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    8740w/prototype. Windows freeze whenever USB ports are enabled.

    Discussion in 'Windows OS and Software' started by boxman, Jun 10, 2012.

  1. boxman

    boxman Notebook Guru

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    I'm going to drag this issue over from the 8740w owner's lounge, where I've tried for help. It is still plaguing this machine.

    On this notebook (HP 8740w/Armani prototype; f21 bios, i7-720m [quad-core], fx2800m gpu), at startup, whenever the USB ports are enabled in the bios, the little twirly circle goes around for awhile, I get a message that Windows is installing drivers, then the little twirly quits twirling and the system is locked-up. Doesn't matter if I'm in safe mode, or whatever, the system locks. Locks up on a fresh install, right at the very end of the process, as well.

    This doesn't seem to be a fundamental hardware issue: Ubuntu/linux runs perfectly. A corrupt and creaky old installation of Win7 32 from another machine runs fine. But, in any clean installation of Win7, nothing works if the USB ports are enabled in the bios. Clean boot doesn't help; disabling everything in device manager doesn't help. If I have USB ports enabled, NOTHING seems to prevent MS/Windows from installing some driver that locks the system (late in the startup, and late in the Windows installation program--all behind a happy-face Welcome screen) According to Windows Reliability Monitor report, none of this ever happens. No report is generated; nothing logs.

    Maddening.

    On my most recent attempt, after updating all the drivers, and re-enabling defaults in the bios (including the USB ports), Windows started, reported it was installing device drivers, then froze again. This time, I managed to click on the drivers message at the moment of the freeze. The message: "pci to pci bridge."

    Suggestions?
     
    boxman, Jun 10, 2012
    #1
  2. boxman

    boxman Notebook Guru

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    After a number of hours of experimentation, I may have finally resolved this issue.

    I tried disabling all ports EXCEPT the USBs in the bios. Then, I made several attempts to uninstall and reinstall usb port drivers. The HP NEC 3.0 drivers seemed fine, but the Renesas drivers locked the computer up tight, and sent the computer into a hard shutdown and check-disk restart. Windows repaired some files, NEC USB 3.0 drivers installed, I enabled all of the ports--bios defaults--and this computer is finally behaving itself.

    Whew.
     
    boxman, Jun 11, 2012
    #2