Windows Vista not recognising USB devices

[Elenna]

Hello clever technical Orgers! I've got a little problem I could use some help on.

We recently got our children a new computer (the machine is an Acer Aspire, running Vista Home Premium), and since I am the family technician (heaven help us! LOL!), I got it all set up and running...all updates done, AV/firewall sorted, internet connection, etc...and things were great for a few weeks, everythign running smoothly. Then all of a sudden we began getting "usb device not recognized " no matter what device is plugged in or which port is used. When I click on the popup it simply says "unknown device" on the port I plugged it in to. The biggest problem about it initially was that the wi-fi adapter won't work, so if I have to update or install something to fix it, I cant! Now the mouse isn't working, either :roll:...what a pain!

Anyway, I've Googled, and have found this seems to be a common problem with Vista, but the two most usual 'fixes' recommended haven't worked. (The first of which is to point it to c:\windows\system32 when asked for a driver. I'm not being asked for a driver. The second is re-naming the INFCACHE.1 file to INFCACHE.1.BAK. That hasn't seemed to do anything to help, either).

Sooo...any help would be truly appreciated. My kids are driving me mad about getting it fixed! I'm not a very technical person, so will need any instructions fairly simple and step-by-step. Thanks loads!

[blueivy]

Hello clever technical Orgers! I've got a little problem I could use some help on.

We recently got our children a new computer (the machine is an Acer Aspire, running Vista Home Premium), and since I am the family technician (heaven help us! LOL!), I got it all set up and running...all updates done, AV/firewall sorted, internet connection, etc...and things were great for a few weeks, everythign running smoothly. Then all of a sudden we began getting "usb device not recognized " no matter what device is plugged in or which port is used. When I click on the popup it simply says "unknown device" on the port I plugged it in to. The biggest problem about it initially was that the wi-fi adapter won't work, so if I have to update or install something to fix it, I cant! Now the mouse isn't working, either :roll:...what a pain!

Anyway, I've Googled, and have found this seems to be a common problem with Vista, but the two most usual 'fixes' recommended haven't worked. (The first of which is to point it to c:\windows\system32 when asked for a driver. I'm not being asked for a driver. The second is re-naming the INFCACHE.1 file to INFCACHE.1.BAK. That hasn't seemed to do anything to help, either).

Sooo...any help would be truly appreciated. My kids are driving me mad about getting it fixed! I'm not a very technical person, so will need any instructions fairly simple and step-by-step. Thanks loads!

There are a thousand different reasons from this from simple software problems to your USB ports are faulty (now).

The first thing to try is make sure every driver is up to date and that your BIOS is up to date. I know you said you couldn't get online because of the wireless problem but you also said you Googled for the solution so you must be able to get online somewhere .... :-) Download the updates and then update Vista.

I actually suspect that your USB ports / controller could be damaged or faulty. I can understand that maybe new devices don't work but old ones failing to work is a problem.

Do you have any USB devices plugged in that still work (maybe a printer or the keyboard)?

[router]

we have windows vista and experienced the trouble with usb devices and software,also phone software etc won't work....some devices the kids got at xmas won't work either.they will work on our daughters laptop which is loaded with xp.seems to be unless the software/device is intended for vista it just won't work and there is a lot that won't! i gave up getting software etc unless it states vista even stuff labeled xp or higher has a problem...i would try reloading the os failing that stick to vista software or get a copy of xp..failing that you may just have a bad one.