Troubleshoot Vista USB Problems

	After you unplug a USB audio device such as a microphone or headphones on a Microsoft Windows Vista-based computer, there is no longer any audio playback. For example, if you unplug USB headphones to hear the speakers, there is no audio playback from the speakers.
	In Windows Vista, when you remove a USB host controller or a device that contains a USB host controller, Windows Vista may crash. Additionally, you may receive a Stop error message on a blue screen. This problem occurs if the following conditions are true: A USB device is connected to the USB host controller. The USB device that is connected to the USB host controller is transferring data. If you do not receive the Stop error on a blue screen, you may encounter one of the following problems: If the USB host controller is connected again, the USB host controller does not appear in Device Manager. Additionally, the USB host controller and any attached USB devices do not work. If you try to close Windows Vista, a black screen appears, and you have to manually turn off the computer.
	When you connect a USB keyboard to a computer that is running Windows Vista, Windows Vista may not use the correct keyboard layout. For example, if you connect a USB Japanese 106/109 keyboard to the computer, or if you connect a USB ten-key keyboard to the computer, Windows Vista may use the device as if it has an English 101/102 keyboard layout.
	In Windows Vista, you click to select the Allow the computer to turn off this device to save power check box. However, when you restart the computer, this check box is cleared. Note: This check box appears on the Power Management tab of a USB Root Hub Properties dialog box. For more information about how to find this check box, see the "More Information" section.
	After you connect a USB storage device such as a flash drive to a computer that is running Windows Vista, the device does not appear when you click the Safely Remove Hardware icon in the notification area. Therefore, you cannot prepare Windows Vista for the removal of the USB device. Note: If you connect the USB device to a computer that is running Microsoft Windows XP, the device appears when you click the Safely Remove Hardware icon in the notification area.
	A USB drive may not appear in the Windows Connect Now (WCN) Flash Configuration feature of Windows Vista when you click I have a USB thumb drive and then save the network settings. This behaviour occurs if the USB drive uses the NTFS file system format.
	Some universal serial bus (USB) audio devices and some USB audio TV tuners do not work correctly when you use the devices or the TV tuners together with a Windows Vista-based computer.
	On a computer that is running Windows Vista, you may be unable to hear the audio from a newly connected USB audio device in Windows Media Player 11.
	When you connect certain USB flash drives (flash drives are also known as "thumb drives") to a computer that is running Windows Vista, you may receive the following message: Corruption has been detected on this volume. To prevent further corruption, we recommend repairing the volume now. If you click Cancel, you can access the drive successfully. Additionally, if you connect this USB device to a computer that is running Microsoft Windows XP, you do not receive this message.
	Consider the following scenario. You have a universal serial bus (USB) mouse connected to a Windows Vista-based computer. You move or click the mouse as the computer is entering sleep mode. Then, after the computer has entered sleep mode, you try to resume the computer by using the mouse or by pressing a key on the keyboard. In this scenario, the computer stops responding (hangs) at a black screen.
	When you disconnect a Microsoft Windows Vista-based portable computer from a docking station, the computer unexpectedly resumes from a sleep state. This issue occurs when one of the following conditions is true: The computer has a USB Universal Host Controller Interface (UHCI) root hub. A USB 1.1 device is connected to a port on the USB UHCI root hub. The USB 1.1 device may be connected to any USB hub that is connected to the port on the USB UHCI root hub. The USB 1.1 device is configured to wake the computer from the sleep state.
	On a Windows Vista-based computer that uses Universal Host Controller Interface (UHCI) USB controllers, a USB device takes a long time to resume from "selective suspend" mode. Usually, the USB device takes 500 to 1,200 milliseconds (ms) to resume from this mode. Therefore, USB devices that are attached to the UHCI USB controller may take a long time to respond. For example, assume that you are using a fingerprint reader to capture user fingerprints. The fingerprint reader is attached to the UHCI USB controller on a Windows Vista-based computer. If the fingerprint reader is in "selective suspend" mode, the system may not capture the fingerprint after you swipe a finger on the receiver of the fingerprint reader. This behaviour occurs because the fingerprint reader takes a long time to resume from "selective suspend" mode. You must swipe your finger again for the fingerprint reader to capture the fingerprint.
