. If I leave a recognized device
> plugged in, it will continue to work properly.
>
> I’ve tried Googling this problem but haven’t found anything that matches
> it. I’d be grateful for help.
>

Thank you to everyone for your help! Before I start trying the
suggestions, I wondered if it would be worthwhile to do a system restore
to before this started happening. I checked my restore points, and it
appears that I have two from before. Does it seem possible that this
might work? And could I cause myself any more problems by trying it?

--
Jo-Anne

On 2022-02-07 3:27 p.m., Jo-Anne wrote:
> On 2/5/2022 11:06 AM, Jo-Anne wrote:
>> For the last few days, the USB ports on my Windows 7 Pro laptop have
>> refused to recognize any of the devices (other than the USB fan) newly
>> plugged into them.
>>
>> More precisely, each time I turn on the computer, I can plug in one
>> device and have it recognized. If I remove it and try plugging it in
>> again to either the same port or another one, it’s not recognized. If I
>> leave it plugged in and try plugging another device into another port,
>> the other device is not recognized. If I leave a recognized device
>> plugged in, it will continue to work properly.
>>
>> I’ve tried Googling this problem but haven’t found anything that matches
>> it. I’d be grateful for help.
>>
>
> Thank you to everyone for your help! Before I start trying the
> suggestions, I wondered if it would be worthwhile to do a system restore
> to before this started happening. I checked my restore points, and it
> appears that I have two from before. Does it seem possible that this
> might work? And could I cause myself any more problems by trying it?
>

It might be worth a shot, possibly the restore point might be viable if
it is a driver problem.
Personalty I have never had much luck with restore points so I rely on
Macrium Reflect daily image backups.

Rene

On 2/7/2022 4:27 PM, Jo-Anne wrote:
> On 2/5/2022 11:06 AM, Jo-Anne wrote:
>> For the last few days, the USB ports on my Windows 7 Pro laptop have
>> refused to recognize any of the devices (other than the USB fan) newly
>> plugged into them.
>>
>> More precisely, each time I turn on the computer, I can plug in one
>> device and have it recognized. If I remove it and try plugging it in
>> again to either the same port or another one, it’s not recognized. If I
>> leave it plugged in and try plugging another device into another port,
>> the other device is not recognized. If I leave a recognized device
>> plugged in, it will continue to work properly.
>>
>> I’ve tried Googling this problem but haven’t found anything that matches
>> it. I’d be grateful for help.
>>
>
> Thank you to everyone for your help! Before I start trying the suggestions, I wondered if it would be worthwhile to do a system restore to before this started happening. I checked my restore points, and it appears that I have two from before. Does it seem possible that this might work? And could I cause myself any more problems by trying it?
>

Have you made a backup yet ?

You should image the entire set of disk partitions,
so if something happens, you can restore to a known
point in time.

I don't think anything bad will happen if you use SR.
Some of the OSes, when you use SR, it warns you about
bad things it thinks might happen. Unlike older OSes
where there was no warning.

But, you should get into the habit of being prepared.

The application of SRs is reversible. The only time it is
NOT reversible, is if you apply an SR timetravel while
in Safe Mode. It's there, you can't go back. But when
done from the regular running OS, they're reversible
and you can set the SR to the one that the machine just made.

You can also make an SR manually. There's a button for that.

https://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/697-system-restore-point-create.html

