Windows XP forum: Cannot recognize USB devices

Hi Robert. Thanks for your advice. I'd tried by right clicking on the device in Device Manager, Reinstall Driver and it worked. I didn't install special drivers, all I used was the generic drivers as supplied by Microsoft.

Eventhough this does solve the problem, I'm still quite unhappy with its 'laziness' of detecting new devices. I don't believe that for each and every devices that I install (mouse, USB hubs, flash disk) etc., I have to manually ask Windows to 'Reinstall The Driver'. On other systems, if it needs drivers from me, a Window will come out asking me to 'feed' it with drivers, if it does not require one, a 'pop' sound will be produced and voila! The device works. But why is it so with this computer? It isn't an old computer which can't support Plug and Play, neither is the Windows XP on this system outdated (it has been updated. I've checked its BIOS and did not see anything suspicious.

I checked the System Event Viewer, and saw a few warnings by PlugPlayManager (Event ID 270), saying that the user interface has been supressed due to Factory setting. I thought it would be that something is altered in the "Plug and Play" service properties, so I compared it with my 'normal' computer, and found that every setting inside is the same.

What do you think is the remedy to this problem? Besides that, what should I do so that the Add Hardware Wizard will run normally, and not display the message "Cannot Run Two Device Installations"?

Thanks.

1. 1. The article [Q262129] explains the Event ID: 256

2. You may be interested in the article, "Changes to Functionality in Service Pack 2 for Microsoft Windows XP" which is suppose to have better support for Host Interface Devices. If I'm not mistaken, the area just mention is most like where the general problem lies -- the fix however isn't a point and click, IMO.