Add Hardware Wizard expired

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsxp.device_driver.dev (More info?)

Did you try a system restore to a point before the attempt? Also when
you attempted the install did you follow the HP instructions and install
the software first? I know this is counterintuitive but a lot of
peripherals do it that way these days.

Martin Brown wrote:
> Sorry if this is considered off topic, but I hope that the best
> expertise in resurrecting a dead Add Hardware Wizard resides here.
> Someone testing device drivers must have stumbled across this failure
> mode before.
>
> The problem started after a disastrous failed installation of an HP5300C
> scanner on WinXP Pro (the USB scanner stopped the PC from rebooting).
> The install could not complete so ever after the add h/w wizard is wrecked.
>
> When Add Hardware is clicked it waits 5-10s and then gives the error msg:
>
> "Cannot Run Two Device Installations
> You can only install one device at a time. Another device installation
> is underway, when it is finished you can try this wizard again"
>
> Others have seen this problem too, but has anyone found a method to
> resurrect the wizard short of a total XP reinstall ?
>
> I expect there is a locked file somewhere. The registry entry for h/w
> wiz looks suspect but is the same as on other XP systems I checked.
>
> HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Control
> Panel\Extended Properties\{random_hex_machine_ID} 2
>
> %SystemRoot%\system32\hdwwiz.cpl REG_DW 0xffffffff (4292967295)
>
> Search of MSKB and Google groups reveals that HP has a pretty dreadful
> reputation for drivers that damage XP and/or the USB scanner hardware
> itself. I wish I had looked at them before I tried to install it. I have
> already tried most of the suggestions in previous HP scanner threads but
> may well have overlooked something.
>
> So far I have tried:
>
> Uninstall the HP drivers.
> Unwind the registry/system restore
> Delete all the bits of junk HP uninstall missed
> Selective disable of various services at boot up.
> Run HDValet to delete junk files (recommended in another dead wizard
> thread)
>
> The Add Hardware Wizard stubbornly remains stone dead  
>
> I am fast approaching the point where full reinstall of XP looks like my
> only option. I don't care about the scanner any more. I need that &%$#*
> lazy wizard working again!
>
> Help!!! Thanks for any suggestions, diagnostics or recommendations to
> fix this.
>
> Regards,

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsxp.device_driver.dev (More info?)

In message <2TdEc.84347$%T.42796@okepread05>, Mike Powers
<mikepowers5@cox.net> writes

Thanks for your suggestions Mike. I agree that system restore ought to
work - but perhaps it won't if there is a hidden locked file somewhere?

>Did you try a system restore to a point before the attempt?

Yes. First thing I tried. Sadly Hardware wizard didn't recover.

I don't really know for certain that the hardware wizard was actually
working before that. I suspect that HP's CDROM based installer bypassed
the XP install wizard. And a dead wizard is something you only notice
when you try and use it.

I am still suspicious that hdwwiz.cpl has a fishy registry key value
0xffffffff when all the other programs around it have values in the
range 0...10

> Also when you attempted the install did you follow the HP instructions
>and install the software first?

Again. Yes - exactly by the book. That made it all the more annoying
when it reduced my XP machine to a quivering heap of dead metal.

I have never seen quite such a good impression of playing dead before.
My instinct was that it was like there was a dead short across the 5v
rail. Booting the PC with the HP 5300C plugged into the USB port after
installing its driver software (scanner powered on *or* off) proved to
be impossible - in fact the PC didn't even manage to flash up the BIOS
screen or initialise the video at start up (no diagnostic beeps either).
Scary!! Not surprisingly since it never completed this step it remained
stuck part way through a hardware driver installation.

Thankfully the PC did boot up again once I unplugged the wretched
scanner.

> I know this is counterintuitive but a lot of peripherals do it that
>way these days.

Not a great advert for plug and pray.

But this was installed exactly as per manufacturers recommendations - I
think the problem began when the reboot locked up so disastrously.
Postings on comp.sys.hp.hardware and elsewhere suggest that for some
models of HP scanner XP drivers may be capable of frying the USB
hardware. Given what happened with mine I can believe this.

I don't care about the scanner any more. It still works on my old PC so
no permanent damage was done to its hardware interface.
..
But I really do need to get that stupid Add Hardware Wizard working
again!

>> Help!!! Thanks for any suggestions, diagnostics or recommendations
>>to fix this.


Regards,
--
Martin Brown