Paul

On 2/7/2022 4:01 PM, Paul wrote:
> On 2/7/2022 4:27 PM, Jo-Anne wrote:
>> On 2/5/2022 11:06 AM, Jo-Anne wrote:
>>> For the last few days, the USB ports on my Windows 7 Pro laptop have
>>> refused to recognize any of the devices (other than the USB fan) newly
>>> plugged into them.
>>>
>>> More precisely, each time I turn on the computer, I can plug in one
>>> device and have it recognized. If I remove it and try plugging it in
>>> again to either the same port or another one, it’s not recognized. If I
>>> leave it plugged in and try plugging another device into another port,
>>> the other device is not recognized. If I leave a recognized device
>>> plugged in, it will continue to work properly.
>>>
>>> I’ve tried Googling this problem but haven’t found anything that matches
>>> it. I’d be grateful for help.
>>>
>>
>> Thank you to everyone for your help! Before I start trying the
>> suggestions, I wondered if it would be worthwhile to do a system
>> restore to before this started happening. I checked my restore points,
>> and it appears that I have two from before. Does it seem possible that
>> this might work? And could I cause myself any more problems by trying it?
>>
>
> Have you made a backup yet ?
>
> You should image the entire set of disk partitions,
> so if something happens, you can restore to a known
> point in time.
>
> I don't think anything bad will happen if you use SR.
> Some of the OSes, when you use SR, it warns you about
> bad things it thinks might happen. Unlike older OSes
> where there was no warning.
>
> But, you should get into the habit of being prepared.
>
> The application of SRs is reversible. The only time it is
> NOT reversible, is if you apply an SR timetravel while
> in Safe Mode. It's there, you can't go back. But when
> done from the regular running OS, they're reversible
> and you can set the SR to the one that the machine just made.
>
> You can also make an SR manually. There's a button for that.
>
> https://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/697-system-restore-point-create.html
>
> Paul
>

Thank you, Rene and Paul! I'll try SR later today (when I get up in the
morning). I've been doing daily full backups with Macrium, so I do have
those to fall back on if necessary. Fingers crossed...

--
Jo-Anne

On 2/5/2022 11:06 AM, Jo-Anne wrote:
> For the last few days, the USB ports on my Windows 7 Pro laptop have
> refused to recognize any of the devices (other than the USB fan) newly
> plugged into them.
>
> More precisely, each time I turn on the computer, I can plug in one
> device and have it recognized. If I remove it and try plugging it in
> again to either the same port or another one, it’s not recognized. If I
> leave it plugged in and try plugging another device into another port,
> the other device is not recognized. If I leave a recognized device
> plugged in, it will continue to work properly.
>
> I’ve tried Googling this problem but haven’t found anything that matches
> it. I’d be grateful for help.
>

After realizing that this problem had started occurring a while back (so
System Restore wouldn't help), I decided to try what Ken and Rene
suggested about uninstalling the drivers; that is, I uninstalled all
devices under Universal Serial Bus controllers.

When I restarted the computer and they were reinstalled, I found that
the problem hadn't gone away. The first time I attach a USB device (an
external hard drive) after starting the computer, it works. Once I
remove it and plug it in again--or even if I try plugging another device
into another open port--the device is not recognized.

Today, after the latest failure, when I looked at the USB Mass Storage
Device in Device Manager, I found that it had the yellow triangle
indicating that it wasn't working. I checked Properties and found this
error message: "Windows cannot load the device driver for this hardware
because a previous instance of the device driver is still in memory
(Code 38)."

I've Googled the error message and gotten lots of hits but no help.

Any further suggestions?

--
Thank you,
Jo-Anne

On 2/20/2022 7:18 PM, Jo-Anne wrote:
> On 2/5/2022 11:06 AM, Jo-Anne wrote:
>> For the last few days, the USB ports on my Windows 7 Pro laptop have
>> refused to recognize any of the devices (other than the USB fan) newly
>> plugged into them.
>>
>> More precisely, each time I turn on the computer, I can plug in one
>> device and have it recognized. If I remove it and try plugging it in
>> again to either the same port or another one, it’s not recognized. If I
>> leave it plugged in and try plugging another device into another port,
>> the other device is not recognized. If I leave a recognized device
>> plugged in, it will continue to work properly.
>>
>> I’ve tried Googling this problem but haven’t found anything that matches
>> it. I’d be grateful for help.
>>
>
> After realizing that this problem had started occurring a while back (so System Restore wouldn't help), I decided to try what Ken and Rene suggested about uninstalling the drivers; that is, I uninstalled all devices under Universal Serial Bus controllers.
>
> When I restarted the computer and they were reinstalled, I found that the problem hadn't gone away. The first time I attach a USB device (an external hard drive) after starting the computer, it works. Once I remove it and plug it in again--or even if I try plugging another device into another open port--the device is not recognized.
>
> Today, after the latest failure, when I looked at the USB Mass Storage Device in Device Manager, I found that it had the yellow triangle indicating that it wasn't working. I checked Properties and found this error message: "Windows cannot load the device driver for this hardware because a previous instance of the device driver is still in memory (Code 38)."
>
> I've Googled the error message and gotten lots of hits but no help.
>
> Any further suggestions?
>

There must be some sort of custom driver interfering with things.

