USB Issue - L501x, i7-740 Wlan swap 1000 / 6230

Good morning,

I'm german please apolgize my spelling.
Unfortunately I'm not realy a "hardware" freak, unsure what next to restore system or make upgrade work without USB issue without reinstalling Windows.

L501x / i7-740 received 12/2010
Build with Wlan 1000BGN
- no issues
- Created System Restore Point before starting any further work.
- Disabled 1000BGN after (didn't tag remove driver - I should have I guess)

- Changed Wlan card to 6230 (with bluetooth)
- After boot card was detected.
- I Installed the latest intel driver & Software for 6230 (Intel Support Page f. Win 7 64bit)
- Hardware Manager shows Wlan card & blutooth device OK and enabled
- connected to Home network WPA2 high speed / Accessed Internet sucessfully

BUT with 1. system startup e.g. parallel to the driver installation (and also continously after several reboots) every 10 sec. pop up "unkown USB device found"
- pops up as "unknown device" for 2 sec also within Hardware Manager @USB ports before disapearing and returning after 10 sec.
- Deinstallation not possible / no driver installed / disapears after 2 sec
- Hardwaremanager "solution fix" surprizingly found some issues with printer HP J4680 (Wlan printer offline), fixed issues automatically except installing new driver "not found".
- No luck with "google" for this issue
- tried to install older dell driver for 6250 card but refuses to downgrade

Frustating the Card seems to work perfectly, but "unknown USB device" constantly coming back and disapearing is unacceptable. Fear it is not related to Wlan Card directly but provoked by hardware change. I not sure what to do now.

=> I have not swaped back to 1000BGN Card yet, hoping to resolve issue.
=> I fear realy after a card back change and returning to system setup point created, the problem could persist...
=> The printer issue appears coexisting to me / still likely to be connected.

What I did so far:
- System restore point to 1000BGN setup enabled
- reboot with 6230 card / no driver "should" bee installed
- Card was detected by Win7, Hardwaremanger shows Networkcard without driver installed
=> USB problem stays
- deactivating Networkcard within Hardware Mager (driver remove taged)
=> USB problem stays
- tried to install now older driver from Dell support page for Intel 6250 or 6300 (6230 not found)
=> Doesn't install either drver, pop up after setup start indicates driver installation only being possiblewithin Intel ProSet setup?!?
- installed Intel blutooth driver only
=> USB problem stays
=> refuses to deinstall bluetooth driver system/software/deinstall software

What shall be the next steps ?
- I would like not to work with the printer drivers at this point as they were OK before the hardware change ?
- I have not turned printeron or connected via USB cable yet - should I ?
- Reinstall printer software - was always a issue with HP software...?
- install 1000BGN and see if problem still remaining ?
- How to realy deinstall & delete all "old" Drivers / Hardware / Software after system restore point in case there is a conflict ?

related but priority after abouve resolved (hope dies last):
=> Do I need further special bluetooth software / were to find ?
=> How to vizualise and connect to bluetooth devices ?

any help is appreciated,

Jens

 

You may be able to find out what USB device is causing the messages. You mention Hardware Manager, hopefully that is the same as Device Manager in the US English Win 7 version.

When the device pops up Hardware Manager, right click, then click Properties. In the Properties dialog, click the Details tab, then select various properties in the Property list, e.g. maufacturer. If those don't tell you what the device is, check the Hardware Ids property. You may be able to determine the device by googling the Ids.

I tried to insert a pic here, but evidently you can't just include them in posting, they need to be published at a web site, which is not helpful. However, in one of my USB devices, I get an entry like this:

USB\VID_0529&PID_0001&REV_0100

In this one, VID_0529 is the important part, I think it is Vendor ID. You can google just that, or the entire value.

If you can find out what the device is, hopefully you can determine what driver needs to be installed.


- OR-

After a year of use, reinstalling Windows might not be a bad idea. You get a clean start and you can install all updated drivers.

 

Thanks M,

I started by restoring system and reinstalling 1000 card to see if problem disapears
=> it did

installed "unknown drivers" tool to get details.
=> none found with the 1000BGN card.

tried cleaning registry up etc.
Harware Manager shows lots of "blanked out" devices (not in use), but non "unknown USB devices"
=> I wouldn't know which to uninstall, except one for the HP multifunction printer showing "disabled" that I just I removed.
installed the latest Intel drivers and bluetooth for 6230 card.

