USB HID Problem

[cjp]

Hi,

Just got a Belkin n52 gamepad for christmas but am having great trouble getting it to work on vista 32 bit ultimate.

It seems to be recognised during boot (lights flash) but vista wants to try and instal a driver for it. It searches windows update for a bit and then tells me installation failed. It should work with the generic windows HID driver (?) as no manufacturers driver is required or exists, but windows doesn't know what to do with it.

Can anyone please point me to the correct driver to do it manually, or am I missing something?

PS I also installed the vista software for the device
http://www.belkin.com/uk/support/article/?lid=enu&pid=F8GFPC100&aid=9072&scid=293
although the device should work without it when pluged in.

[CCT]

IF you created a folder for the Beta drivers and IF you installed the .exe download there and IF when you ran it you were given a choice of install location and said to install it in the same folder, then you should be able to boot up with a regular USB keyboard attached, then connect the gamepad, then tell Vista to mind its' own business and point to that folder for the .inf install.

[cjp]

Thanks for the quick reply!

The exe created a folder with some driver type files, but when I update the driver in device manager and point to that location, windows says 'windows could not find driver software for your device'.
The entry in device manager is under 'other devices' and the entry has a yellow exclamation mark. At one point is was listed under USB controllers.

The manufacturer info says no driver instal is needed and it should 'work out of the box'. Bit like a keyboard. Incedently, I have a ps2 keyboard and usb mouse.

I guess there might be a generic HID driver somewhere that it could use, but where ...... ?

[CCT]

Read here:

http://forums.anandtech.com/messageview.aspx?FTVAR_FORUMVIEWTMP=Threaded&catid=30&threadid=2065575

[cjp]

Interesting, thanks.

Another further development, I tried a USB keyboard on my PC just now and I get the same thing!
Keyboard works if I go into the bios, but in vista it tries to find a driver and then just says same thing as with the gamepad. Plug the keyboard into a PS2 adaptor and the adapted usb keyboard works ok.

Any more ideas, or maybee it's re-instal time. Shame, because otherwise the pc behaves perfectly.

[NooNoo]

You need to install the chipset drivers for you machine.

[cjp]

OK, I haven't installed chipset drivers because vista seemed to work without, until now.
I looked on the mb manufacturers website, but no vista drivers :(

http://www.giga-byte.co.uk/Support/Motherboard/Driver_Model.aspx?ProductID=1944

I will email them but don't hold out much hope. I am assuming the XP ones will probably break my vista install?

[NooNoo]

Every windows seems to work without.. because it has a basic set of drivers, but since your game pad is not being recognised correctly, we can assume that the basics aren't good enough for usb.

Vista 32bit nForce 4 drivers (http://www.nvidia.com/object/nforce_winvista32_15.01.html)

or autodetect them (http://www.nvidia.com/Download/index.aspx?lang=en-us)

[cjp]

Thanks for all your replies.

Installing the chipset drivers did not fix the problem. I tried a new Vista install on an old spare hard drive, installing with a USB keyboard attached. Keyboard works as does the n52 gamepad with just the bare Vista install! Drivers used are:
windows/system32/drivers
kbdclass.sys and kbdhid.sys

So, I could do a full reinstall, but I would rather direct windows to the drivers mentioned above. Unfortunately, there is no inf file to tell windows to use these two files.

Any more ideas?

[NooNoo]

So manually install the belkin game pad and point to those two sys files. It should pick those up straight away.

[cjp]

But thats the point, when I plug it in and update driver in device manager, I only have the option to specify the directory containing the files, I cannot specify the exact files. The files are not picked up by windows, I get an error saying instal failed and no suibtable drivers found.

In my fresh install, the above files are installed automatically.

Is there another way of forcing drivers on vista?

[NooNoo]

You could boot to safe mode and remove the HID devices from device manager. Reboot to normal mode and see if windows picks it up then, if not...

Boot to safe mode, remove all usb devices from their ports, remove any and all usb controllers and hubs from device manager, remove the HID devices as well. Shut down. Go into bios and turn off USB. Reboot to normal mode. Vista should not find any new devices if you have done this properly. Shut down, boot to bios, turn on the usb. Boot to normal mode, DO NOT ATTACH any usb devices until windows has got completely to desktop (logon then wait at least one minute). Then attach your gamepad first.

[CCT]

Read this a few times:

Tell device manager to update the driver from this folder: c:\Windows\System32\DriverStore (include sub-folders).