What packages have you loaded in Programs and Features, that
have a taste in USB device ? A printer driver ? A custom MTP package
for phone transfers ?

Deleting the ENUM key in the CurrentControlSet, causes renewal of
driver installs. But what that does not guarantee, is what driver
currently sitting in the system, will get to "bind" to the devices
on rediscovery. Lots of things on Windows, lack good hygiene options,
where you can push a button and nuke errant drivers.

The INF files in the INF folder, have names like oem23.inf. They
start with the branded INF filename, and the file is renamed to
prevent collision. Whatever the next driver is, it would be oem24.inf.

The original filename is inside the INF, so you can tell what the
oem23.inf used to be in real life.

The files are pre-compiled into a .pnf file, which also sits
in the same folder.

I don't know if removing selected items from the INF folder,
prevents them from binding or not. Like, could the stupid thing
go off and find a .msi on the machine, to redo the driver ? Dunno.

While sitting in Device Manager, you can tell Device Manager
to roll back the driver on something you've done Properties on,
but the rollback capability is not infinitely deep. It will
go back one level, allowing the operator to remove an "errant" driver.
This is intended for situations where the operator realizes
five minutes after doing it, that "it was a mistake".

On WinXP, there was the excellent setupapi.log scheme, for
logging exactly what had happened for driver installs. Later
OSes ruined this, but you can try and track down that file
set for a look. The name "setupapi" is intended to imply
some sort of driver logging.

*******

Summary: You've installed a driver without knowing it.
And now it is causing havok.
Good luck, as it were.

There is no recipe, until you spot the little
Dickens that's doing it. Rolling back the driver,
does not solve the issue of the thing still being
there and ready to make more havok.

If you had six USB2 ports, you just might have to
roll back the driver six times (six different Property dialogs).
The OS may not be smart enough to treat them as a class.
I know when I've installed drivers for processor cores,
I've had to do it N times, for the N cores. Doing it
manually, the one time, was not enough.

On Windows 7, the USB2 drivers are in-box class drivers.
Third parties do not have a license to override those.
It is USB3 ports and XHCI, that are all custom installs,
as Windows 7 refused to have backported USB3 support.

