Mysterious USB Device messages

[Morganza]

I'm having an odd problem with my Toshiba Satellite L300 portable with Vista 32 installed.

I think this may have started when I tried to plug in a Motorola cell phone. The driver installation failed and the phone connection never worked, not unusual for Motorola. I think it was around this time that the Logitech wireless mouse stopped working. I noticed also that I would get a message every few minutes that said, "USB Device Not Recognized - One of the USB devices attached to the computer has malfunctioned, and Windows does not recognize it. For assistance in solving this problem, click this message"

I unplugged the USB wireless mouse device, which was the only USB port being used.

The message continued to return, eventhough there were no USB devices plugged in.

This is where it gets weird.

I then reformatted the computer and let it reinstall Vista 32, returning it to "Out of Box" state. All during the lenghty Windows update process, I was surprised to see that message still appearing every few minutes even though there were still no usb devices attached.

I tried plugging the USB wireless mouse into another computer and it worked fine.

I also tried plugging a few other USB flash memory devices into the Toshiba portable and they all worked fine too.A Logitech webcam worked fine. A Microsoft wired USB mouse failed to work, however. Same message as with the wireless mouse. It seems that anything other than a wired or wireless mouse works OK.

There are three USB ports on the computer and all of them produce the same results.

So, the two issues that I now have are:

1. It is only the Logitech wireless usb mouse that fails to work on the Toshiba and only on the Toshiba.
2. Plus that aggravating message continues to pop up every few minutes, even when no USB devices are attached.

In Device Manager +USB Controllers there are 8 entries that say something like "Intel ICH9 Family USB Universal Host Controller" and 8 more entries that say "USB Root Hub". Why so many, I don't know. When I plug in the mouse, I get the hated Message about USB Device not recognized, the same one that comes up on its own every now and then. When this happens there is another entry that falls between the first eight and the last eight entries for USB Controllers. It says "Unknown Device."

I also uninstalled all 16 entries in the USB Controllers section of Device Manager and let them reinstall themselves. That did nothing to resolve this.

I'm stumped and open to suggestions or advice. I really miss my wireless mouse.

Thanks

[jwitalka]

Check to see if any updated chipset files for your Toshiba are available. Also, look in the BIOS for a "legacy support" option exists for USB.
You could also go to device manager and delete all host controllers and usb devices. Reboot and the controllers will reinstall.

Jerry

[Morganza]

I had already tried uninstalling the 16 usb devices, which didn't help. They reinstalled with no improvement. I had also checked the BIOS and found that the legacy USB was already enabled. I have not checked for new chipset version, but will soon. This behavior only started a few days ago, after using this computer for several years with no problems.
A few days later, after starting the computer, a notice from Toshiba appeared on the screen that suggested that I upgrade to a newer BIOS. I was surprised, never having been warned of a BIOS upgrade before. I don't know if the mouse was working before I upgraded because it was not plugged in, but after the upgrade the mouse started working normally again.

[robplum]

I've just had a couple of months trying to resolve the "USB Device Not Recognized - One of the USB devices attached to the computer has malfunctioned, and Windows does not recognize it."! Read countless forums, repeatedly ran Microsoft USB Fixit program, followed other well meant advice etc etc, Until yesterday, at your own risk of course, enter USBDeview v2.10 Free program, developers description follows

USBDeview v2.10
Copyright (c) 2006 - 2012 Nir Sofer
Web Site: http://www.nirsoft.net



Description
===========

USBDeview is a small utility that lists all USB devices that currently
connected to your computer, as well as all USB devices that you
previously used.
For each USB device, extended information is displayed: Device
name/description, device type, serial number (for mass storage devices),
the date/time that device was added, VendorID, ProductID, and more...
USBDeview also allows you to uninstall USB devices that you previously
used, and disconnect USB devices that are currently connected to your
computer.
You can also use USBDeview on a remote computer, as long as you login to
that computer with admin user.

License
=======

This utility is released as freeware. You are allowed to freely
distribute this utility via floppy disk, CD-ROM, Internet, or in any
other way, as long as you don't charge anything for this. If you
distribute this utility, you must include all files in the distribution
package, without any modification !
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Using USBDeview program yesterday after I got it to uninstall dozens of USB Controllers, the balloon no longer and USB Devices now all work fine. The program tells you whether each device is being used and whether its safe to uninstall it. Armed with that information in USBDeview browser i held down the CTRL Key and uninstalled each and every one of them in one swoop, GONE for ever thank goodness, further info
Using USBDeview
===============

USBDeview doesn't require any installation process or additional DLL
files. Just copy the executable file (USBDeview.exe) to any folder you
like, and run it.
The main window of USBDeview displays all USB devices installed on your
system. You can select one or more items, and then disconnect (unplug)
them , uninstall them, or just save the information into text/xml/html
file.



