uptherebels Posted June 24, 2009 Share Posted June 24, 2009 Ok, lots of I.T. people on here it seems. Problem with my laptop. You know that noise you get when you unplug something from a USB port? Well I keep getting that, followed by a message that says something like " one of the devices has failed, and windows no longer recognizes it" I get this several times a day, even though I haven't plugged or unplugged anything into a USB port. When this happens, I then lose Wi Fi connection, and when trying to reconnect, there are no available networks. When diagnosing why it cannot find any, it tells me that I do not have a wireless card !?! If I restart the computer, problem solved, until the next time anyway. Anyone know what the likely cause of all this is? Does it mean it's time to go shopping for a new PC? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moo Posted June 24, 2009 Share Posted June 24, 2009 Off the top of my head, I'd say your wireless LAN thingy is either on the way out or using the wrong drivers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TTD Posted June 24, 2009 Share Posted June 24, 2009 Which OS are you running? Vista, XP Pro, XP Home, Win ME, 98, 95, 3.11, 3.1 ??? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mixle Posted June 24, 2009 Share Posted June 24, 2009 Is it possible that you're accidentally hitting a shortcut key to disable your wireless card? Lots of laptops have this (Fn-F11, Fn-F12, wireless symbol, etc) edit: though, to be honest, I've never seen one say "one of the devices has failed" when that happens Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grime- skint wouldbe ftb Posted June 24, 2009 Share Posted June 24, 2009 yeah, sounds like the drivers for the wireless card have gone mental, possibly. laptop shouldve come with a cdrom / dvd of drivers etc, or you could try the manufacturer's website. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
uptherebels Posted June 24, 2009 Author Share Posted June 24, 2009 Which OS are you running?Vista, XP Pro, XP Home, Win ME, 98, 95, 3.11, 3.1 ??? Just lost it again " USB device failed " . Running Vista home premium. Laptop is about 2 years old. It's always been fine until the last couple of weeks. If it's the wireless card, I assume that can't be replaced? How could it be the wrong driver, if up til now it's been fine? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darkman Posted June 24, 2009 Share Posted June 24, 2009 Before you do anything else, power down everything. Including switching off at the wall socket. Count to 20 and power up again. Then see what happens. USB connections can have a mind of their own. Just doing this solved some issues I had some time ago. I was surprised to say the least. Anyway, if it doesn't work, remember it was free advice heh. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
'Bart' Posted June 24, 2009 Share Posted June 24, 2009 Off the top of my head, I'd say your wireless LAN thingy is either on the way out or using the wrong drivers. Yeah. Personally I don't get that disconnection sound when the signal goes (as mine is wont to do) or if I disable the wireless connection myself by right-clicking, so it sounds more like an internal hardware issue. Vista is set be default to update drivers automatically. Maybe it's updated to a newer, buggier driver? Can you roll back the driver? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
uptherebels Posted June 24, 2009 Author Share Posted June 24, 2009 Vista is set be default to update drivers automatically. Maybe it's updated to a newer, buggier driver?Can you roll back the driver? Thanks Bart, yes I do get loads of updates, including a massive service pack 2 thingy recently. But I think I was having this problem just before that. I remember thinking that the update might solve the problem. If I knew what "rolling back the driver" actually meant, I might know if I could do it . Come to think of it, I don't even know what a driver is ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
'Bart' Posted June 24, 2009 Share Posted June 24, 2009 Thanks Bart, yes I do get loads of updates, including a massive service pack 2 thingy recently. But I think I was having this problem just before that. This is something a friend of mine warned me about when I got a Vista PC (the same Vista PC which is now packed up and ready to go in for repairs ) This is something different to Service Pack 2 and Microsoft security updates. By default, the Windows Vista update service will search for and download device drivers for your hardware. Trouble is, the drivers that it finds (and installs automatically unless you have disabled the option as seen in tip#12) are not necessarily the best choices for your hardware, and in rare cases may cause their own problems.PCSTATS is of the opinion that it is much better to disable the update driver function and do your own driver updates when necessary. Link Someone with a working Vista PC may be able to take you through rolling back the driver. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
