"Found New Hardware" (over and over again)!

[IntelConvert]

My son's desktop is a Dell Dimension (P4 2.4, 256MB RAM, 30GB HDD) running Windows XP Home Ed. SP2. After updating to SP2 (+ lots of subsequent critical updates, everything seems to be working well except for a very strange problem that I hope you guys can help me solve... Immediately after bootup, a WinXP message-box pops up, saying:
Found New Hardware - "your hardware is installed but might not work properly until you reboot".... This is followed by another pop-up box entitled:

System Setting Change, with the message: "Windows has finished installing new devices. The software that supports your device requires that you restart your computer. You must restart your computer before the new setting will take effect".

The problem is that the very same message-boxes reappear after each bootup! If my son reboots, he winds up in the same 'loop', so he just closes the message-boxes and continues using the PC without any apparent difficulty (that is until the next time he boots the system).... My son is losing his cool over this (it is a damn nuissance) and I can't figure out the problem, so I would sure appreciate some help. :w00t:

 

[Megatomic]

Look in the device manager and see if there are devices with yellow exclamation marks next to them. That's a start...

 

[Smilin]

There is a log file in your windows folder called setupapi.log. Post the last full page of that file here.

 

[IntelConvert]

Originally posted by: Megatomic
Look in the device manager and see if there are devices with yellow exclamation marks next to them. That's a start...

When my son brought the problem to my attention, that was the very first thing I did... Device Manager does not indicate any problems.

 

[IntelConvert]

Originally posted by: Smilin
There is a log file in your windows folder called setupapi.log. Post the last full page of that file here.

Wish I could, but at the moment he can't send it to my PC (Cox cable is having trouble in his area, so no internet). Can I phone him and have him check for anything in particular?

 

[Phoenix86]

Update the mobo's drivers, esp. USB chipset.

 

[Smilin]

Originally posted by: IntelConvert

Originally posted by: Smilin
There is a log file in your windows folder called setupapi.log. Post the last full page of that file here.

Wish I could, but at the moment he can't send it to my PC (Cox cable is having trouble in his area, so no internet). Can I phone him and have him check for anything in particular?

It's barely human readable as it is I'm afraid. It's a log of all hardware detection and installation activity on the PC. It will tell you what device is detected, it's PNPid, what .inf had the matching driver info (commonly an Oem*.inf) and what files were installed.

 

[IntelConvert]

Originally posted by: Phoenix86
Update the mobo's drivers, esp. USB chipset.

I'll have him do that when he is able to get back online. Sure hope that does it, because I've tried just about everything else!

 

[HN]

I had this same/similar problem with my laptop.
I did a bunch of critical updates from MS site AND a BIOS update from dell site. I did batches of 3 critical updates, restart, 3 more, restart, etc. In my utter stupidity, did not restart after the last batch of 3 updates and went for the BIOS update. when i restarted from that, all hell broke loose...crushingly slow bootup, "new hardware detected" over and over and over, bunch of programs wouldn't start, errors after errors.

I almost never resort to reformatting and try to find fixes before doing so. in this case, i had to call broken arrow. thank goodness for ghost image! (i know this didn't help you much but just wanted you to know it's not an isolated incident and perhaps the best/fastest course would be to start over which i never suggest unless i knew the situation was dire)

 

[Smilin]

Originally posted by: Smilin
There is a log file in your windows folder called setupapi.log. Post the last full page of that file here.

Don't guess. Get this info.

 

[IntelConvert]

Other than the persistent message every time the PC is booted (or restarted), all devices are working properly. ...I simply need to stop that damn message from broadcasting!

 

[IntelConvert]

Originally posted by: Smilin

Originally posted by: Smilin
There is a log file in your windows folder called setupapi.log. Post the last full page of that file here.

Don't guess. Get this info.

I will post the contents as soon as my son's internet connection is back up (so he can email it to me).

Thanks!

 

[IntelConvert]

Originally posted by: Smilin
There is a log file in your windows folder called setupapi.log. Post the last full page of that file here.