USBDeview Columns Description
=============================


* Device Name: Specifies the device name. For some device, this column
may display meaningless name, like "USB Device". If the device name is
meaningless, try to look at the Description column.
* Device Description: The description of the device.
* Device Type: The device type, according to USB class code. For more
information about USB classes: USB Class Codes.
* Connected: Specifies whether the device is currently connected to
your computer. If the device is connected, you can use the 'Disconnect
Selected Devices' option (F9) to disconnect the device.
* Safe To Unplug: Specifies whether it's safe to unplug the device from
the USB plug without disconnecting it first. If the value of this
column is false, and you want to unplug this device, you must first
disconnect this device by using the 'Disconnect Selected Devices'
option (F9) of USBDeview utility, or by using the 'Unplug or Eject
Hardware' utility of Windows operating system.
* Drive Letter: Specifies the drive letter of the USB device. This
column is only relevant to USB flash memory devices and to USB CD/DVD
drives. Be aware that USBDeview cannot detect drive letters of USB
hard-disks.
* Serial Number: Specifies the serial number of the device. This column
is only relevant to mass storage devices (flash memory devices, CD/DVD
drives, and USB hard-disks).
* Created Date: Specifies the date/time that the device was installed.
In most cases, this date/time value represents the time that you first
plugged the device to the USB port. However, be aware that in some
circumstances this value may be wrong. Also, On Windows 7, this value
is initialized with the current date/time on every reboot.
* Last Plug/Unplug Date: Specifies the last time that you
plugged/unplugged the device. This date value is lost when you restart
the computer.
* VendorID/ProductID: Specifies the VendorID and ProductID of the
device. For unofficial list of VendorID/ProductID, click here.
* USB Class/Subclass/Protocol: Specifies the Class/Subclass/Protocol of
the device according to USB specifications. For more information about
USB classes: USB Class Codes.
* Hub/Port: Specifies the hub number and port number that the device
was plugged into. This value is empty for mass storage devices.
Notice: According to user reports, On some systems the 'Last Plug/Unplug
Date' and the 'Created Date' values are initialized after reboot. This
means that these columns may display the reboot time instead of the
correct date/time.

[robplum]

That didn't pas the test of time, oh the program deleted excess usb controllers, however i'm still getting the unknown device appearing in device manger under Universal Serial Bus Controllers the difference now under
"Usb Root Hub (2 ports)"
"Unused Port"
"Unknown Device"

Which goes to Port_#0002.Hub_#0004 via USB Hub to either my Printer or Seagate External Drive.

Appears under
Hardware IDs: USB\UNKNOWN
Compatible IDs: UNKNOWN
Driver Key: {36fc9e60-c465-11cf-8056-444553540000}\0014
Device Instance Path: USB\VID_0000&PID_0000\5&3A40A65&0&2
Parent: USB\ROOT_HUB\4&ae4bb63&2
Info: BADDEVICE.Dev
Class Icon Path: %systemroot%\system32\setupapi.dll,-20

In trying to resolve i attempted to replace "setupapi.dll" (size 1.5MB) with a downloaded (960KB) replacement dll had quite a bit of problem renaming though finally managed to do that. However on reboot comput bit messed up box saying (can't exact remember) unable to locate nwdrv.dll (something like that) and reverted back to the old setupapi.dll.
More recently found registry key / sub key "Properties Key" which i couldn't access, so assassinated that key,
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Enum\U SB\VID_045E&PID_0083\5&30351c2c&0&1\Properties
but sill the "USB Device Not Recognized - One of the USB devices attached to the computer has malfunctioned, and Windows does not recognize it."! Balloon Is still appearing...

Has anybody able to offer direction to resolve the issue
thanks

[robplum]

Think i might have resolved the problem (fingers crossed) I've been using a program called Driver Genius to update computers drivers, while ago had it up the USB Universal Host Controllers, I've rerun the update .ex and thus far all seems to be working correctly.
thanks

[CLiNT]

I had already tried uninstalling the 16 usb devices, which didn't help. They reinstalled with no improvement. I had also checked the BIOS and found that the legacy USB was already enabled. I have not checked for new chipset version, but will soon. This behavior only started a few days ago, after using this computer for several years with no problems.
A few days later, after starting the computer, a notice from Toshiba appeared on the screen that suggested that I upgrade to a newer BIOS. I was surprised, never having been warned of a BIOS upgrade before. I don't know if the mouse was working before I upgraded because it was not plugged in, but after the upgrade the mouse started working normally again.

Running a thorough AM/AV scan on the system would be prudent to rule out infection.
If your Toshiba has a specific manufacturers utility to upgrade the BIOS, then go for it, otherwise go directly to the website for it.
I would also agree that you look at whether the chipset (via the same utility or by going to the website) has an updated version as well.


Chipset drivers=important (alway update these, whether they are currently working fine or not)
There is no such thing as "if it aint broke don't fix it" when it comes to chipset drivers.
Chipset drivers and BIOS updates should be updated at normal default clock speeds.

[robplum]

Has been an ongoing nag...however again fingers crossed, just installed an updated Toshiba 3G wi-fi connector from the Toshiba Site, a device that is connected through USB, thus far no nag