Windows 10 blocks my USB controllers. What to do?

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Diplocaulus

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I took the plunge and upgraded from Windows 7 to Windows 10 yesterday. That turned out to be a bad idea. After much weeping and gnashing of teeth, I ended up restoring my desktop back to Windows 7 (which seems to be okay now).

When Windows 10 completed its installation, it immediately performed a system update, after which Windows 10 decided that my USB ports were somehow incompatible... and disabled them. ALL OF THEM. And without USB, I of course had no functional keyboard or mouse. All I had was that handsome Windows 10 login screen--mocking me.

I finally dug up an old keyboard that used PS/2 and was able to navigate the UI well enough (just barely) to first diagnose the problem, then activate the Windows 7 restoration, but no amount of coaxing could persuade Windows 10 to unblock my USB ports..

It appears that Windows 10 doesn't like my Intel ICH10 Family USB Enhanced Host Controller - 3A3A nor my AS Media XHCI Controller. When I try to update these drivers, both Windows 10 and Windows 7 say, "The best driver software for your device is already installed."

Okay, what to do now? Is there a work around?

Thanks.

UPDATE: I discovered a site called Driver Scape claiming to have USB drivers compatible with Windows 10, but I've never heard of them before. Is Driver Scape legit?

http://www.driverscape.com/download/intel%28r%29-ich10-family-usb-enhanced-host-controller---3a3c

******************** SYSTEM SPECS ********************
OS: Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 64bit

Asus P6X58-E WS LGA 1366 Intel X58 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard
Intel Core i7-960 Bloomfield 3.2GHz
GeForce GTX 780 v353.62
12GB (3 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM 1600

Primary monitor: Dell UltraSharp 27 QHD U2715H 2560x1440
Secondary monitor: NEC 90GX2 1280X1024

Realtek High Definition Audio.
Power supply: 750w

G602 Logitech Wireless Gaming Mouse
Logitech G510 USB Wired Gaming Keyboard
HOTAS: Saitek X52 Pro Flight System (throttle & joystick)
Razer Tartarus Gaming Keypad
Wacom Intuos tablet model PTK-440
******************************************************
 
Solution
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Fully patched and current Win7-64 Pro running flawlessly here on my Asus P6X58D Premium desktop build (i7-930 w/ 12gb ram and an Nvidia GTX770 graphics card; x58 & ICH10R chipset.) System is modestly overclocked, but before I start restoring or otherwise screwing around with BIOS settings, I'd rather hear from others that doing so is advisable. Again, Win7 is performing like a champ.

I too have unsuccessfully tried upgrading to Win10, both via "Windows Update" and from USB thumb drive. Negative results in each instance are identical to those reported by others:
1) Everything works great upon initial install. (I'm able to update, navigate, tweak, etc. without any noticeable problems. Device manager shows all devices and drivers...
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seguin

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seguin

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having the same problem, can't even get old wired keyboard to work. Tried to contact microsoft, two hour wait on call from tech support and that probably won't happen. Laptop is working fine, desktop PC is non functional
 
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Diplocaulus

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I tried contacting Microsoft online too, but after browsing a maze of broken links, looping errors, and mysterious dead ends, I finally found a page that looked promising, only when I tried to post I got a message saying that the forum wasn't "accepting new posts at this time."

BTW, in case anybody's wondering I did go to Asus' support site and downloaded the latest BIOS and chipset drivers and even though I was current I reinstalled and reflashed them anyway just in case something had become corrupted, but still no joy.
 
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seguin

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Saw on one of the older forums that it MIGHT and I repeat might be a voltage problem. Not enough juice getting to system to allow it to continue....going to have a computer guy check this out, and if nothing else works, might try re-installing all over again from a DVD. And by doing that, whose to say this isn't going to happen all over again. You would assume that Microsoft would check all this when they did the system check for compatibility. So frustrating.......
 
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Diplocaulus

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Yep, why Microsoft engineers thought a complete Windows 10 install sans USB support was a viable option is beyond me. Again, I'm just lucky I had an old PS/2 keyboard lying around and that it worked (though a daunting challenge to use in mouse/touchscreen-driven UI).
 
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FrankHemo

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Exact same problem! Im typing this using an on screen keyboard and non usb mouse. Very big problem. second Win 10 install, i just couldnt believe I couldnt remedy the problem the first time around. running on asus m5a99x evo, tryed every driver i could find. no luck. win 10 works great if you dont restart. I pissed that its windows blocking the usb drivers. ok, hand hurt. back to win 7. please post if someone finds a workaround. Thx
 
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seguin

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Okay, wanted to wait a couple of days to see if our fix worked, and so far so good. I used my laptop to make a bootable Disc for Wind 10/32 bit version. We shut down, put in DVD and started computer up. Asked if we wanted to repair, said yes, but got message back no repair is necessary, BUT EVERYTHING is now working. We removed DVD, and have been up and running with no problems for a week now. Don't know if this will work for everyone, but it worked for us. Hope this helps
 
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Diplocaulus

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I got a response on the MS forum where a user said that he got Windows 10 to accept his USB drivers, but only after first rebooting into safe mode, at which the USB ports then worked, and then into regular mode, and Windows 10 has been working fine since--for a day thus far at least.

