jonnex

Hi,

I've got the above mobo, and untill now I've had no real problems with it. Just over a year it's been great.

Just in the last week or so, it's started popping up with this error, in both my Vista and XP installation:

"One of the USB devices attahced to this computer has malfunctioned, and Windows does not recognize it."

It then says 'The location of the device is shown in bold type":
- USB Root Hub (2 ports)
- Unknown Device
- Unused Port

So, I naturally started to hunt for the offending USB device. This went to it's natural extreme, and I unplugged every USB device currently plugged in. The error still kept popping up. It pops up pretty randomly, sometimes it'll come 5 times in a minute, sometimes it'll be a few hours, and anything inbetween. It's totally sporadic, it seems to me.

I've been in device manager, and tried to uninstall the offending 'unknown device', but windows just then finds it again, and installs it. Problem repeats. I think this *may* have started when I tried to use an old webcam on my Vista partition, which I had managed to get working on XP. But then it started happening on XP, so I dont know if the 2 are related.

So that's 1 problem.

Since that started, i've noticed that when I boot up it takes AGES to get past the initial screens, like when it's showing the big ASUS picture. It took over 2 minutes to get into windows this time.

Its slow the whole time getting in, like on the screen where I pick the OS to launch, it has a count down timer for 29 seconds. But it wasn't taking a second to count down 1 second, more like 5 or 10 per second it should have counted down.

that's all then, sorry it's such a long post, but if anyone has any ideas i'd really love to hear them, i'm really stuck with this..

Thanks for reading,
Jo

stressfreesoul

Sounds like a corrupted system. You are likely to have unwittingly downloaded some sort of virus. Any issues with BIOS or POST?

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jonnex

Hey there, thanks for the reply.

I've thought maybe the system is corrupted, but the thing is that it's happened on both partitions, with XP and Vista, which makes me think it's something hardware related.

How would I check BIOS and POST?

Houndog777

Hi, do you still have the software & drivers for this "old webcam" installed?
Check the Add/Remove Programs in XP and uninstall them if they are still there, and restart.
Same with Vista, in Programs and Features.

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jonnex

Well on XP I still have the drivers intalled (i found them on creative's website, as I didnt have the disk anymore) But with Vista it wouldnt let me install the drivers, so they wont be on it. In fact I just checked, nothing like that on the vista side.

I'll check XP later, but if it's happening on the vista side without the cam actually having any drivers installed, that kinda rules that out i'd say?

Houndog777

(I'd still clear the system of drivers that are not being used).

Enter your BIOS by pressing F2 or Delete during boot. It tells you onscreen what key to press to "Enter Setup". Load the default settings, making adjustments only for settings you need like e.g. enable USB mouse & keyboard support. Save & exit.

You can also check your System Configuration to ensure no applications or services are being loaded at start-up that are not needed.
Click Start, then Run and type msconfig in the box that appears and click OK.
In the System Configration window, click on the Services tab and check the box that says "Hide all Microsoft sevices"............uncheck any you know you don't need.
Next, under the Startup tab, uncheck everything, unless you really need something to start along with windows. Click Apply and restart.

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jonnex

Hi there, i'll try all those things now. How do I get rid of drivers that arent being used? I looked in Programs and Features, and didn't see any programs there that needed uninstalling.

Houndog777

That's ok.......just follow the other steps to prevent programs and services from starting along with windows.
Here's a link to a free program to help identify "unknown devices"......

http://www.gold-software.com/Unknown...eview12752.htm

If we can identify it, we'll be able to do something about it.

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jonnex

ah, that software sounds like it could be the key! I'll give that a try once I get home tonight, and let you know how it goes. Thanks a lot for your continued help :D

jonnex

Hi again,

Sorry for the long delay, i got into some really heavy stuff at work and i've been super busy.

Anyway i tried the app you suggested, but it didn't work on Vista (not tried XP with it yet). So anyway I searched for some more software for finding unknown devices, and got one from softpedia.

I got the app to upload what it found to pastebin, so here's the link:
http://www.halfdone.com/pastebin/?id=1636-BE7

not actually pastebin i realise, but it shows the tree structure that it found with all my devices nicely for you to see. It doesnt show a lot more than i saw in device manager really.. just that there's 2 unknown devices with invalid hardware IDs.

Does this help to diagnose the problem?

jonnex

I just noticed from further inspection that inside the 'other devices' bit, there's a 'creative webcam' listed.

I think it was plugging this thing in a few weeks ago that started this problem! But i cant find that same entry when looking in device manager.. how can i go about uninstalling it?

jonnex

gah... ok so i managed to uninstall the drivers for that webcam; it no longer shows up when i used the unknown device identifier.

Still getting the problem though.... :(

Houndog777

OK
What about the first USB Mass Storage Device:
Unable to Detect, Hardware ID: VID_0204&PID_6025
(From what can tell online that is Chipsbank Microelectronics Co., Ltd CBM2080 Flash drive controller)

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jonnex

Ooh interesting.. Just looked for which bit you're talking about, i hadnt noticed that. It does say 'unable to detect' like you say.. but i looked for it in Device Manager, and i cant see it. how do i go about uninstalling it (is uninstalling the thing i need to do?).

Houndog777

If you open Device Manager, up top, click on View and then select Show Hidden Devices.

Now go down to the System Properties tree and see if it shows up under the USB section. If it's not there, look in Non-Plug and Play Drivers. When you find it, right-click and select Uninstall.

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jonnex

Hey again Houndog,

I had a look in device manager, but I couldn't see anything that I could be sure was the right thing.. Nothing showed up in the USB controller area once I chose to see hidden devices, and the plug and play section has lots of things in it, none of which I could identify as the offending thing you pointed out.

Here's a screen shot of my device manager, with both those menus unrolled. You'll be able to see the 'Unknown Device' in the USB section, but that's just the one i already tried to uninstall. It just finds the device again and installs it, then complains about the same old thing. It manages to find it and install it even if there are no USB devices plugged in at all, again adding to the weirdness!

here's the link to the pic
http://i232.photobucket.com/albums/e...iceProblem.jpg

cheers man for your help, really appreciate it :)

Houndog777

Hi,
here's another download for you.....lol........
http://www.neuber.com/taskmanager/in...l?ref=file.net
The webpage explains what it's all about. See if it gives you a clean bill of health.

The "parport" thats flagged in the non-plug & play drivers section is usually for the Parallel Port of your PC, if you're using that port that is.
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/883253

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Houndog777

This is really puzzling me! Did you alter any BIOS settings just before this started; or did you have something installed that is no longer present?



Have a look at this when you have the time.........
http://support.microsoft.com/default...EN-US%3B310575

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