Paul

On 2/20/2022 8:06 PM, Paul wrote:
> On 2/20/2022 7:18 PM, Jo-Anne wrote:
>> On 2/5/2022 11:06 AM, Jo-Anne wrote:
>>> For the last few days, the USB ports on my Windows 7 Pro laptop have
>>> refused to recognize any of the devices (other than the USB fan) newly
>>> plugged into them.
>>>
>>> More precisely, each time I turn on the computer, I can plug in one
>>> device and have it recognized. If I remove it and try plugging it in
>>> again to either the same port or another one, it’s not recognized. If I
>>> leave it plugged in and try plugging another device into another port,
>>> the other device is not recognized. If I leave a recognized device
>>> plugged in, it will continue to work properly.
>>>
>>> I’ve tried Googling this problem but haven’t found anything that matches
>>> it. I’d be grateful for help.
>>>
>>
>> After realizing that this problem had started occurring a while back
>> (so System Restore wouldn't help), I decided to try what Ken and Rene
>> suggested about uninstalling the drivers; that is, I uninstalled all
>> devices under Universal Serial Bus controllers.
>>
>> When I restarted the computer and they were reinstalled, I found that
>> the problem hadn't gone away. The first time I attach a USB device (an
>> external hard drive) after starting the computer, it works. Once I
>> remove it and plug it in again--or even if I try plugging another
>> device into another open port--the device is not recognized.
>>
>> Today, after the latest failure, when I looked at the USB Mass Storage
>> Device in Device Manager, I found that it had the yellow triangle
>> indicating that it wasn't working. I checked Properties and found this
>> error message: "Windows cannot load the device driver for this
>> hardware because a previous instance of the device driver is still in
>> memory (Code 38)."
>>
>> I've Googled the error message and gotten lots of hits but no help.
>>
>> Any further suggestions?
>>
>
> There must be some sort of custom driver interfering with things.
>
> What packages have you loaded in Programs and Features, that
> have a taste in USB device ? A printer driver ? A custom MTP package
> for phone transfers ?
>
> Deleting the ENUM key in the CurrentControlSet, causes renewal of
> driver installs. But what that does not guarantee, is what driver
> currently sitting in the system, will get to "bind" to the devices
> on rediscovery. Lots of things on Windows, lack good hygiene options,
> where you can push a button and nuke errant drivers.
>
> The INF files in the INF folder, have names like oem23.inf. They
> start with the branded INF filename, and the file is renamed to
> prevent collision. Whatever the next driver is, it would be oem24.inf.
>
> The original filename is inside the INF, so you can tell what the
> oem23.inf used to be in real life.
>
> The files are pre-compiled into a .pnf file, which also sits
> in the same folder.
>
> I don't know if removing selected items from the INF folder,
> prevents them from binding or not. Like, could the stupid thing
> go off and find a .msi on the machine, to redo the driver ? Dunno.
>
> While sitting in Device Manager, you can tell Device Manager
> to roll back the driver on something you've done Properties on,
> but the rollback capability is not infinitely deep. It will
> go back one level, allowing the operator to remove an "errant" driver.
> This is intended for situations where the operator realizes
> five minutes after doing it, that "it was a mistake".
>
> On WinXP, there was the excellent setupapi.log scheme, for
> logging exactly what had happened for driver installs. Later
> OSes ruined this, but you can try and track down that file
> set for a look. The name "setupapi" is intended to imply
> some sort of driver logging.
>
> *******
>
> Summary: You've installed a driver without knowing it.
> And now it is causing havok.
> Good luck, as it were.
>
> There is no recipe, until you spot the little
> Dickens that's doing it. Rolling back the driver,
> does not solve the issue of the thing still being
> there and ready to make more havok.
>
> If you had six USB2 ports, you just might have to
> roll back the driver six times (six different Property dialogs).
> The OS may not be smart enough to treat them as a class.
> I know when I've installed drivers for processor cores,
> I've had to do it N times, for the N cores. Doing it
> manually, the one time, was not enough.
>
> On Windows 7, the USB2 drivers are in-box class drivers.
> Third parties do not have a license to override those.
> It is USB3 ports and XHCI, that are all custom installs,
> as Windows 7 refused to have backported USB3 support.
>
> Paul

Interesting that you mentioned printer drivers, Paul. I can't imagine
what connection there might be with USB ports, but...

I have a service contract with the company from which I bought my
expensive multi-function printer/copier/scanner. A while back, I found
that this computer wouldn't print labels properly. The service tech
remotely took over my computer and, I think, installed a separate
printer driver to enable me to print labels. Is there any chance this
might be interfering with the USB ports? The way I have to print labels
is that in Microsoft Word (which is what I use for this purpose), I have
to choose a "printer" named Labels rather than the default printer.