	After you resume a Windows Vista-based computer from sleep or from hibernation, or after you restart the computer, some devices may no longer work correctly. For example, you may experience any of the following symptoms: A device, such as a USB IR receiver, does not resume correctly. When this problem occurs, an associated device, such as the Windows Media Centre IR remote control, is unavailable. Windows Vista does not detect some USB devices. The USB devices do not work. A USB device, such as a fingerprint reader, is not immediately available. For example, it may take 30 seconds for a device to become available after the Welcome screen appears.
	You connect a USB keyboard to a Windows Vista-based computer. Then, you view the devices on the computer in Device Manager. When you view the Driver tab of the parent USB host controller, you notice that you do not have an option to disable the device. The Disable button on the Driver tab of the parent USB host controller appears dimmed, and it is not available. If you disconnect the USB keyboard from the computer, and then you update the view in Device Manager, the Disable button is available.
	When you start a Windows Vista-based computer that has a USB camera connected, the computer may stop responding. This problem may also occur when you perform an unattended installation of Windows Vista on a computer that has a USB camera connected. This problem occurs if the camera uses the Stream.sys driver.
	If you try to install a universal serial bus (USB) device on a Windows Vista-based computer that was upgraded from Microsoft Windows XP, you may receive one or both of the following error messages: Error message 1 Windows encountered a problem installing the driver software for your device. Error message 2 Windows found driver software for your device but encountered an error while attempting to install it. Disk Device. Parameter is incorrect. Additionally, the USB device does not appear as expected in Device Manager. Device Manager may display one of the following conditions: The USB device is listed under the Other devices category as an unknown device. An exclamation mark (!) appears next to the USB device name. If you view the properties of the USB device, you receive the following error message in the Device status area: This device is either not present, not working properly, or does not have all the drivers installed. Try upgrading the device drivers for this device.
	Power management may not work correctly on a Windows Vista-based portable computer that has a Windows SideShow-compatible USB device attached. Because of this problem, the CPU may not correctly enter a reduced power-consumption state. In a reduced power-consumption state, the processor is supposed to conserve battery power. The processor does this by using reduced voltage or reduced frequency states. When this problem occurs, the battery may drain more quickly than you expect.
	After you install a universal serial bus (USB) telephony device on a Windows Vista-based computer, this device is unexpectedly set as the default audio device. The USB telephony device can be a USB telephone, a USB handset, or a USB headset. This behaviour occurs even though other audio devices are already installed on the computer. In this situation, the computer cannot correctly play media or record media.
	When you connect a Casio digital camera to the USB port on a Windows Vista-based computer, you receive a message that resembles the following: Please insert a disk into Removable Disk (E:). Additionally, you cannot access the photo data. You experience this problem when you use one of the following Casio digital camera models: CASIO Exilim Card EX-S3 CASIO Exilim Zoom EX-Z3 CASIO QV-R40
	In Windows Vista, a USB device may lose data if you right-click the device in Windows Explorer and then click Eject. This problem occurs if the device uses the NTFS file system. Note This problem does not occur if the USB device uses the FAT32 file system. This problem also does not occur in Windows XP.
	Consider the following scenario: You have a video camera that is connected to a Windows Vista-based computer through a USB connection. Note This kind of camera may also be known as a "webcam." The computer is configured to use a power plan that puts the computer to sleep after a specified period of inactivity. You use the video camera together with a video-capture program to capture input from the camera. You use the camera-preview feature to view input from the camera, and then Windows Vista enters a sleep state. In this scenario, you may experience one of the following symptoms when you resume the computer from sleep: The camera-preview feature displays a blue screen that contains no video from the camera. The camera-preview feature displays a black screen.
	Consider the following scenario: You are running a Windows Vista-based computer. The computer has a universal serial bus (USB) keyboard connected to it. You resume the computer from sleep or from hibernation. In this scenario, the LED lights that represent the NUM LOCK key, the CAPS LOCK key, and the SCROLL LOCK key on the USB keyboard do not resume their previous status. These lights remain turned off regardless of the status of the NUM LOCK key, the CAPS LOCK key, and the SCROLL LOCK key.
