USB storage devices correctly identified by W7 but not connected

[Netweaver]

The W7 installation has been running faultlessly for 6 years. Last week I saw that all my USB storage devices were not connecting to any of my USB2 or USB3 hubs. The start menu "Devices and Printers" displays each and every storage device (e.g. Cruzer Blade, Seagate Expansion) by name and properties, and advises that troubleshooting is necessary, but the troubleshooting does not work; no directory address is assigned to the USB drive so it can not be accessed.

I have scoured the web for help with this 'connection error 10' and the advice from different sources is very consistent. I have used the Device Manager to uninstall the USB controllers and Windows has dutifully reinstalled them but they still don't work. I have updated my Renesas USB3 driver, gone back to my old Renesas driver, and have even tried the original NEC USB3 driver, which never worked anyway. The BIOS settings were not changed, but I have still re-entered them. I have edited the registry to remove the low filter, and there was no high filter. I have used a registry cleaner and made a full anti-virus scan, although only with AVG. I have checked that the system files are not corrupted, and I have used several Microsoft repair programs that were not helpful. I have left the machine unpowered overnight and I have tried to 'Add a device". In short, I have tried every suggestion that I have been able to find.

It is just so frustrating to watch storage devices power up when they are plugged in, and to see them appear in the list of devices, and then fail to be assigned a drive letter for access. Any help will be greatly appreciated.

It is very

 

[Ketchup]

What computer/motherboard is this?

When you say hubs, are you referring to devices outside the computer, or are you referring to ports from/on the board?

 

[Netweaver]

Motherboard is Gigabyte GA-X58A-UD5 Rev2 and all ports are either on the board or connected to USB headers: 2xUSB3 10xUSB2

 

[bruceb]

Found this at gigabyte forum:
You may also want to update to the latest BIOS for the motherboard
It is suggested to do it using the QFlash utility and not from when
the computer is fully booted.

http://forum.giga-byte.co.uk/index.php?topic=9959.0

This is what Gigabyte advise you to do under their USB specs. "Due to a Windows 7 limitation, please connect your USB device(s) to the Intel controlled USB port(s) (located below the RJ-45 LAN port) before the VIA USB 3.0 controller driver is installed" Please refer to your manual as well to know which port is an Intel or Via. It seems for some reason that specially USB 2.0 peripherals need to be also connected to the port before you install the driver if you want them to be recognized and work. This is a Windows problem not a Gigabyte one as the problem does not exist under Linux.

Furthermore, Windows has hdw mapping problem since XP and have gone haywire since USB 3.0 is available working with to set of drivers (Intel which needs to be installed first then Via after the first boot because you need to plug the peripherals in). It is the very same problems with MTB that have two ethernet ports when you need to have them work together.

 

[Netweaver]

Thanks to bruceb, as the link has some helpful ideas. However my board does not use a Via controller. The USB chip is by NEC and their driver was a failure from the start, on this board, and on my old Asus X58 board, while the Renesas driver worked perfectly. But I have established that the problem is definitely with Windows7.

I had already decided to try a BIOS update and I downloaded a flash tool from Gigabyte, but it would not run in my 64 bit setup. So I booted from a CD (Active disk) to have a 32 bit environment. That did not help with flashing the BIOS, but I discovered that my USB ports were all being picked up and allocated drive letters as per normal. So the problem is with Windows 7, but given that it only appeared recently I believe it is most likely the unwanted byproduct of a recent windows update.

I do image my C drive occasionally, with Active Disk or R-Drive, so I could go back to an earlier snapshot, but it is a tedious process to retain and later reinsert data added since the image was made. So I am thinking that perhaps I could remove recent windows updates in reverse chronological order to see if I can step my way back to a point where the USB ports were being properly entrained.

I have rolled back the occasional GWX update without any obvious bad result, so i don't expect it would cause problems, and I could always re-install the non-destructive updates. But for the sake of caution, I would like to ask members of the forum if anyone has ever tried removing several Windows updates in reverse sequence and suffered undesireable consequences as a result?