Now again changing to 6230 - lets see what happens...
=> unknown USB device pops up
=> card works and connects to Wlan

unknown device identifier says:
Generic USB Hub (8 interfaces), interface 5 with "unknown USB device"
=> Vendor Microsoft
=> PnpID: usb/unknown

Hardware Manager says:
USB Controler
Port #5 Hub#4
no driver details at all

What next ?

 

If I had to guess, I'd say that somehow Windows is seeing a USB device on the new 6230 card. I have the L702x with a 6230, and just did a complete reinstall of Windows and apps over holidays and had no problems

I used this driver for the 6230 from the Dell L702x driver page. This the same version as for the L502x:

Intel-Driver
R314405.exe (55MB)
9/19/2011
14.2.0.10, A04

The L501x has an older version for the same 6230 card.


Did you use the Dell driver or one directly from Intel? If it was the Intel, maybe uninstall it and try the Dell version. Ok, if this was mine, I'd try these things in this order. Just guessing, because I don't know what you can and cannot reinstall.

1. Leaving the new 6230 installed:

• Uninstall any applications for Bluetooth managent.
• Uninstall any applications for wireless management. (Aside: Windows has perfectly adequate wireless management tools, the tools provided by the wireless card vendors may have a few bells and whistles, but nothing that makes them worthwhile, IMO).
• Uninstall the current Bluetooth drivers. Hopefully they can be uninstalled from Control Panel|Programs and Features.
• Do the same for current wifi drivers.
• Uninstall any application that looks like it has to do with Bluetooth or Wifi.
• Go into Device Manager (Hardware Manager for you?) and right click on each Bluetooth and Wifi device and click Uninstall from the pop up menu. If you are asked if the drivers can be deleted, click Yes.
• Restart. Hopefully the 6230 will be an unrecognized device.

2. Install the Dell 6230 driver from the L501x page. In the driver install program, uncheck any features you don't need like the one that enables Wifi over wireless (cellphones).

3. If that doesn't help, repeat Step 1, then install the Dell 6230 driver for the L502x. You'll need to get to that driver page using the L502x model number rather than by your service tag.

4. If that doesn't work, remove the 6230 card from the laptop and repeat Step 1. Maybe you'll get be offered the option to delete drivers when unstalling devices in Device Manager (if these were not offered before). Then put the 6230 back in the laptop and try the L501x driver.

5. If that doesn't work, repeat step 4 using the L502x driver.

If still no joy, I would do a clean reinstall of Windows and apps.

 

M,

I will try that but might take some time to reply.

A)
You refer to a L501X driver.
> I was not able to find a dell driver for Centrino Advanced N 6230
> On L502x I think to remember seeing one for 62 50 (unsure the difference)

B)
The only Bluetooth related software I'm aware of is the Intel driver I installed.
> I have no clue if I need or have further "bluetooth application software"
(I would feel I rather need one)

C)
The Intel WiFi utillity works fine and recocnises de device.
I think yesterday inSSIDer or "Available Networks" within my second Laptop HP HP Elitebook 6930 showed the WIFI network when I enabled it on my XPS


I will have a look again, if you have a link for me that would be cool.

D)
I don't realy urgently need the 6230 card for a reason.
It is an engineering sample send from Hongkong for much less than 20$
(I doubt this could be the solution though

E.g. before starting from scratch in the next weeks I would rather continue using the 1000BGN for now.
> I was hoping to improve streaming performance by moving to 5 isteadof 2,4 frequencythat 1000BGN doesn't support but my Router.

I would realy hope for a simple fix, it should be possible to simply disactivate the USB Gate that sees the device as long as it doesn't hurt.

Jens

 

I just noticed the L501x page does not list the 6230 in the list of devices for that driver, just the 1000, 6200, 6300.

The L502x page shows the 1030 and 6230 in addition to those.

Drivers and Downloads | Dell [United States]

It says 6300 at the top of the page, but the 6230 is in the "Applies to" list.

I'm wondering about the engineering sample. That was a bit of important information.

If it's not truly a production card, is it possible that it has an additional device recognized by Windows for which there's no driver because it was not included in production? That would explain this issue, which I haven't heard of before.