--
Jo-Anne

On Sun, 20 Feb 2022 18:18:45 -0600, Jo-Anne <Jo-Anne@nowhere.com>
wrote:

>On 2/5/2022 11:06 AM, Jo-Anne wrote:
>> For the last few days, the USB ports on my Windows 7 Pro laptop have
>> refused to recognize any of the devices (other than the USB fan) newly
>> plugged into them.
>>
>> More precisely, each time I turn on the computer, I can plug in one
>> device and have it recognized. If I remove it and try plugging it in
>> again to either the same port or another one, it’s not recognized. If I
>> leave it plugged in and try plugging another device into another port,
>> the other device is not recognized. If I leave a recognized device
>> plugged in, it will continue to work properly.
>>
>> I’ve tried Googling this problem but haven’t found anything that matches
>> it. I’d be grateful for help.
>>
>
>After realizing that this problem had started occurring a while back (so
>System Restore wouldn't help), I decided to try what Ken and Rene
>suggested about uninstalling the drivers; that is, I uninstalled all
>devices under Universal Serial Bus controllers.
>
>When I restarted the computer and they were reinstalled, I found that
>the problem hadn't gone away. The first time I attach a USB device (an
>external hard drive) after starting the computer, it works. Once I
>remove it and plug it in again--or even if I try plugging another device
>into another open port--the device is not recognized.
>
>Today, after the latest failure, when I looked at the USB Mass Storage
>Device in Device Manager, I found that it had the yellow triangle
>indicating that it wasn't working. I checked Properties and found this
>error message: "Windows cannot load the device driver for this hardware
>because a previous instance of the device driver is still in memory
>(Code 38)."
>
>I've Googled the error message and gotten lots of hits but no help.
>
>Any further suggestions?

I'm using Win XP Pro and have the same problem with my usual USB Flash
drives. They seem to be accepted by the computer in the beginning,
but If I try to load one in after having used the computer for a
while, the stick will not load. The computer does not 'see' it.

Being a non tek, I just live with it. I reboot if I need to load a
flash drive. It works everytime if used a short while after boot.

Just thought I'd let you you know you're not the only victim of the
Fickle Finger of Fate.

On 2/20/2022 8:54 PM, cory@NotGmail.Net wrote:
> On Sun, 20 Feb 2022 18:18:45 -0600, Jo-Anne <Jo-Anne@nowhere.com>
> wrote:
>
>> On 2/5/2022 11:06 AM, Jo-Anne wrote:
>>> For the last few days, the USB ports on my Windows 7 Pro laptop have
>>> refused to recognize any of the devices (other than the USB fan) newly
>>> plugged into them.
>>>
>>> More precisely, each time I turn on the computer, I can plug in one
>>> device and have it recognized. If I remove it and try plugging it in
>>> again to either the same port or another one, it’s not recognized. If I
>>> leave it plugged in and try plugging another device into another port,
>>> the other device is not recognized. If I leave a recognized device
>>> plugged in, it will continue to work properly.
>>>
>>> I’ve tried Googling this problem but haven’t found anything that matches
>>> it. I’d be grateful for help.
>>>
>>
>> After realizing that this problem had started occurring a while back (so
>> System Restore wouldn't help), I decided to try what Ken and Rene
>> suggested about uninstalling the drivers; that is, I uninstalled all
>> devices under Universal Serial Bus controllers.
>>
>> When I restarted the computer and they were reinstalled, I found that
>> the problem hadn't gone away. The first time I attach a USB device (an
>> external hard drive) after starting the computer, it works. Once I
>> remove it and plug it in again--or even if I try plugging another device
>> into another open port--the device is not recognized.
>>
>> Today, after the latest failure, when I looked at the USB Mass Storage
>> Device in Device Manager, I found that it had the yellow triangle
>> indicating that it wasn't working. I checked Properties and found this
>> error message: "Windows cannot load the device driver for this hardware
>> because a previous instance of the device driver is still in memory
>> (Code 38)."
>>
>> I've Googled the error message and gotten lots of hits but no help.
>>
>> Any further suggestions?
>
> I'm using Win XP Pro and have the same problem with my usual USB Flash
> drives. They seem to be accepted by the computer in the beginning,
> but If I try to load one in after having used the computer for a
> while, the stick will not load. The computer does not 'see' it.
>
> Being a non tek, I just live with it. I reboot if I need to load a
> flash drive. It works everytime if used a short while after boot.
>
> Just thought I'd let you you know you're not the only victim of the
> Fickle Finger of Fate.
>

Thank you, Cory. I gathered from my Googling that it's an issue that has
bugged lots of people. For some, the procedure I followed did work; for
others, not...sigh.

