## PROBLEM SYMPTOMS
(1) Windows fails to recognize and load a system device driver for any one of a number of USB devices that should load automatically. This includes virtually any type of USB device.... I experienced it with Thumb drives, Mice and External Drive, USB speakers, MP3 players, etc.... DavidR was experiencing it with some new thumb drives
(2) Windows automatically tries to install the driver.... but it fails.... then it asks you for an install disk.... but you shouldn't need one for this hardware, so you don't have one....
(3) then XP tells you the process failed, and you will have problems with the hardware... and you do... your hardware simply is not "there"
(4) I was even experiencing different results on different ports.... A USB mouse of mine would work on the left port, but not on the ones on the right.... weird... so I didn't know if I had hardware or software issues.....
NOTE: I Use Registry First Aid, and like someone else in the thread, I thought I might have gotten "too happy" with it --and might have created my problem.
Now, IMO, RFA was NOT the cause.... In the course of the rebuild --I ran through the registry at every significant step of the way....
I had it set to 100 flagged problems at a time....so I checked the entire install, almost line by line, through each stage of the build...
Going slowly like this, RFA didn't flag ANYTHING as "safe" that would obviously create the problem.... (I'm a reasonably strong user, but far from a computer scientist/Windows Expert --so my word isn't gospel)
I don't know what might have happened if I set RFA to flag 1000 error's and just hit "fix".... could have screwed up a dependency that didn't show up working more slowly... but I didn't see anything with this approach.
## ATLANTA'S FIRST SUGGESTION --Apply IBM's Software Fix
When I started trying to correct this problem, the first thing Atlanta suggested to me was to install the patches pianowizard mentioned and linked to....
I personally tried both these patches --APPLIED ON MY EXISTING XP INSTALL... In the order and process suggested by Atlanta.pianowizard wrote:
It could be one of these, with the second one being more probable:
Intel Chipset Support for Windows 2000/XP/Vista - ThinkPad R60, R60e, T60, T60p, X60, X60s, X60 Tablet, Z61e, Z61m, Z61p, Z61t
Common Microsoft Windows XP update modules (US only) - ThinkPad R51e, X41 Tablet, X60, X60s, X60 Tablet, T60, T60p, Z60m, Z60t, 3000 C100, N100
If the links don't work, look up "MIGR-62939" and "MIGR-64133" in the search box at the top right corner on Lenovo's web site.
Evidently people have mixed results with this patch.... it worked for some... It didn't work for me and some others in the thread..... I have no idea why. I have NOT tried installing the patches on top of my new install.... If you are going to try it, **Be sure to read everything before you install, and backup**
## OTHER THINGS THAT DIDN'T WORK -- IN THE ORDER THEY WERE SUGGESTED TO ME BY ATLANTA
* deleting all the USB drivers from the device manager hoping Windoze will automatically rebuild the correct paths
* going back in time by re-imaging the partition from backups
* A COMPLETE REBUILD OF MY C: DRIVE.......FRESH INSTALL OF *EVERYTHING*..... Oh Goody!!!!!
Ultimately, I tried *all three* suggestions.... NONE of them worked
## WHAT ACTUALLY WORKS -- THE IDEA ATLANTA FAILED TO MENTION
I can vouch for this.....so far it's worked on everything I've tried.....DavidR wrote:The way I fixed it was to reinstall the driver, pointing to C:\Windows\Inf and it worked.
after a completely clean install on my machine, with Win XP totally up to date as of last week.... the USB was **still wonky**, and giving me all the symptoms described above...
Imagine my happiness.
Then I saw DavidR's suggestion....
* I plugged a USB device into my machine --and Windoze didn't recognize it....
* It started trying to install the drivers --but instead of letting Windows do it "automatically"
* I clicked on "install driver from specific location" and pointed it to "C:\Windows\Inf" and let it run.....
I installed four (4) different devices last night, one after another -- each device was one that XP should (but didn't) automatically recognize on it's own, and a device that XP previously failed to install running on automatic..... (a thumb drive, mouse, two external disks --one a Portable media Player.....
each time I used the pointer DavidR provided, to help poor old Windoze find it's driver..... and suddenly I could connect my USB peripherals again....
So far.... DavidR is right on.... technically it's "less than elegant" solution..... and it doesn't fix the problem, and it might not work for everything...DavidR wrote:It is a work-around, but it works. Drove me nuts for a while until I had a brainstorm one night while driving home. Course, I've had many "brainstroms" on this issue that did not pan out.
I've used it for usb flash drives, mice, cameras and usb hard drives. There's gotta be a registry entry that points there, but since my laptop is broke, I can't even search for it.
But *thankfully*, it IS a working solution....
It turns out that it's a *much* more effective solution than COMPLETELY REBUILDING MY OS and ENTIRE WORKING ENVIRONMENT FROM SCRATCH..... All based on Atlanta's good advice.... AFAIC... David's tip turned a very frustrating, totally dysfunctional situation, into a minor annoyance that I can comfortably live with...
I wish I would have found this weeks ago..... Since the USB DRIVER ISSUE was THE ONLY PROBLEM I was experiencing..... I don't know if this will work for everyone, but it has worked on everything I tried on a clean XP install --that still had the problem.
Knowing this could have (theoretically) saved me *days* of trouble shooting, updating, re-imaging and then *needlessly* breaking down and entirely rebuilding my system, reinstalling, re-activating and re-updating all the app's.... man..
anyway.... I have a very clean install now.
Thanks, Bill, for the forum's..... It's not the first time I got some really valuable help here.... and thanks much to all who contribute.....