# Corrupt USB drivers



## routonc37 (Sep 9, 2008)

OS: Windows Vista 32 Home Premium, 32 bit

Computer: Acer Aspire laptop

The USB ports on my son's computer no longer work. They will not read anything, including a USB powered mouse or an external hard drive. According to my son, the mouse stopped working a few days ago. 

The device manager shows a yellow triangle with an exclamation mark at all USB ports. Under properties, it says this: 

Windows cannot load the device driver for this hardware. The driver may be corrupted or missing. (Code 39)

I have tried to reload the drivers but Windows says it's updated already. I have searched and found a registry fix by deleting the upper / lower filters, but it didn't work either. 

I went to the Acer website and downloaded the USB driver but it didn't do anything either. I've done all I know how to do. 

Any other advice would be helpful. 

Thanks. 

Christina


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## JimE (Apr 16, 2009)

You can try removing/deleting all of the USB devices listed under "Universal Serial Bus controllers". Then reboot. Windows should find the hardware and reinstall the drivers.


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## routonc37 (Sep 9, 2008)

I have done that already. Windows will boot and will try to install them, and then give me an error message saying the drivers cannot be installed. 

My next step is going to either try to do a system restore to last week and if that doesn't work I'm going to find out the names of the driver files, download them, and then force Windows to upload them from a saved file on the computer. After that, I don't know what more to do.


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## dai (Jul 2, 2004)

in the device manager click on view at the top and in the dropdown
show hidden devices
then uninstall all listed usb items
turn the computer off
unplug usb plugs
reboot twice
replug in the usb plugs


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## routonc37 (Sep 9, 2008)

dai said:


> in the device manager click on view at the top and in the dropdown
> show hidden devices
> then uninstall all listed usb items
> turn the computer off
> ...


When you say unplug the USB plugs, do you mean from inside the computer? This is a laptop and I'm kind of nervous about doing that. I don't want to void the warranty.


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## dai (Jul 2, 2004)

no just anything plugged into the normal usb sockets


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## routonc37 (Sep 9, 2008)

dai said:


> in the device manager click on view at the top and in the dropdown
> show hidden devices
> then uninstall all listed usb items
> turn the computer off
> ...


Still getting driver error 39 and nothing is working. Still have the exclamation points in device manager. One hidden file did show up with an error. It was "Microsoft 6to4 adapter" but it's now gone. 

Tried to do a system restore earlier today as well but could only go back to November 4 and it didn't fix the issue.


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## dai (Jul 2, 2004)

run

sfc /scannow


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## routonc37 (Sep 9, 2008)

dai said:


> run
> 
> sfc /scannow



How do I do that in Vista? I found Run under accessories, but typing this in doesn't do anything.


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## dai (Jul 2, 2004)

make sure you are not missing the space after the c before the /

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/929833


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## routonc37 (Sep 9, 2008)

It seems like something tries to happen with I tell it to run sfc /scannnow but nothing stays on the screen. A box pops up and then goes away really fast.


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## dai (Jul 2, 2004)

right click on cmd and run it as admin and run sfc /scannow


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## SA Spurs1 (May 2, 2009)

Try reloading the chipset driver. Remove the usb drivers, reload the chipset drivers, and then reboot and let them reinstall.


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## routonc37 (Sep 9, 2008)

SA Spurs1 said:


> Try reloading the chipset driver. Remove the usb drivers, reload the chipset drivers, and then reboot and let them reinstall.


If you mean delete them from within Device Manager, I've done that but they still don't correct themselves. If the chipset drivers are something different, then I need a little more information on how to do that.

I ran sfc /scannow as an administrator and it says it found some corrupt files it was not able to correct. It gave me a pathway to a log but it won't let me see the log. It says "access denied". I tries to change the permission to allow me to see it, but it won't change. So I have a log that I cannot read.


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## dai (Jul 2, 2004)

in the device manager click on view at the top and in the dropdown
show hidden devices
then uninstall all listed usb items
turn the computer off
unplug usb plugs
reboot twice
replug in the usb plugs

zip up the log and post it


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## SA Spurs1 (May 2, 2009)

Specifically what is the model of the computer you have?


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## routonc37 (Sep 9, 2008)

It's an ACER Aspire 5536-5883

I never did get the USB ports to work, but soon after I posted my last message this computer crashed on me and I had to use the ACER recovery system to get it back up. I had to reset it to defaults, which meant my son lost all of his files but it seemed to get the drivers on the USB ports working. So while I'm not happy we had to lose everything he's been working on for almost a year, I'm glad the USB ports are finally working again. 

You can consider this post closed if necessary and thanks for all of your help. I'm sure we would have found a solution soon. 

Christina in AL


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## dai (Jul 2, 2004)

glad you have it sorted


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