--
Jo-Anne

On 2/20/2022 8:06 PM, Paul wrote:
> On 2/20/2022 7:18 PM, Jo-Anne wrote:
>> On 2/5/2022 11:06 AM, Jo-Anne wrote:
>>> For the last few days, the USB ports on my Windows 7 Pro laptop have
>>> refused to recognize any of the devices (other than the USB fan) newly
>>> plugged into them.
>>>
>>> More precisely, each time I turn on the computer, I can plug in one
>>> device and have it recognized. If I remove it and try plugging it in
>>> again to either the same port or another one, it’s not recognized. If I
>>> leave it plugged in and try plugging another device into another port,
>>> the other device is not recognized. If I leave a recognized device
>>> plugged in, it will continue to work properly.
>>>
>>> I’ve tried Googling this problem but haven’t found anything that matches
>>> it. I’d be grateful for help.
>>>
>>
>> After realizing that this problem had started occurring a while back
>> (so System Restore wouldn't help), I decided to try what Ken and Rene
>> suggested about uninstalling the drivers; that is, I uninstalled all
>> devices under Universal Serial Bus controllers.
>>
>> When I restarted the computer and they were reinstalled, I found that
>> the problem hadn't gone away. The first time I attach a USB device (an
>> external hard drive) after starting the computer, it works. Once I
>> remove it and plug it in again--or even if I try plugging another
>> device into another open port--the device is not recognized.
>>
>> Today, after the latest failure, when I looked at the USB Mass Storage
>> Device in Device Manager, I found that it had the yellow triangle
>> indicating that it wasn't working. I checked Properties and found this
>> error message: "Windows cannot load the device driver for this
>> hardware because a previous instance of the device driver is still in
>> memory (Code 38)."
>>
>> I've Googled the error message and gotten lots of hits but no help.
>>
>> Any further suggestions?
>>
>
> There must be some sort of custom driver interfering with things.
>
> What packages have you loaded in Programs and Features, that
> have a taste in USB device ? A printer driver ? A custom MTP package
> for phone transfers ?
>
> Deleting the ENUM key in the CurrentControlSet, causes renewal of
> driver installs. But what that does not guarantee, is what driver
> currently sitting in the system, will get to "bind" to the devices
> on rediscovery. Lots of things on Windows, lack good hygiene options,
> where you can push a button and nuke errant drivers.
>
> The INF files in the INF folder, have names like oem23.inf. They
> start with the branded INF filename, and the file is renamed to
> prevent collision. Whatever the next driver is, it would be oem24.inf.
>
> The original filename is inside the INF, so you can tell what the
> oem23.inf used to be in real life.
>
> The files are pre-compiled into a .pnf file, which also sits
> in the same folder.
>
> I don't know if removing selected items from the INF folder,
> prevents them from binding or not. Like, could the stupid thing
> go off and find a .msi on the machine, to redo the driver ? Dunno.
>
> While sitting in Device Manager, you can tell Device Manager
> to roll back the driver on something you've done Properties on,
> but the rollback capability is not infinitely deep. It will
> go back one level, allowing the operator to remove an "errant" driver.
> This is intended for situations where the operator realizes
> five minutes after doing it, that "it was a mistake".
>
> On WinXP, there was the excellent setupapi.log scheme, for
> logging exactly what had happened for driver installs. Later
> OSes ruined this, but you can try and track down that file
> set for a look. The name "setupapi" is intended to imply
> some sort of driver logging.
>
> *******
>
> Summary: You've installed a driver without knowing it.
> And now it is causing havok.
> Good luck, as it were.
>
> There is no recipe, until you spot the little
> Dickens that's doing it. Rolling back the driver,
> does not solve the issue of the thing still being
> there and ready to make more havok.
>
> If you had six USB2 ports, you just might have to
> roll back the driver six times (six different Property dialogs).
> The OS may not be smart enough to treat them as a class.
> I know when I've installed drivers for processor cores,
> I've had to do it N times, for the N cores. Doing it
> manually, the one time, was not enough.
>
> On Windows 7, the USB2 drivers are in-box class drivers.
> Third parties do not have a license to override those.
> It is USB3 ports and XHCI, that are all custom installs,
> as Windows 7 refused to have backported USB3 support.
>
> Paul

Addendum: I should have mentioned that my printer is a wireless one...