I'm still holding off before trying again.
 
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egoldstone

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Fully patched and current Win7-64 Pro running flawlessly here on my Asus P6X58D Premium desktop build (i7-930 w/ 12gb ram and an Nvidia GTX770 graphics card; x58 & ICH10R chipset.) System is modestly overclocked, but before I start restoring or otherwise screwing around with BIOS settings, I'd rather hear from others that doing so is advisable. Again, Win7 is performing like a champ.

I too have unsuccessfully tried upgrading to Win10, both via "Windows Update" and from USB thumb drive. Negative results in each instance are identical to those reported by others:
1) Everything works great upon initial install. (I'm able to update, navigate, tweak, etc. without any noticeable problems. Device manager shows all devices and drivers running smoothly.)
...BUT...
2) As soon as the system is restarted, Win10 (though not BIOS) appears to choke on the entire USB bus, thereby rendering useless my MANY connected peripherals: mouse, keyboard, two external drives, UPS, external modem, scanner, postal scale, label printer, and probably a few others I'm forgetting about. Really bad!!!

The way I managed to navigate and diagnose my system (sans mouse and keyboard functionality) was through a remote access app on my iPad. It (Splashtop) got me past the login screen and into Device Manager, revealing the sea of yellow exclamation points before each and every USB associated device.

I've tried uninstalling all non-working drivers and then rebooting, giving "Plug 'n Pray" a crack at the problem, but no luck. The same drivers simply reload, and all devices remain non-functional.

I next tried physically disconnecting the USB devices, rebooting, and then reconnecting them. Same outcome: No joy...

About the only good thing for me is that reverting to Win7 is relatively painless. I'd like to give Win10 a try, given that it's the de facto
evolution for Windows, but frankly, given how well Win7 functions for me, there's only curiosity motivating a switch at this point...

P.S. Anyone else experiencing this issue try the bootable CD repair fix proposed by "seguin" yet? Results???
 
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Diplocaulus

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Thanks for the tip. All drivers--BIOS, chipset, video--were up to date prior to upgrading to Windows 10. Given my experience and those of others here I'm not prepared to go through this grief again until Microsoft figures it out; the USB ports were functioning correctly, it was Windows 10 blocking the USB ports.

BTW, Microsoft's "expert" response to this issue posted on their support site reveals that they can't get to first base when it comes to understanding the issue, much less solving it.
 
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Diplocaulus

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Thanks for the tip. This is going in over my head, but I did run the above and the result was over 5,000 *.dmp files. On a hunch I used Windows Explorer and took a look in C:\Windows\LiveKernelReports\WATCHDOG where there are 52 dmp files, however there are none dated 8/1/2015, the date I tried to perform the Windows 10 update. The closest is from August 7 (six days after I restored to Windows 7). Would that one be at all relevant?

Thanks again.
 
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Diplocaulus

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Splashtop! That's a brilliant solution! :)

I use Splashtop all the time, though it didn't occur to me to try it then. Thank you for all the info. BTW, I've posted on Asus' forum about this issue but no response. I wonder if it's worth contacting Intel (Microsoft certainly isn't addressing this).

 
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johnbl

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the live dump files mean that windows was trying to figure out your machines problem. Most likely it requires you to make a fix. BIOS update, change a BIOS setting, install custom drivers for your machine.

if you can remotely copy a few of the .dmp files to a server and post a link. I might be able to read them and tell you what the problem is. Most often it will be a old bios versions that has incorrect setup for your USB chipset. Or you have a USB chipset with bugs that requires a custom driver to work around the problems. Best bet to get your system to boot would be unplug all devices but your keyboard and mouse and make sure they are plugged in to a USB 2.0 hub (not 3.0 USB hub)



 
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egoldstone

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Thanks for the suggestions (johnbl), but no luck... I just had another go at upgrading. This time I first checked all my currently installed drivers to ensure they were up-to-date. In the process, I found that one of my USB host controller drivers wasn't the newest and updated it. Otherwise, BIOS, drivers, and settings appear to be the latest made available for this Asus system. (For the record, I reiterate that under Win7, everything runs without a hitch.)

I next checked for incompatible software. Thought I had a potential cause for the Win10 problems when I discovered that having simply uninstalled Raxco's PerfectDisk 13 doesn't fully remove that program's various memory resident remnants (Don't you love software that leaves mementos behind like this?!!!) Anyway, I downloaded and ran the "complete" removal utility Raxco supplies on their website, and that seemed to fully do away with this known Win10 incompatible package.

Finally, with fingers crossed, I re-ran the Win10 upgrade...

Bottom Line: No change :(

The same USB bus that Win7 handles without missing a beat, still totally chokes Win10. AND, I find no .dmp files in my root directory.

I'm pretty well stumped here, and really think this must be a compatibility issue with Win10 and the x58 chipset, the Asus BIOS, and/or the Intel ICH10R drivers the system uses--the same conclusion the OP (Diplocaulus) reached.