	Consider the following scenario: You have a universal serial bus (USB) multifunction device. This device performs printing and scanning. Or, it performs printing, scanning, and copying. You connect this device to a Windows Vista-based computer. You restart the computer one time or multiple times. When you open the Printers item in Control Panel in this scenario, you experience the following symptoms: In the list of installed printers, there is a second instance of the printer object for this device. The original instance of the printer object is set as the default printer. However, the original instance of the printer object does not communicate with the multifunction printer device. Therefore, this instance of the printer object does not work as expected.
	On a Windows Vista-based computer, you use a custom application that gathers system information by using Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI). For example, you use a custom application that gathers information about hardware, drivers, or firmware by using WMI. When you do this, WMI may not correctly report information about certain USB disk devices. Because of this problem, the custom application may not correctly recognize the USB disk device.
	On a Windows Vista-based computer that uses certain ATI chipsets, you do not receive notification when the USB bus is overloaded. For example, you do not receive notification if the sum of the power requirements for the connected USB devices is more than the available power that the USB bus provides. Note If you have too many USB devices connected to the USB bus, one or more of these USB devices may not work.
	Windows Vista does not recognize a locked Sony USB hard disk drive. Therefore, you cannot access the drive. This problem occurs because the USB device sends an incorrect status code to Windows Vista. Also, the device sends no additional sense code information before the device is unlocked. Therefore, Windows Vista does not recognize the device.
	When you try to open a file or a folder on an external Sony Ultra Portable universal serial bus (USB) drive (model VGP-UHDP04) that is connected to a Windows Vista-based computer, you cannot access the file or the folder. Additionally, Windows Explorer stops responding. This problem occurs after you wake the Windows Vista-based computer from hibernation.
	A Windows Vista-based computer does not start because the master boot record (MBR) has been corrupted. When you try to use the Startup Repair tool to fix the MBR, the Startup Repair tool reports that no problem was found. When a USB flash drive is inserted in a computer, the computer hardware sometimes reports that the USB flash drive is the system partition. The Startup Repair tool examines the USB flash drive instead of the actual system partition on the hard disk. Because Startup Repair cannot locate the corrupted MBR, it does not detect a problem.
	You may receive a Stop error message that resembles one of the following after you resume a computer from sleep or from hibernation: Error message 1: STOP 127 PAGE_NOT_ZERO_NVIDIA_USB This error occurs on a computer that uses 2 gigabytes (GB) or more of RAM and an nVidia nForce EHCI controller. Error message 2: STOP 0x1000007E usbhub.sys SYSTEM_THREAD_EXCEPTION_NOT_HANDLED This error occurs because of a race condition in the Usbhub.sys driver. This condition occurs if a USB device driver tries to enter a selective suspend state when a previously cancelled selective suspend request has not yet been fully processed.
	When you try to put a computer that is running Windows Vista to sleep, the computer appears to sleep and then immediately wake. This problem may occur when you use the Start menu, a sleep button on a keyboard, or a Microsoft Windows Media Centre remote control. This problem occurs when you use the following two devices: A USB device that supports the wake from sleep functionality of a keyboard, mouse, or Media Centre infrared (IR) receiver. A USB Universal Host Controller Interface (UHCI) host controller that does not support the wake from sleep functionality. This problem occurs when this USB device is connected to the UHCI host controller. This problem occurs even when the system BIOS reports that the UHCI host controller supports the wake from sleep functionality.
	After you connect an external hard disk drive or a universal serial bus (USB) flash drive to a computer that is running Windows Vista, the Import option in Windows Media Centre may not be available. The Import option is used to copy files from removable storage devices to a computer for use in Windows Media Centre.
	After you resume a Windows Vista-based computer from sleep, a USB-connected Portable Media Centre device no longer works. This problem occurs after you install the hotfix that is described in either of the following Microsoft Knowledge Base articles: (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/930568/) Error message when you try to put a Windows Vista-based computer to sleep or into hibernation: "STOP 0x000000FE BUGCODE_USB_DRIVER" (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/929734/) You may experience problems after you resume a Windows Vista-based computer from sleep or from hibernation When this problem occurs, you may receive an error message in Device Manager. This error message resembles the following: Windows has stopped this device because it has reported problems. (Code 43) Recommended resolution One of the drivers controlling the device notified the operating system that the device failed in some manner. For more information about how to diagnose the problem, see the hardware documentation.
