Plug 'n' Play hell

[kf0rt]

This has been driving me nuts!

For the last 2-3 weeks, my main computer has been reconfiguring it's "Plug and play" subsystem randomly but frequently. Started out of the blue, best I can tell. And it's not the usual "plugged in a USB device" stuff. I found a PNP monitor program online, and it looks like it's reconfiguring the entire PNP system every time. Been too busy to "dig deep" but wonder if anyone has some thoughts on this. Every time it does this, I lose the KB/mouse for a second or two. No obvious solutions via Google (or my -fu ain't working).

System is one I built; Intel "Bad Axe" motherboard, Q6600 quad-core CPU, 4 Gig RAM, Win 7 Pro 32-bit (Hmmm... updated that from Home, but it's been several months now). 3 TB disk - no HW changes recently; nothing exotic. Thing's about 4 years old. Swapped KB and mouse, no change. Unplugged the USB hub, ditto. Seems less "worse" the more active I am on the keyboard.

Any thoughts? (If not solution-wise, how to troubleshoot?)

[WA4TM]

This has been driving me nuts!

For the last 2-3 weeks, my main computer has been reconfiguring it's "Plug and play" subsystem randomly but frequently. Started out of the blue, best I can tell. And it's not the usual "plugged in a USB device" stuff. I found a PNP monitor program online, and it looks like it's reconfiguring the entire PNP system every time. Been too busy to "dig deep" but wonder if anyone has some thoughts on this. Every time it does this, I lose the KB/mouse for a second or two. No obvious solutions via Google (or my -fu ain't working).

System is one I built; Intel "Bad Axe" motherboard, Q6600 quad-core CPU, 4 Gig RAM, Win 7 Pro 32-bit (Hmmm... updated that from Home, but it's been several months now). 3 TB disk - no HW changes recently; nothing exotic. Thing's about 4 years old. Swapped KB and mouse, no change. Unplugged the USB hub, ditto. Seems less "worse" the more active I am on the keyboard.

Any thoughts? (If not solution-wise, how to troubleshoot?)

Does Win 7 have the restore point like Win XP did? If so do you have a restore point in the list from before you added the monitor program? Or, how about uninstalling the monitor program? I'm thinking the restore point might be a quick way to resolve this problem..

I'm no computer expert but I have used restore more than once to pull my butt out of the fire.... All four of my computers are so old they all have XP on them so I am not very familiar with Win 7......

I hope this helps or at least sparks an idea for you.....

[W4GPL]

Can you be more specific what's happening at an OS level?

[WØTKX]

Dat's weird. Do you have a non USB Keyboard and mouse to try for a bit?

Sound's like it's losing the keyboard and/or mouse, and freaking out.

[NQ6U]

I had a similar problem on a computer at work. Fixed it by pulling out an add-on Wi-Fi card and plugging the POS computer into a hardwired Ethernet connect. Do not ask me to explain why this worked because I have no idea. It makes no sense whatsoever but it did fix the problem.

[W1GUH]

This particular issue might be in the "it'll fix itself eventually" category. Didn't have this particular one but I've had other issues that were inconvenient and irritating. What's happened a few times is that while I'm looking for a fix (or not -- sometimes I just say fuck it & wait for the self-fix) the problem goes away.

[kf0rt]

Haven't had much time to play with this, but am slowly doing the "process of elimination" thing. New keyboard & mouse, didn't fix it (but I'm now wireless on those). The thing seems to behave if I disconnect the USB hub -- just now swapped hubs (identical DLink 7-port models), no joy. Maybe the USB hub in the Dell monitor? Just reconnected that directly to the PC (instead of through the DLink). Time will tell...

[W1GUH]

And maybe some more updates from MS!

[W3WN]

The last time I saw something like this, and it's been awhile, it was a driver related to a newly installed piece of software. Started the machine in Safe Mode, uninstalled the app, and that cleared up the issue.

My first guess is that you have a relatively new app, or software update, that's triggering the issue.

[kf0rt]

Can you be more specific what's happening at an OS level?

Not sure what you mean, Jeff. Symptoms are that all or most of the PNP devices (have many) reconfigure randomly and at the same time and it happens frequently enough to be a major PITA. Even hear the Windows 7 bee-boop, boo-beep sound as it all comes down and back up. During this, keyboard and mouse (both are USB) act erratically. If I'm typing, the keyboard will miss keystrokes or stick on the current keystrokeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee. (<- I did that for illustrative purposes). Mouse becomes erratic, too.