--
Jo-Anne

On 2/20/2022 9:04 PM, Jo-Anne wrote:
> On 2/20/2022 8:54 PM, cory@NotGmail.Net wrote:
>> On Sun, 20 Feb 2022 18:18:45 -0600, Jo-Anne <Jo-Anne@nowhere.com>
>> wrote:
>>
>>> On 2/5/2022 11:06 AM, Jo-Anne wrote:
>>>> For the last few days, the USB ports on my Windows 7 Pro laptop have
>>>> refused to recognize any of the devices (other than the USB fan) newly
>>>> plugged into them.
>>>>
>>>> More precisely, each time I turn on the computer, I can plug in one
>>>> device and have it recognized. If I remove it and try plugging it in
>>>> again to either the same port or another one, it’s not recognized. If I
>>>> leave it plugged in and try plugging another device into another port,
>>>> the other device is not recognized. If I leave a recognized device
>>>> plugged in, it will continue to work properly.
>>>>
>>>> I’ve tried Googling this problem but haven’t found anything that
>>>> matches
>>>> it. I’d be grateful for help.
>>>>
>>>
>>> After realizing that this problem had started occurring a while back (so
>>> System Restore wouldn't help), I decided to try what Ken and Rene
>>> suggested about uninstalling the drivers; that is, I uninstalled all
>>> devices under Universal Serial Bus controllers.
>>>
>>> When I restarted the computer and they were reinstalled, I found that
>>> the problem hadn't gone away. The first time I attach a USB device (an
>>> external hard drive) after starting the computer, it works. Once I
>>> remove it and plug it in again--or even if I try plugging another device
>>> into another open port--the device is not recognized.
>>>
>>> Today, after the latest failure, when I looked at the USB Mass Storage
>>> Device in Device Manager, I found that it had the yellow triangle
>>> indicating that it wasn't working. I checked Properties and found this
>>> error message: "Windows cannot load the device driver for this hardware
>>> because a previous instance of the device driver is still in memory
>>> (Code 38)."
>>>
>>> I've Googled the error message and gotten lots of hits but no help.
>>>
>>> Any further suggestions?
>>
>> I'm using Win XP Pro and have the same problem with my usual USB Flash
>> drives.  They seem to be accepted by the computer in the beginning,
>> but If I try to load one in after having used the computer for a
>> while, the stick will not load.  The computer does not 'see' it.
>>
>> Being a non tek, I just live with it.  I reboot if I need to load a
>> flash drive.  It works everytime if used a short while after boot.
>>
>> Just thought I'd let you you know you're not the only victim of the
>> Fickle Finger of Fate.
>>
>
> Thank you, Cory. I gathered from my Googling that it's an issue that has
> bugged lots of people. For some, the procedure I followed did work; for
> others, not...sigh.
>
I have had problems similar to yours in the past.
What fixed things for me was a program called "Device Cleanup Tool". I
used the brute force method and told it to Select all and delete all USB
devices.
After rebooting my USB connection problems were gone. I was once again
able to connect my flash drives that worked OK on other computers but
had slowly quit working on my affected machine.

A URL to the author's web site is
https://www.uwe-sieber.de/misc_tools_e.html If go to the top of the
home page you can also select the website in German as well. Good Luck.