Hopefully someone will get to the bottom of this and post either a specific solution or workaround here. Until then, I'll be sticking with Win7-64.

 
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johnbl

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you might run usbview.exe from the windows sdk and see if it reports any error for your UBS devices.
Windows 7 has various power management functions turned off by default.
Many usb devices have bugs in the USB drivers that people don't detect up on windows 7 even though they do cause problems. you can google usbview.exe and get a copy from some website, there are lots of versions because Microsoft put the source code in the SDK. or you can install the windows debugger standalone toolkit and get a copy. https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/hardware/ff560019(v=vs.85).aspx

On my new machine, the tool show that I have one USB port that is reporting a failure and I could never figure out why that port does not work. All the other ports seem fine.

-you might also make sure you remove any non standard USB device drivers like USBchargers that override the max current limits so a PC will charge apple devices faster. Lots of bugs with these drivers.
 
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egoldstone

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Thanks for the ideas, johnbl...

Last night, I downloaded and tried an apparent derivative of USBView called "USBDView". Other than a trip down Memory Lane (finding listings for the many past thumb drives et al that this system has known and loved over the years), there were no surprises. In short, under Win7, the hubs and everything on the USB bus show as normal--attached and operating. Under Win10 (only accessible using my Splashtop remote workaround), USBDView shows everything detected, but non-functional. Of course, that's what we already knew! I tried the program's disable/re-enable trick on each of the offending devices without any success. (I did clear out those many old USB registry listings though, so it wasn't a totally wasted effort!) Oh... I also made sure all power management features were disabled, per your suggestion. This too proved ineffectual: the problems persist.

So, I'm left thinking I might have Win10 incompatible Intel Chipset (ICH10R) or Renesas (USB3.0) drivers. The Intel chipset drivers are version 9.1.9.1006, and the Renesas USB3.0 drivers are version 2.1.39. Alas, the problem with that theory is that I'm not seeing others reporting this; if the drivers were indeed the issue, one would expect there to be more complaints...

So, I'm really stumped, but still cruising along without a hitch using Win7--as "Diplocaulus" and I are apparently destined to do for the time being!

Thanks again for the stream of recommendations.
 
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egoldstone

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S U C C E S S !!!!! (Finally!)

The entire cause of the problem on my system was AICHARGER , the Asus utility that ramps-up power output to the USB ports and facilitates charging iPads and other devices that call for more than the ports' usual 5 watts of juice. (johnbl's suggested troubleshooting hints included checking for such USB-related "extensions", and he was on the mark.)

While the Win7-->Win10 upgrade didn't warn of this VERY incompatible application/utility, it would appear that the Win7-->Win8 upgrade apparently DID. Once I stopped specifying "Windows 10" in my searches, a stream of warnings and sob stories appeared about AICHARGER from those whose upgrades to Win8 it had botched-up in EXACTLY the same fashion as it screwed our upgrade efforts to Win10..

Note that it's not readily apparent how to remove this problem app either. It doesn't show-up on the "Programs" list, so a straight forward uninstall isn't possible. And DON'T just try to manually delete the "aicharger.sys" file, or you'll be sorry (don't ask how I know....)

What you need to do to successfully eliminate AICHARGER--or at least, what I did--is to download a fresh copy of the installation executable from Asus. Upon running it, you're offered the option of "repairing" or "uninstalling" the utility. I played it safe by first running a repair and then uninstalling the whole thing. (The repair might not be a necessary step, but since the app has been on my system for over 4 years, I figured it made sense to head-off any file corruption issues during the uninstall process by running this routine first.)

I rebooted and, for good measure, THEN manually removed every remaining reference to AICHARGER in the system folders and registry. Another reboot and I was set to have a go at upgrading to Win10---and it worked!!!

I'm now running Win10 and my entire USB Bus is along for the ride. Hopefully, this solution will work for others as well.

Thanks again for the helpful hints that led to discovering the fix.
 
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johnbl

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good old apple, they used the same USB connector but provide twice the Current that the USB specifications allow. Motherboard vendors keep getting complaints that their PC USB ports were really slow to charge apple devices so they wrote their own driver to override the USB specification so they charge as fast as an apple computer. Biggest problem it a hub should detect the overcurrent as a short and can or should shut down the port/hub. I think on windows 7, the port might shut off and on every .5 seconds. Really messes things up. Early in the windows 10 beta, windows 10 was giving me a message when too much current was on the port. I ended up moving devices and have not seen the message in 7 months.
 
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johnbl

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Driver Scape, depends on what you mean as legit. Most likely they will not have legal permission to distribute other companies drivers. They just collect them and act as a server/installer and offer the service. It might be fine but often a driver is custom and specific to a particular version of a chip on your motherboard. Microsoft will provide some generic drivers but these are handed to Microsoft by the company that created them. Often the company will only release a subset of their full driver to Microsoft and will maintain the full driver on their website. Microsoft would just be sued if they grabbed 3rd party drivers and shipped them to customers without permission. I think these 3rd party driver installers just act under the radar. Note, Some hardware vendors don't want you to get old drivers because they want to sell new hardware. A new OS can spur on new sales if you can not get a driver for your old device.

 
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