Been running a freebie program called "Plug-and-Play Monitor" that displays any/all PNP changes. It was going off like crazy before; not much now (been playing with the USB stuff). Things are better, but still not quite like before.

Thought I nailed it when I discovered the USB hub was running unpowered. Fixed that, no joy. Had two thoughts today -- one was that maybe plugging the USB hub into a different port on the computer would force a reconfiguration that might clear the problem. Still seeing some issues. The other thought I had was that maybe stacking USB hubs might not be a great idea -- have my Dell moooooooooooooooooor (<- system did that) monitor plugged into the other hub. Plugged the monitor USB hub directly into the computer, no joy. Just now unplugged it -- it's possible that the Dell is the problem. Keyboard and mouse have both been replaced. I normally have a Fitbit port and a joystick (FSX, ya know?) plugged into the Dell.

Software? The only thing I've installed in the last month or so was the Adobe Lightroom 4.2 update. Rolled that back over a week ago through a restore point in Windows (surprised that I only had one restore point to choose from). Haven't had much "play time" of late. All this reconfiguring HAS made it better, but not there yet, apparently. And, I'm blabbing endlessly as a test.

Current config: Dlink USB hub is connected, Fitbit port connected to it via 6' extension. Dell monitor is disconnected. Back yard webcam is connected directly to the computer; it's up. Still seeing KBD issues as I type. Seems like if I disconnect everything except the KBD/Mouse and the printer (Epson 835), things run swimmingly.

Bizarre. Also have a 2-port USB 2.0 card in the machine; might try removing that. As you can tell, I use USB a LOT. But other than the KBD/mouse issues, the machine runs fine. Ran it's usual 6-8 hour backups earlier this week without a hitch. I'm guessing the "process of elimination" will get it, just haven't had much time lately. Ain't the Dell... That's disconnected, and still see the problem. Tomorrow, I'll go back to KBD/Mouse only and see how that works out.

Thanks ALL for the hints (and kinks). Never seen anything like this before.

[W1GUH]

Just remembered that this machine had something kinda similar for a while. Seemed that everytime I plugged something into a USB 2.0 hole, it had to re-install the driver. That always happened properly. And, that "problem" has now corrected itself. Everything's now normal. BTW...Windows 7.

I still have a slight USB 3.0 issue. If I leave a 3.0 disk plugged into the USB 3.0 hole during a reboot or a sleep./wake-up cycle, that 3.0 device will hang up the computer. So what I've got to do in unplug that disk, which always fixes things immediately, then plug it back in and it comes up just fine. Dunno if that's the computer or the drive.

[AE1PT]

I have had similar issues--changing a USB port position will often complicate or mask the problem.

One of the faults of both XP and Win 7 has to do with the "institutional memory" of certain things--including port assignments which no longer exist. As example, a device claims port 2. Move the device to another USB plugin and watch what happens. Example two--and by far the worst offender. One program wants to claim a port for some other software it runs and hardware attached to that. An instance of this often is Photoshop/Adobe, scanner interface, scanner. HRD is a particularly obnoxious offender here. Move a USB port device (such as a rigblaster) and boot it up again. Watch what happens.

Until the original assignments are cleared and everything claims a brand new place--plug and pray has a nasty habit of trying to insert a driver for duplicate devices. Bad deal. Check out what is happen with this. Google for "clear virtual ports in windows 7".

[kf0rt]

Well, hardware isolation has proven useless; problem persists even when the PnP stuff is stable. Swapped everything but stuff inside the box. Even deleted the kbd/mouse and let Win 7 reinstall on boot. Computer is borderline useless at this point.

Format C: (Y/N?)

[W1GUH]

Just reporting that the USB 3.0 issue has improved, kinda. Leaving that disk plugged in during a shutdown/boot sequence doesn't hang up the machine anymore. But now that disk isn't recognized until I unplug/plug it back in. Looks like it's getting fixed slowly.

One of the biggest USB hassles I've had is when using a USB to COM port adapter. I forget the details, but once you get a COM port using one of those, ya gotta keep the adapter in the same USB hole. I believe that what happens if you move it is a new COM port is created and whatever used the old COM port doesn't work anymore. Or something like that.

Haven't really had problems moving disks and memory sticks around. They've always worked perfectly.

