Now here's a problem for you computer genii

(28-09-2010 02:02 )Red Wrote:  Well I'm going to sit this one out for once to see how long it takes for somebody to come up with what I'd deem as a plausible answer to what the problem is

BTW haven't seen one yet but I have seen a little knowledge being a dangerous thing so far

You know what they say. Give a man a fish...

what can i say i buy stuff that works thus dont have these issues

come on genius share your knowledge

Try plugging somethink else into the usb port. like a wired mouse or keyboard IF windows finds them then you know that it is not the usb ports The it is either a driver issue or faulty hardware if its hardware then if its still under manufacturers warrantee take it back
and get a replacement.

(28-09-2010 02:34 )chrislatimer Wrote:  

(28-09-2010 02:02 )Red Wrote:  Well I'm going to sit this one out for once to see how long it takes for somebody to come up with what I'd deem as a plausible answer to what the problem is

BTW haven't seen one yet but I have seen a little knowledge being a dangerous thing so far

You know what they say. Give a man a fish...

what can i say i buy stuff that works thus dont have these issues

come on genius share your knowledge

Your Lucky you aint got the BSOD that winds me right up.

Me back up weird mouse is in there mate. So it can't be the port.

Either the dongle is dead, or there's a problem with software that's preventing the reading, puzzle.

This is two years old now, so no taking back. And I've never herd of BSOD.
ps

I have 2 external drives a 1tb and a 500gig, the 1tb is I fine have no problems with, but the 500gb nearly everything I put it on says 'this device would perform better using a 2 usb port', which of course it is. The other never gets this problem and when I unplug the usb cable from the 500 then turn it on and let it warm up then put the usb cable in it is fine and works normally. I did the reinstall driver thing with it the first time it happened and this seems to cure it, but it came back.

I just thought perhaps the 500 is a little faulty, but it does seem to be a driver problem, perhaps it's related somehow.

Everything else (printer etc) works fine.

Well, I know this might sound like an obvious answer, but have you tried changing the batteries in the Keyboard?

(28-09-2010 11:57 )aceman65 Wrote:  Well, I know this might sound like an obvious answer, but have you tried changing the batteries in the Keyboard?

Indeed I have and the mouse.

Well, since you have ruled out the obvious.

Do you have separate USB interfaces for both the Keyboard and Mouse? As normally one interface does both. And if you only have one interface to control both, is your Mouse still working?

If you have two, then unplug one, and see if that works. Does your Keyboard Number and Caps Lock lights still function when you push the keys?

All these could help you pinpoint the area that is causing the problem or fault.

If by interface you mean dongle, it has just one for both the keyboard and mouse.

It gives no error numbers, it just says something like, ubs device not recognised. device as malfunctioned windows does not recognise it. I click this back and it opens a smaller one with usb root, unknown device, click that and it open properties, it says no drive installed for this device, click the driver tab and it gives a date and time of driver as said before.

I'm kinda thinking that the usb thing has just failed for whatever reason. I found a replacement on the unternet £39

This might sound bloody obvious, but have you tried the keyboard/mouse/dongle rig in another computer entirely? If it fails in a different rig, then there's your problem right there. If it works perfectly in another rig, but not in yours, then your simplest option is to save any important files (assuming you use the PC for more than just gaming and general browsing, of course) to en external source such as a flash drive, then restore your system to a time when everything functioned correctly*. You do set system restore points when everything is functioning smoothly, don't you? If that fails, you're beyond the kind of help it's reasonable to expect on a non-tech oriented community. There are plenty of good and reliable tech fora and blogs out there out there, though. Google (or the search engine of your choosing) is your friend in these matters.

I will make one suggestion before departing this thread which may be of use to you, and is minor enough to cause no collateral damage (Sounding as it does, like an irritating, but relatively minor, INFCACHE problem), i.e. It might help, is easy to do and absolutely will not hurt anything, even if it doesn't work.

-1. Go to control panel>system and maintenance>system>device manager
-2. Once inside the device manager, expand the tree for Human Interface Devices.
-3 Update the drivers for all unknown devices.
-4 Windows won't actually find any unknown devices. When prompted, select "Browse my computer for Driver software"
-5 type or browse to C:\Windows\winsxs as the driver location
-6 If your system warns you about unsigned drivers (which it most likely will), ignore it and continue
-7 At this point, if you're lucky, Windows should install the correct driver for your devices.
-8 If this succeeds, punch the air in jubilation at your victory over the machine, maybe do a little victory jig. If this fails, drop to all fours and give it your best Chuck Heston in Planet of the Apes, and get Googling to find someone far more tech savvy than I am.


* Disclaimer: - I know that to some users, doing a system restore (to a previous working configuration, not factory settings ) for this particular issue seems like fumigating an entire house to kill one fly, but at some point in a thread like this, some muppet will invariably suggest it's a registry problem. Once that happens things go one of two ways. Someone with no knowledge at all and access to Google messes around in there and things get even wonkier, or far worse, someone with a little bit of knowledge, but nothing like as much as they think, will start spouting "advice" and things will get really fucked up. The registry is not for amateurs, no matter how well mentored or enthusiastic they may be.

I tried the keyboard in the laptop as well, so I think it must have up and died on me, it's the driver thing that was making me question it.

I saved my entire hdd with Norton ghost 14 to an external drive and even did a restore with that.

May I take the opportunity now to thank everybody with their helpful suggestion and taking the time to do it, much appreciated.

I will do has you say mr gummage, that looks a very useful tip. And thanks for the warnings.

if you have tried it in a different machine and got the same result you can pretty much be sure its the dongle/keyboard. either the sender or receiver is shot.

restoring wont help, updating drivers wont help. its a hardware recognition problem due to either incomparable hardware or broken hardware.
incompatible hardware can arise when you install a new o.s not all 3rd party manufacturers will issue new drivers for old hardware.
but saying as you havent mentioned a new o.s. you can rule that out.

so your left with the dongle. its showing as an error device in system/device manger. you have disabled then UN-installed the error'd device? if not do so also unplug it. reboot the machine. wait for windows to finish booting. now insert the device. if it comes up with an error then the usb device has a problem. it is unlikely to be the keyboard, as that will only show up after the usb has installed successfully.
if the usb stick installs successfully you should then see found new hardware hid / keyboard if you dont then you now know its the keyboard and not the usb receiver.