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Original title: USB driver update error
My Dell Inspiron 1420 laptop kept crashing and finally I replaced the harddisk, reinstalled Windows Vista Basic, downloaded and installed all Windows updates and downloaded and reinstalled all Dell drivers. At some point during that process, I lost my USB ports, i.e. USB devices (mouse, USB flashdrives, external hard-disks) were ignored and the device manager didn't show the USB ports any more, just two "unknown devices". I made sure that all the newest Dell drivers for my Computer were installed and Windows correctly updated, then I right-clicked on the "unknown devices", selected "Update driver software" and after a while got the following error message:
Windows encountered a problem installing the driver software for your device Windows found driver software for your device but encountered an error while attempting to install it. Intel(R) ICH8 Family USB Universal Host Controller - 2830 An error occurred during the installation of the device: The driver installation file for this device is missing a necessary entry. This may be because the INF was written for Windows 95 or later. Contact your hardware vendor. If you know the manufacturer of your device, you can visit its website and check the support section for driver software.
I've searched the web for this error message, but found nothing. What should I do?
Cheers,
G.
Locked Question. This question was migrated from the Microsoft Support Community. You can vote on whether it's helpful, but you can't add comments or replies or follow the question.
Thanks!
There are eight "unknown devices" are under "Universal Serial Bus controllers", and their Hardware Ids look like this:
USB\ROOT_HUB&VID8086&PID2831&REV0002
USB\ROOT_HUB&VID8086&PID2831
USB\ROOT_HUB
What could that be?
No VEN_... or DEV_... values.
I was referring to the two unknown devices in your previous post which should be under "Other devices".
Device Manager displays the device as Unknown Device next to a yellow question mark and puts it in the Other devices branch, yours are under USB Controllers?. This is very common with universal serial bus (USB). Also, a status of Error Code 1 or Error Code 10 may be displayed when you view the properties of the device in Device Manager. What's the error code indicated?
Most USB devices function correctly without additional device drivers because they are configured by the drivers that are included with Windows, perhaps updating Windows would do the trick.
You may have already tried deleting everything under USB Controllers then rebooting. Try that again and this time perform a complete power off situation, that is, turn off the computer, remove the power plug from the outlet, and remove the battery. Wait about a minute, then restart.
<<device manager didn't show the USB ports any more, just two "unknown devices
Were you able to identify the unknown devices? I have encountered once that missing bluetooth drivers can cause missing USB's. See if you can find details of the unknown device in Device Manager. Look at the "Details" tab of the Device's properties, you'll see the Device description "Value" which usually describes the device. Also on the same tab, under Property, click on the drop down arrow and click on "Hardware Ids", under the "Value" you will see something like PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_2838.... The VEN_8086 identifies the vendor and DEV_8086 identifies the device. You can make your search in the below link:
PCI Vendor and Device Lists
Enter the 4 digits in the search box or you can post the device decriptions and Hardware Ids, so others may help.
Hi G,
How did you install the device drivers?
I downloaded the Intel Mobile Chipset drivers for my laptop from the Dell homepage.
You can refer to the following thread link and see if it helps.
I do have the latest BIOS (A10) and the latest drivers, as suggested in that thread.
You can also try running the Hardware Fixit and see if it helps.
Hardware devices are not working or are not detected in Windows
Well, I downloaded, installed and ran the Hardware Fixit. It found "unknown devices", launched a driver installation, which failed. I've had that before. I got exactly the error message quoted in my first post, once again.
You can also refer to the following article and see if it helps:
Nothing new there.
Hope this information is helpful.
Not really, I must say. Any other suggestions?
Cheers,
G.
Hi G,
How did you install the device drivers?
If you have installed it through Windows updates, then visit the device manufacturer’s website and get the required drivers.
You can refer to the following thread link and see if it helps.
You can also try running the Hardware Fixit and see if it helps.
Hardware devices are not working or are not detected in Windows
You can also refer to the following article and see if it helps:
Tips for solving problems with USB devices
Hope this information is helpful.