[kf0rt]

Good tips on the virtual ports -- never knew that. Or rather, always suspected it, but had no proof of it until Pat's tip. Thanks!

Spent a bunch of time on this yesterday, and may have hit on the problem by accident. In an attempt to make sure it wasn't hardware (why won't a Ubuntu DVD boot this thing?), I disconnected all the hard drives (3 internal), plugged in a spare and installed win 7 Pro on the spare. Seemed to be working fine. Then, I plugged my two data drives in -- only change now is I'm running a different boot drive, and have no software to go with all the data. Problem comes back. What the...? Didn't expect that.

This motherboard (Intel D975XBX2) has two SATA controllers. Main controller has 4 ports, based on an Intel chipset, I believe. Runs two hard drives and two DVD burners. Second controller has another 4 ports, based on a Marvell RAID controller (it was a pain getting that to play JBOD style for a single drive way back when). Disconnect the drive on the Marvell side and things seem to work Marvellessly. Can't be the drive... slapped that in a USB enclosure and backed it up (600+ Gig -- it's the video drive for for the HTPC upstairs); no problems there.

Everything's back the way it was except for that one drive. Problem appears isolated -- at least the keyboard and mouse are both behaving.

There goes the excuse to ship a pile of cash that I don't have to Newegg for a new i7 system. :lol:

[WØTKX]

Glad you isolated it. Though it's old (originally from Microsoft), this is supposed to still work on Windows 7...

http://www.ftdichip.com/Support/Utilities/usbview.zip

[kf0rt]

Glad you isolated it. Though it's old (originally from Microsoft), this is supposed to still work on Windows 7...

http://www.ftdichip.com/Support/Utilities/usbview.zip

Seemed to fix it for a bit, buuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuut now it's back. (I didn't type l those u's).

Play more tomorrow, but I'm readdy to throw in the towel.

[K7SGJ]

Seemed to fix it for a bit, buuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuut now it's back. (I didn't type l those u's).

Play more tomorrow, but I'm readdy to throw in the towel.

You might want to consider something non-flammable, and then again................................

[kf0rt]

On da laptop...

I'm not usually this easily flummoxed, but this one has me baffled. Fresh install of Win 7 on a new hard drive yesterday with no other drives in the system didn't fix it; must be hardware related?

Symptoms (to reiterate): System regularly goes into a mouse/keyboard "hell" where the last state runs for a second or three. Mouse dies or becomes unresponsive. Keyboard will either die (if in key-up) or will repeat the last keystroke if key-down. Hit backspace at the wrong instant, and it will delete an entire document. Hit 'u' and it will repeat it for a bit. Key-up, it just ignores what you type for a bit. Seems random, but very persistent. Seconds, not minutes.

System operates fine other than this. It's running Win 7 Pro (32 bit) and does some server duty for printing and such. Might not notice problems there. Webcam is up and running.

Virii? Got none; system is clean.
Google-fu ain't helping (but I'll replace the mobo battery tomorrow anyway).

I've done about everything I can think of, but no joy.

Box is about 4 years old: Intel motherboard, Q6600 CPU, 4 gig RAM, three 1 TB WD disk drives, two DVD drives, gigabit LAN and a boatload of USB crap that makes no difference (disconnect it all, problem persists).

Bizarre schidt. Been a good machine for a long time, but I'm about at my limit with it.

[NQ6U]

http://i815.photobucket.com/albums/zz79/gyrogeerloose/how-to.jpg

[kf0rt]

http://i815.photobucket.com/albums/zz79/gyrogeerloose/how-to.jpg


I'm ready, brother. Trust me.

[kf0rt]

Still ain't fixed, but ttle better. Read something on a "Storm" gamer forum that described the symptoms to 't'. Actually run that here,t shut it down and no fix. Seems like the longer I type, the worse it gets. Don't wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwanna reformat and it's not likely hardware. If I have to rebuild he system software, might as well buy new hardware, and can't really afford it. (<- how it looks here without a lot of maaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa intention) manual intveention, manual intervention

System is clean on every scanner I've found, but hope to have a week off over Christmas -- no solution by then, it's time for drastic measures.

Computers suck.

[WØTKX]

Just an odd thought. Is your BIOS set to "Yes" or "On" for a "Plug and Play "OS"?

The BIOS and Winders may be fighting over it. It shouldn't, but...