	When you connect a universal serial bus (USB) printer to a Windows Vista-based computer for the first time, you receive the following error message: A device driver was not installed correctly
	On a Windows Vista-based computer that is running a USB composite device, you may receive a Stop error message that resembles the following: STOP 0x000000FE (parameter1, parameter2, parameter3, parameter4) BUGCODE_USB_DRIVER This problem may occur if the USB composite device has the Selective Suspend feature enabled. This problem occurs even though the USB composite device supports the Selective Suspend feature.
	When you resume a Windows Vista-based computer from sleep, you may experience unexpected behaviour from a USB device. This problem occurs on a computer that uses Open Host Controller Interface (OHCI) host controllers.
	You have a USB-based wireless connection enabled on a computer that is running Microsoft Windows XP or Windows Vista. Even when there are five or more wireless network connections available, the Wireless Network Connection dialog box shows that there are a maximum of four wireless network connections available. This problem occurs only when you use a USB-based wireless network adapter.
	When you connect an external USB storage device to a computer that is running Windows Vista, the device may not appear in the Safely Remove Hardware list in the notification area.
	Consider the following scenario. You have an Apple iPod that is connected to a Windows Vista-based computer through a USB connection. Then, you disconnect the iPod from the computer. In this scenario, the data on the iPod may become corrupted. This problem may occur if you use one of the following methods to disconnect the iPod: You use the Safely Remove Hardware feature in the notification area to disconnect the iPod. Then, you disconnect the USB cable. You use the Eject command in Windows Explorer to disconnect the iPod. Then, you disconnect the USB cable.
	When you remove a device from a Windows Vista-based computer that is asleep, the computer wakes. For example, the computer wakes when you remove a USB keyboard or a USB mouse.
	When you remove a USB flash memory storage device while Windows Media Centre is running, you receive the following error message in Windows Vista Ultimate or in Windows Vista Home Premium: Unknown audio error occurred (C00D1191) This error message automatically closes after a short time. This error message is also displayed when you remove other memory storage devices, such as Secure Digital (SD) cards, USB hard drives, and other similar devices.
	You connect a USB Webcam to a Windows Vista-based computer that is using an AMD chipset. Then, you may experience severe video degradation in both the video output of the Webcam and the video output of other video-based programs. You may also receive a Stop error on a blue screen. This problem occurs when the output resolution of the Webcam is set to 960 × 720 or to a higher resolution.
	When you connect a portable Windows Vista-based computer to a docking station, you may receive a Stop error message that resembles the following: *** STOP: 0x000000fe (0x00000006, parameter2, 0x48676643, 0x00000000) BUGCODE_USB_DRIVER This problem occurs if at least one of the following conditions is true: The computer uses a built-in charge-coupled device (CCD) or a built-in card-reader. A digital camera is connected to the computer through a universal serial bus (USB) cable.
	When you connect a powered-up video camera to a Windows Vista-based computer by using an IEEE 1394 cable or a USB cable, the AutoPlay functionality does not work. For example, you do not see an AutoPlay window that lists the available options to use with the video camera.
	Consider the following scenario: On a Windows Vista-based computer, you use a Secure Digital (SD) card. You click the Safely Remove Hardware icon in the notification area, and then you click Safely remove Device_name to remove the device. You reinsert the device. In this scenario, you may receive an error message that resembles the following: There might be a problem with some files on this device or disc. This can happen if you remove the device or disc before all files have been written to it.
	Consider the following scenario: You have a Windows Vista-based computer that does not have an internal USB optical disc drive. Instead, an external USB optical disc drive is connected to the computer. You run an application that calls the AcquireExclusiveAccess routine in the Imapi2.dll file to exclusively use the optical disc drive on the computer. In this scenario, you may notice that the external USB optical disc drive is removed from the Windows Vista operating system. When you reconnect the optical disc drive to the Windows Vista-based computer, the operating system does not recognize the optical disc drive. Additionally, a yellow exclamation mark (!) may appear next to the external USB optical disc drive in Device Manager. You may receive an error that resembles the following: Error 38 (CM_PROB_DRIVER_FAILED_PRIOR_UNLOAD) Note The external USB optical disc drive can be displayed correctly in Device Manager after you restart the computer.