Archived from groups: microsoft.public.win2000.general (
More info?)
"Ben Lucas" <benlucas99@hotmail.com> wrote in message news:8a350938.0503210003.16970504@posting.google.com...
> "Rick" <me@privacy.net> wrote in message news:<#T1UEQcLFHA.2604@TK2MSFTNGP10.phx.gbl>...
> > "Ben Lucas" <benlucas99@hotmail.com> wrote in message news:8a350938.0503201906.4e422c6b@posting.google.com...
> > > Hi All,
> > >
> > > Can somebody explain how win2k detects hardware devices at startup?
> > > Something is causing the "Found New Hardware" wizard to kick off and I
> > > can't track it down - needless to say there is no new device attached.
> > > Predictably this is now happening as a result of installing a coule
> > > of new USB devices. Both of these have now been completely
> > > uninstalled but the problem persists. I have removed all registry
> > > entries pertaining to these:
> > >
> > > HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Class\...
> > > HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Enum\USB\...
> > >
> > > Alot of people seem to have this problem but any response I've seen so
> > > far has been to try re-installing the drivers and if that does not
> > > work then to live with it (if it ain't broke...) I really don't want
> > > to see that Wizard again!
> >
> > It's not all that complicated. During boot, Windows looks at the
> > vendor/subvendor/device IDs of your system devices, and tries
> > to load a proper driver for each one. If it can't find a given driver,
> > it pops up the New Hardware wizard.
> >
> > One or more of your USB devices, or the USB controller itself
> > does not have a proper driver installed.
> >
> > You might go through your \winnt\inf folder (it's hidden so you
> > might have to unhide it first) and look for/delete or rename/ any
> > third-party INF files related to your USB controller or devices.
> > Then reload the driver(s) when Windows reboots.
>
> Thanks for the info Rick. I should have said that I already checked
> the inf & pnf file pairs in the winnt\inf folder - the files for the
> new USB devices that I installed, and subsequently removed, are no
> longer there. This was easy to do as I had deliberately selected a
> vendor id for my test board that was not already being used. So what
> I need to know is:
You're losing me, Ben. Can you explain what you mean by "selected
a vendor ID for my test board"?
Vendor IDs are not selectable by end users. They are hard coded
into a device's ROM or firmware. When Windows boots, the Plug
'N Play service enumerates each bus on the system, including USB.
It can't search for a static set of devices, since it has no way of
knowing beforehand whether any new hardware has been installed
on a system. Instead it simply asks, "What's here?", and listens for
responses on each bus. Each device responds with its vendor,
subvendor and device ID, which Windows uses to find a matching
INF, and from there, to install a driver for the new device. New
entries are then created under Enum and Class for the new hardware.
> Is the detection of usb devices done solely by means of the files in
> winnt\inf and not via registry entries?
The PNP service is what detects devices, and the registry is modified
according to what PNP finds. If you've manually edited Class, what
might have happened is that you mistakenly deleted one of Windows'
built-in classes (as opposed to new classes which are added by
installation of device drivers). In this case Windows has nothing to
match your hardware to. A reinstall of Windows is the easiest fix for
this problem.
> I don't have much experience with USB (and hopefully won't be getting
> alot more anytime soon ;-)) - is it possible that the USB controller
> itself could have been confused by such a straightforward use case?
> (If not what might cause the controller itself to require it's driver
> to be reloaded?)
Does Device Manager show any yellow exclamation points or other
problems (such as multiple devices showing where there should be
only one)? Be sure to View/Show hidden devices while checking.