Conventional wisdom is to say yes for newer Windows versions. But try turning it off.

[kf0rt]

I'm done. Tried everything and this has whipped my ass. BIOS: no joy. Replaced MB battery: no joy. Removed all the hard drives and booted it from a fresh W7 install: no joy. Reinstall drivers: no joy. New keyboard: do I look that stupid?

Effin' DONE. Gotta be something in the MoBo, but everything else works great.

Ordered parts for a whole new system last night from Newegg. Life's too short for some of the mysteries I guess. This one kicked my ass severely and I no longer have time for it.

:(

[ad4mg]

I'm done. Tried everything and this has whipped my ass. BIOS: no joy. Replaced MB battery: no joy. Removed all the hard drives and booted it from a fresh W7 install: no joy. Reinstall drivers: no joy. New keyboard: do I look that stupid?

Effin' DONE. Gotta be something in the MoBo, but everything else works great.

Ordered parts for a whole new system last night from Newegg. Life's too short for some of the mysteries I guess. This one kicked my ass severely and I no longer have time for it.

:(

Not sure if its related, but we have 2 pretty new Dell laptops with Windows 7 64-bit on them here at work, and guess what? They are having issues with devices plugged into the USB ports. Mouse, keyboard, printers, Canon scanners, etc. Seems like the machines just randomly dump the configuration for these devices.

[kf0rt]

Not sure if its related, but we have 2 pretty new Dell laptops with Windows 7 64-bit on them here at work, and guess what? They are having issues with devices plugged into the USB ports. Mouse, keyboard, printers, Canon scanners, etc. Seems like the machines just randomly dump the configuration for these devices.

If you figure out what's causing that, I'd be interested. ;)

That's kinda how mine started out. It would randomly just reconfig the whole USB system -- dump everything and reconnect it all. I've got a program that monitors that stuff. Through a lot of fiddling (not sure exactly what I did), that stopped, but the keyboard and mouse problems persist.

Never had any trouble with the printer, webcam, weather station, or any of the other half dozen USB devices connected. Using a PS2 keyboard didn't work either. This is on a 4-year old computer that's never given me a lick of trouble.

[kf0rt]

Large bucket o' parts arrived from Newegg this afternoon.

Badda-bing, it's now limping.

[kf0rt]

New machine now has the Hamis Land cookie. W@@T!

Been transferring data all day from the Synology NAS backup unit (almost done). It's faster than copying from the other box, and the backups are current. On a gigabit LAN, seems to run anywhere from about 25 to 75 MB/s and still taking all day.

This system looks like it'll kick ass for my purposes. Here's the build:

Cooler Master Centurion 5 case. Well done, not expensive
Corsair HX750 power supply
GIGABYTE GA-X79-UP4 X79 motherboard (LGA2011)
Intel Core i7 3820 CPU - 3.6 GHZ without overclocking
Cooler Master RR-212E-20PK-R2 CPU cooler
CORSAIR CMZ16GX3M4A1600C9 4x4Gig memory
EVGA 2G-P3-1559-RX GTX550TI Graphics card. Not high end gaming stuff, but a refirb steal for $109
ADATA ASP900S3-256GM - 256 GB SSD as drive C:
2x SAMSUNG ST2000DL004 - 2TB x 2 for D: and E: -- using these in the Synology backup server and they've been running great for almost a year
2x ASUS DRW-24B1ST - $20 DVD R/W drives for F: and G: Shit just works; why pay more?
Windows 7 Pro 64-bit OEM

Right at $1,600. Or about $200 LESS than I paid for my first '286 DOS PC clone box in 1983?

Build went smooth as silk last night (even with a 12-pack); powered up first time and the only hitch was learning how to mount the LGA2011 stuff. No big deal, but it's different than the old CORE DUO way. About 3 hours from Newegg box to Windows login (and was working on the wife's system too). No Firewire on the Gigabyte board, but tons of USB and SATA. It's handling the five SATA drives with zero configuration changes. Win 7 performance index is 7.3 due to the SSD boot drive (this effer boots FAST). The low (7.3) rating is due to the graphics; everything else is 7.9. The ex-box runs at 5.9 because of disk speed.

Geek shit. All this because of a keyboard problem?

Hope to swap machines tonight. Put the old one on the test bench and the new one in "production" mode. Then the real work begins.

Oh, and now I'm broke, too.