Here you go. I hope this is what you meant by 'the last page' (I have the full log file, so please let me know):
[2005/05/26 19:36:35 688.3 Driver Install]
#-019 Searching for hardware ID(s): storage\volume
#-198 Command line processed: C:\WINDOWS\system32\services.exe
#I022 Found "STORAGE\Volume" in C:\WINDOWS\inf\volume.inf; Device: "Generic volume"; Driver: "Generic volume"; Provider: "Microsoft"; Mfg: "Microsoft"; Section name: "volume_install".
#I023 Actual install section: [volume_install]. Rank: 0x00000000. Effective driver date: 07/01/2001.
#-166 Device install function: DIF_SELECTBESTCOMPATDRV.
#I063 Selected driver installs from section [volume_install] in "c:\windows\inf\volume.inf".
#I320 Class GUID of device remains: {71A27CDD-812A-11D0-BEC7-08002BE2092F}.
#I060 Set selected driver.
#I058 Selected best compatible driver.
#-166 Device install function: DIF_INSTALLDEVICEFILES.
#I124 Doing copy-only install of "STORAGE\VOLUME\1&30A96598&0&SIGNATURE175EC02BOFFSET7E00LENGTH98A532200".
#-166 Device install function: DIF_REGISTER_COINSTALLERS.
#I056 Coinstallers registered.
#-166 Device install function: DIF_INSTALLINTERFACES.
#-011 Installing section [volume_install.Interfaces] from "c:\windows\inf\volume.inf".
#I054 Interfaces installed.
#-166 Device install function: DIF_INSTALLDEVICE.
#I123 Doing full install of "STORAGE\VOLUME\1&30A96598&0&SIGNATURE175EC02BOFFSET7E00LENGTH98A532200".
#W100 Query-removal during install of "STORAGE\VOLUME\1&30A96598&0&SIGNATURE175EC02BOFFSET7E00LENGTH98A532200" was vetoed by "STORAGE\Volume\1&30a96598&0&Signature175EC02BOffset7E00Length98A532200" (veto type 6: PNP_VetoDevice).
#W104 Device "STORAGE\VOLUME\1&30A96598&0&SIGNATURE175EC02BOFFSET7E00LENGTH98A532200" required reboot: Query remove failed (install) CfgMgr32 returned: 0x17: CR_REMOVE_VETOED.
#I121 Device install of "STORAGE\VOLUME\1&30A96598&0&SIGNATURE175EC02BOFFSET7E00LENGTH98A532200" finished successfully

 

[Smilin]

What storage devices are installed on this machine? CDRoms, hdds, usb devices etc.

edit: Also, take a look at this key in your registry:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Class\{71A27CDD-812A-11D0-BEC7-08002BE2092F}

Tell me if you have any lowerfilters listed under that key or any upperfilters besides volsnap.

How many instances are there under that key? For example 0000 is typical. Do you have any others like 0001 ?

Look under:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Enum\STORAGE\Volume
How many entries do you have there? is there more than one instance of:
1&30A96598&0&SIGNATURE175EC02BOFFSET7E00LENGTH98A532200

?

 

[IntelConvert]

Originally posted by: Smilin
What storage devices are installed on this machine? CDRoms, hdds, usb devices etc.

edit: Also, take a look at this key in your registry:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Class\{71A27CDD-812A-11D0-BEC7-08002BE2092F}

Tell me if you have any lowerfilters listed under that key or any upperfilters besides volsnap.

How many instances are there under that key? For example 0000 is typical. Do you have any others like 0001 ?

Look under:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Enum\STORAGE\Volume
How many entries do you have there? is there more than one instance of:
1&30A96598&0&SIGNATURE175EC02BOFFSET7E00LENGTH98A532200

?

Storage devices: 2-HDDs (master & slave on 1st IDE cable), 1-FDD, a CD-ROM (on 2nd IDE cable) and a USB flash-card reader. ...other physical devices connected to the PC: monitor, mouse, keyboard, and router.

I will call my son and guide him with your registry requests. Won't be able to get back to you for a few hours.

I really appreciate all of your help so far!

 

[Smilin]

for troubleshooting, disconnect that flash card reader and see what happens.

 

[IntelConvert]

Originally posted by: Smilin
for troubleshooting, disconnect that flash card reader and see what happens.

Smilin: I tried that yesterday. ...I had him physically disconnect the printer, card-reader and router. The 'Found New Hardware' problem is still there on every bootup/restart - with only the monitor, mouse and keyboard connected!

 

[IntelConvert]

After a thorough inspection of all drivers, we finally found and fixed the problem... it was caused by a corrupted CD-ROM driver!

Replaced the driver and the problem disappeared...

Thanks to everyone for your help!

 

[Phoenix86]

Originally posted by: IntelConvert
After a thorough inspection of all drivers, we finally found and fixed the problem... it was caused by a corrupted CD-ROM driver!

Replaced the driver and the problem disappeared...

Thanks to everyone for your help!

CDROM driver?!? Can you explain? You mean the IDE driver for the mobo?

 

[TGS]

Generically using the cdrom.sys here. All devices require a driver to utilize. That hardware isn't magically talking to the OS through osmosis.