If that's the case, you are probably safe just disabling the unkown device when it appears in Device Manger.

 

M,

I was hoping for some advice how to disable the unknown device recognized intermittend.Just disabling it within hardware manager doesen't work as by the time you do, it disapeard to return after 10 secs

However,

a "work around" should do it for me. The unknown device doesn't seem to hurt anything except beeing annoying while detected.
I wonder if it is at all possible to just disable the the single generic USB port were the device being detected.

I doubt it is an issue with the "engineering sample".
I opened similar thread within Dell comunity and you will see similar issue existing on L501X and no work around yet.

Also I guess there is also a reason Dell doesn't show the 6230 driver for my plattform. Perhaps it is just not compatible and no way to work around...

regards,

Jens

PS: I put the card at rest for noe, hoping somebody has a "work around" idea.

 

I had the same issue with an intermittant USB device appearing in Device Manager when I was trying to get my cell phone to charge from the l702x via a USB port. I needed to update the driver, but the device kept disappearing from DM before I could do so.

I was able to do it by waiting for the device to appear, right clicking it immediately, then clicking properties. Once the Properties dialog appeared, it remained, even though the device disappeared from DM. You can disable or uninstall the driver on the Properties dialog Device tab.

However I was trying to update the driver rather than disable the device, and since your device seems to present itself anew to Windows every time it appears, that may not help.

I think this is a driver issue which may be a conflict with the dregs of the other driver still present on the system. Assuming that it has the approprate electrical connection, you should be able to insert any NIC in a PC and get it working if you have the correct driver, without oddball USB devices popping up.

If this was mine, I'd probably do a clean Windows install, then try the lastest Dell L502x (or maybe the Intel) drivers. Lotta hassle if you're happy with the 1000 card, but if you have a spare disk (or can borrow one) to preserve your current setup, it might be worth trying.

 

spare disk sounds like an idea...

I have never setup a system from scatch to be honnest.
=> are there others except for the BIOS drivers I need to update independantly from the hard disk change ?

However, I think I installed the latest Bios L501X_A08.exe dated 08/2011 for L501x different to L502x by the wayand Intel chipset driver seems to be the "original" on the Dell site
(...perhaps already the problem right there)

Fortunately I have the software ordered on DVD with the notebook.
=> Insert blank hard disk and boot with the Windows DVD inserted ?
=> will it prompt for the driver DVD ?
=> Install the old drivers from disk during setup and manualy update to current version after the system is running ?


Regards,

Jens

 

People generally download the most recent drivers when doing a clean install, most of the drivers on your DVD have probably been updated by now.

This is guide to doing a clean install on an L702x, it will essentially be the same for you but you'll download the drivers for your L501x. It's fairly general, more oriented to the driver installation order:

Clean Installation - XPS 17 Wiki


There are many detailed resources for reinstalling Windows 7 step by step, this is one. Since you're not in a rush, you may want to spend a few days researching others:

How To Reinstall Windows 7 Easily (Step-by-step guide)


My personal perferences:

I always have another computer to take notes on during the installation process, and I take detailed notes of the step by step process, which makes it easier the next time.

I take backups using imagex at key points during the installation process, e.g. after windows is installed, activated, and all the current Windows Updates have been installed, but before installing my primary apps, e.g. Office. If I hose something later, I can restore one of these without starting over. I use imagex because I use it in my job, but you could use Windows backup and a USB hard drive instead.

I generally do not update a BIOS unless a very early one is currently installed, or there's a compelling reason to do so. It's hard to adivse you on this... I suppose it could have something to do with your USB issue. I have updated BIOS' scores of times at home and work and never had a problem, but there's always a small possibility that the update will go awry and you'll brick your laptop. If you do it, have the battery charged and keep the AC connected.

I use Microsoft Security Essentials rather than McAfee or whatever trial Dell includes.

Again, since you're in no rush, you can take the time to research the process beforehand.

 

I appreciate your post, thanks a lot for your support.

Enjoy your day,


Jens

 

Just wondering if there is any update to this thread. I am having the same problem with my 6230 that was purchase off e-bay. The computer I am trying to install it in is Alienware m11x. I am getting the same "USB Not Recognized" massage. If there is a fix, please share. Thanks.