Unknown USB device

RickC said:

I'm a bit stumped. You've cleared the registry of any accumulation of USB-related entries and ascertained that the built-in usb.inf system file is OK.

As I understand it a mainboard has a USB controller chip to which one or more USB hubs are connected. Downstream of the USB hubs are the USB ports. If so, then if there was a hardware issue with the USB controller then the hubs (and thus ports) would fail.

Your last screenshot shows port 1 on hub 4 has failed yet port 2 on hub 4 is fine. That suggests a hardware issue with the port itself. Can you check it with a torch/magnifier (or all USB ports if you can't identify which is port 1)?

Actually, the device on port 2 hub 4 is the internal wifi/bluetooth device, from my understanding the mini pcie port that it plugs into also has a dedicated "usb port" for the bluetooth. So, there isnt really a port to check. I checked all the outwardly facing ports and they seem to look ok. I think its an internally connected usb device but I have no idea what it could be since as far as I know the only internal devices that use "usb" is the smart card and the bluetooth, both of which are showing up just fine. I haven't noticed any issues with my laptop's functionality other than the message that occasionally pops up, but now it seems to be preventing windows from updating.


edit, I rebooted and ran 1 more sfc /scannow and got nothing. I might try to unplug the wifi card and see if the device goes away, since its on the same hub as my wifi card.

Here's where it gets weird. Your last USBDeview screenshot shows port 1 on hub 4 as 'Connected' but 'Unknown'... so the hardware enumeration was effective (type) but the full device enumeration (capabilities) failed.

I know from my own use of multiple Dell Latitude laptops that Dell likes using the USB bus rather than the parent PCI bus (cheaper components, I believe). On my own Latitudes the webcam and fingerprint reader are both connected via the USB bus.

EDIT: I just noticed your last post. Let us know the results.

guyman70718 said:

unplugging the fingerprint reader caused the device to disappear

... but didn't uninstall the driver, which - for Dell laptops - is often supplied by a third-party. (My Latitude E7450s use Broadcom fingerprint readers and drivers).

RickC said:

... but didn't uninstall the driver, which - for Dell laptops - is often supplied by a third-party. (My Latitude E7450s use Broadcom fingerprint readers and drivers).

Good idea, but sadly didn't work. I uninstalled the Validity FingerPrint driver and still have the same issue.

guyman70718 said:

Good idea, but sadly didn't work. I uninstalled the Validity FingerPrint driver and still have the same issue.

If it's anything like my own Latitude there's two parts to it in Device Manager (with different device driver manufacturers), one under Biometric Devices and the other under ControlVault Device.

RickC said:

If it's anything like my own Latitude there's two parts to it in Device Manager (with different device driver manufacturers), one under Biometric Devices and the other under ControlVault Device.

Nope, I don't have either of those in device manager anymore. From what I can see now the error I have is something to do with the system reserved partition being too small(?) (0x800f0922)

I know nothing about system reserved partition being too small but found this link:

[SOLVED] - System Reserved Partition Too Small | Tom's Hardware Forum

Dell's fingerprint reader isn't available from Windows Update. You'll need to download the Validity fingerprint driver from Dell Support. Unfortunately Dell's website keeps changing me from US to UK. Hopefully the reverse will be true for you if you check out this link:

https://www.dell.com/support/home/en...laptop/drivers

Change the Category drop-down to Security and you should see the Validity fingerprint driver.

Hope this helps...

RickC said:

USB\VID_0000&PID_0002 is just a standard USB host controller, not a USB device itself. The driver (usb.inf) is built-in to Windows.

Open Device Manager. You will probably see the Universal Serial Bus controllers tree open showing Unknown USB Device and a failure icon.

Right-click on the Unknown USB Device and choose Update driver.

If that doesn't work then do it again but choose Uninstall device then reboot.

If that doesn't work then use Nir Sofer's USBDeview (using Run as administrator) to uninstall all USB hardware. Windows will remove the USB registry entries then re-enumerate them and rebuild the registry entries after a reboot.

If that still doesn't fix it then you'll need to run sfc /scannow to check whether the usb.inf file is corrupt.

Hope this helps...

Just had this experience on a Win10 PC. Problem discovered: A faulty USB Hub. Replaced it and that fixed the problem immediately and w/o having to restart or scan or update drivers.