Identifying unknown device in Win 7 Device Manager

[glc650]

Hi,

Recently noticed an unknown device (PCI Communications Controller, under Other devices) in Device Manager on a relatively new (only a few months old) Win 7 x64 PC.

There isn't much to this PC since it is my HTPC. The only card installed is a Radeon...no other PCI-E or PCI slots are being used. Only one SATA port (SATA 3 for a 128GB SSD; no optical drive at the moment) is being used. The two USB 2.0 headers on the motherboard, as well as the audio hookups for the onboard audio (which I have disabled in BIOS), are connected to the cases 4 front panel USB 2.0 ports. The onboard sound and video is disabled in the BIOS (I use the HDMI out on the Radeon card for both).

I'm guessing it is something on the motherboard that needs additional drivers? But I can't for the life of me figure out what. The motherboard is a GIGABYTE Z77-DS3H and everything appears to be working, including the USB 3.0 ports (I don't have any USB 3.0 device to test with but the 3.0 ports show up as detected and installed in the Device Manager).

Thanks in advance,

->g.

 

[postmortemIA]

it could be one of intel devices that need separate driver:
Intel(R) Management Engine Interface
See what is vendor and device id in device management. For me it is:
PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_1E3A...

 

[Nothinman]

It's a common thing with Windows, I generally find it simplest to boot into Linux and look at its hardware descriptions. Things like 'lspci' are a lot more useful in Linux than Windows. You can piece it together with the hints Windows gives you, but it's a huge PITA.

 

[serpretetsky]

If everything you need on your computer is working and there are no issues, i honestly wouldn't even think twice about that device.


At any given moment my desktops will usually have 1 or two unknown devices that i just didn't bother researching because my computer is giving me all the functionality i need.

Laptops i will usually do a little bit more research, in case the device is somehow related to power savings features.

It's a common thing with Windows, I generally find it simplest to boot into Linux and look at its hardware descriptions. Things like 'lspci' are a lot more useful in Linux than Windows. You can piece it together with the hints Windows gives you, but it's a huge PITA.

meh, it's not that bad.

OP, if you still want to find the driver or device details, follow postmortemIA's advice

See what is vendor and device id in device management. For me it is:
PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_1E3A...

and google the hardware id. Or you can use a pci database after you've found the hardware id:
http://www.pcidatabase.com/

 

[Nothinman]

meh, it's not that bad.

That's your opinion. Coming from Linux, it's absolutely terrible. I just have to run lspci or lsusb and I know exactly what's in my machine regardless of whether there's a driver installed for it or not. As you mention, with Windows you have to dig for the PCI ID and hope you can find something useful via Google.

 

[Bubbaleone]

Hi,

Recently noticed an unknown device (PCI Communications Controller, under Other devices) in Device Manager on a relatively new (only a few months old) Win 7 x64 PC.

There isn't much to this PC since it is my HTPC. The only card installed is a Radeon...no other PCI-E or PCI slots are being used. Only one SATA port (SATA 3 for a 128GB SSD; no optical drive at the moment) is being used. The two USB 2.0 headers on the motherboard, as well as the audio hookups for the onboard audio (which I have disabled in BIOS), are connected to the cases 4 front panel USB 2.0 ports. The onboard sound and video is disabled in the BIOS (I use the HDMI out on the Radeon card for both).

I'm guessing it is something on the motherboard that needs additional drivers? But I can't for the life of me figure out what. The motherboard is a GIGABYTE Z77-DS3H and everything appears to be working, including the USB 3.0 ports (I don't have any USB 3.0 device to test with but the 3.0 ports show up as detected and installed in the Device Manager).

Thanks in advance,

->g.

I like HunterSoft's freeware; Unknown Device Identifier 8.0. It saves having to drill down through all the Device Manager dialogs to get the info you need. Like any other developer, they want you to buy their seperate driver update utility but this quick little freeware app will give all the info you need to track down the driver manually.

 

[Ferzerp]

It's a common thing with Windows, I generally find it simplest to boot into Linux and look at its hardware descriptions. Things like 'lspci' are a lot more useful in Linux than Windows. You can piece it together with the hints Windows gives you, but it's a huge PITA.

You don't understand the OS. Windows is perfectly happy to provide you all of that identifying information. You just don't happen to know how to find it (how hard is it to use the drop down on the properties of the device though?) and are just using that lack of knowledge to reinforce your existing bias.

 

[Nothinman]

You don't understand the OS. Windows is perfectly happy to provide you all of that identifying information. You just don't happen to know how to find it (how hard is it to use the drop down on the properties of the device though?) and are just using that lack of knowledge to reinforce your existing bias.

I know the OS just fine, I just prefer output like "00:19.0 Ethernet controller: Intel Corporation 82579V Gigabit Network Connection (rev 05)" instead of crap like "PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_1E3A.." which tells me absolutely nothing. The fact that there's so many apps out there like "Unknown Device Identifier 8.0." mentioned below means I'm not the only one.

 

[Ferzerp]

Sure, booting in to an entirely different OS makes a *ton* of sense and you weren't just being a broken record.

 

[Merad]

devid.info

'nuff said.

 

[Steltek]

It will probably turn out to be something like Gigabyte's "On/Off Charge" feature. ASUS has a similar feature (i.e. AiCharger+) that shows up exactly the same way until you install the driver it requires. It could also be a feature that requires a driver for either Intel's SmartConnect or RapidConnect technologies.

 

[glc650]

Thanks for the replies.

I guess it is the Intel(R) Management Engine Interface.

PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_1E3A&SUBSYS_1C3A1458&REV_04
PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_1E3A&SUBSYS_1C3A1458
PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_1E3A&CC_078000
PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_1E3A&CC_078

Is there a way to disable this in BIOS so it stays out of device manager? I don't recall seeing such an option.

 

[MrChad]

Why not just install the driver?

 

[glc650]

Why not just install the driver?

Actually, I'm thinking about that now. After installing the driver, what else would I need to do to use the feature?