uptherebels Posted June 24, 2009 Author Share Posted June 24, 2009 This is something a friend of mine warned me about when I got a Vista PC (the same Vista PC which is now packed up and ready to go in for repairs )This is something different to Service Pack 2 and Microsoft security updates. Link Someone with a working Vista PC may be able to take you through rolling back the driver. Cheers. My OH is using XP, but I will have a look at this driver issue, and see if I can change it back to the old one. Oh, and my anti virus stuff regards your link as a "high security risk" ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
uptherebels Posted June 24, 2009 Author Share Posted June 24, 2009 Well that didn't take long Have now mastered rolling back drivers. Will see how it goes. I should know fairly quickly, because it was happening so often. You guys 'effin Rock !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Thank you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
'Bart' Posted June 24, 2009 Share Posted June 24, 2009 Oh, and my anti virus stuff regards your link as a "high security risk" ! Tsk, what a wimp. Mine cares not a jot for such things. Here's the text that the link points to: 14. Disable automatic device driver searching and installationBy default, the Windows Vista update service will search for and download device drivers for your hardware. Trouble is, the drivers that it finds (and installs automatically unless you have disabled the option as seen in tip#12) are not necessarily the best choices for your hardware, and in rare cases may cause their own problems. PCSTATS is of the opinion that it is much better to disable the update driver function and do your own driver updates when necessary. To disable automatic driver updates: Open the 'start' menu and right-click on 'computer'. Choose 'properties'. Click on 'advanced system settings' on the left-hand pane. Choose the 'hardware' tab and click 'Windows update driver settings'. Select the 'never check for drivers when I connect a device' option. Click 'ok'. Rolling back a driver in Vista: Link I'd still be interested to see what others think of my theory. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest UK Debt Slave Posted June 24, 2009 Share Posted June 24, 2009 Just lost it again " USB device failed " . Running Vista home premium. Laptop is about 2 years old. It's always been fine until the last couple of weeks. If it's the wireless card, I assume that can't be replaced? How could it be the wrong driver, if up til now it's been fine? My take on this is simple Windows Vista is a total pipe of cack and you'd be better off scrubbing it and installing XP pro Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
uptherebels Posted June 24, 2009 Author Share Posted June 24, 2009 I'd still be interested to see what others think of my theory. Not sure if you mean your theory about Vista being troublesome or not, but if you do, I've never had a problem with it. I went to it from Windows 95 !! I read a lot about people changing back to XP, but never really understood why. Having said that, I don't really do much on a computer other than just using internet and email. If there were no such thing as the internet, I cannot think of a use for a computer at all, unless it was needed for your job. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moo Posted June 24, 2009 Share Posted June 24, 2009 I'd still be interested to see what others think of my theory. If by your theory you mean Windows Update downloading and installing drivers without your say-so, and problems arising as a result, yes, I'd say you were spot on. When it comes to drivers, I tend to go to the manufacturer's site and download from there, only doing so when I know I'm correcting a problem. That said, compared to 'security' software automatically downloading updates and sodding up your PC it pales into insignificance. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
'Bart' Posted June 24, 2009 Share Posted June 24, 2009 Not sure if you mean your theory about Vista being troublesome or not I quite like Vista, it's I shame I've not had the chance to use it more. The problems I've been having are entirely hardware related, mainly due to the knuckle dragging oafs at Shittylink playing "bouncy, bouncy" with the PC while it was in their possession. When I got it the hard drive cables had both come out (how they managed that I don't know) and the graphics card was DOA. These problems have since been fixed but it still isn't right, so it's going back. My theory is specifically that the drivers for your wifi card may have been updated (by Vista admittedly) to something less stable. It sounds plausible to me, but I'm not really an expert. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.