On 2/20/2022 9:54 PM, cory@NotGmail.Net wrote:
> On Sun, 20 Feb 2022 18:18:45 -0600, Jo-Anne <Jo-Anne@nowhere.com>
> wrote:
>
>> On 2/5/2022 11:06 AM, Jo-Anne wrote:
>>> For the last few days, the USB ports on my Windows 7 Pro laptop have
>>> refused to recognize any of the devices (other than the USB fan) newly
>>> plugged into them.
>>>
>>> More precisely, each time I turn on the computer, I can plug in one
>>> device and have it recognized. If I remove it and try plugging it in
>>> again to either the same port or another one, it’s not recognized. If I
>>> leave it plugged in and try plugging another device into another port,
>>> the other device is not recognized. If I leave a recognized device
>>> plugged in, it will continue to work properly.
>>>
>>> I’ve tried Googling this problem but haven’t found anything that matches
>>> it. I’d be grateful for help.
>>>
>>
>> After realizing that this problem had started occurring a while back (so
>> System Restore wouldn't help), I decided to try what Ken and Rene
>> suggested about uninstalling the drivers; that is, I uninstalled all
>> devices under Universal Serial Bus controllers.
>>
>> When I restarted the computer and they were reinstalled, I found that
>> the problem hadn't gone away. The first time I attach a USB device (an
>> external hard drive) after starting the computer, it works. Once I
>> remove it and plug it in again--or even if I try plugging another device
>> into another open port--the device is not recognized.
>>
>> Today, after the latest failure, when I looked at the USB Mass Storage
>> Device in Device Manager, I found that it had the yellow triangle
>> indicating that it wasn't working. I checked Properties and found this
>> error message: "Windows cannot load the device driver for this hardware
>> because a previous instance of the device driver is still in memory
>> (Code 38)."
>>
>> I've Googled the error message and gotten lots of hits but no help.
>>
>> Any further suggestions?
>
> I'm using Win XP Pro and have the same problem with my usual USB Flash
> drives. They seem to be accepted by the computer in the beginning,
> but If I try to load one in after having used the computer for a
> while, the stick will not load. The computer does not 'see' it.
>
> Being a non tek, I just live with it. I reboot if I need to load a
> flash drive. It works everytime if used a short while after boot.
>
> Just thought I'd let you you know you're not the only victim of the
> Fickle Finger of Fate.
>

USB devices tend to not work as well, if there is no
serial number.

Years ago, adding serial numbers to USB devices, was
considered by at least some companies, to be "too expensive".
So they did not bother.

Then, every time you plug a device like that in, the driver
loads for every port you plug it into, and it makes
multiple entries in ENUM.

And the unique identifier used, does not take very many
storage bits. Some FTDI RS232 ports for example, they seem
to have enough bits to remember they are "COM3". Which might
be enough, that the device is always COM3 as you move it
from port to port. For that particular application, there is
no need to "trace people to a street address". Just enough
bits to get the job done.

Using USBTreeView, gives the user an opportunity to examine
what data a device provides at plugin time.

Downloads are at the bottom of the page.

https://www.uwe-sieber.de/usbtreeview_e.html

*******

In terms of deleting a portion of ENUM or all of ENUM, the
key in CurrentControlSet has permissions. Some registry entries
are owned by the user (their personal profile). Some registry
entries are owned by SYSTEM. Some registry entries are owned
by TrustedInstaller. While I have tools to make me all three
of those. making the registry changes while the OS is running,
isn't always that easy.

The last time I deleted ENUM, was on Windows 10, and I used an
offline registry editor, because it did not have a problem
overcoming permission issues.

When you work offline, CurrentControlSet does not exist.
You might see a ControlSet1, a ControlSet2, that sort of
thing. There is the added excitement, when working offline,
of selecting the correct control set, to delete ENUM and
cause all the drivers to be rediscovered. The CurrentControlSet
is a copy of one of the other, numbered, controlsets.

That operation typically cleans up un-serialized USB messes.
But does not guarantee anything, when it comes to general driver
issues.

*******

I still think that testing with an alternate OS, like a Linux
LiveCD, allows checking whether the ports are really working.
That test is to re-assure yourself, that it isn't a hardware issue.

https://distrowatch.com/table.php?distribution=mint

You could use a 19.3 for example. The mirrors can have older versions,
if you need them. I use a 19 version on a USB stick, for quick tests.

https://mirror.csclub.uwaterloo.ca/linuxmint/stable/

Paul