• We’re currently investigating an issue related to the forum theme and styling that is impacting page layout and visual formatting. The problem has been identified, and we are actively working on a resolution. There is no impact to user data or functionality, this is strictly a front-end display issue. We’ll post an update once the fix has been deployed. Thanks for your patience while we get this sorted.

VIA USB 2.0 drivers that REFUSE to install!

E

Erasmus-X

Platinum Member
I'm wondering if you guys have any tips on this:

About 3 months ago I bought a Western Digital "Special Edition" (8 MB cache) 80 GB hard disk. I wanted to make that drive the primary boot and move my trusty Maxtor 13.6 GB over as the slave, so I installed Windows XP Pro on the new drive. Everything was working fine EXCEPT for the USB 2.0 (which was working fine before with the old Maxtor). The drivers off of the ASUS motherboard CD simply won't install. The InstallShield thing will come up, but then when it gets to 100%, it all of a sudden exits the installer. I even borrowed my friend's motherboard CD (he has the same model, the A7V8X) and that one does the same exact thing.

So, after 3 months of aggravation mixed in with lack of time (I really need USB 2.0 for my Nomad Zen!), I decided that I would format and reinstall Windows again last night. Crossing my fingers hoping that the problem might have fixed itself, it didn't. The blasted VIA USB 2.0 drivers on the ASUS CD STILL won't install. I even tried updating to the newest BIOS (rev. 1012, I believe), but nothing. It's really funny, because before I switched to this Western Digital hard disk, I had no problems installing these drivers. However, I find it hard to believe a hard disk would have anything to do with this problem (maybe I'm wrong?).

The most frustrating part of the whole thing is that you can't just hop on the net and download a copy of these drivers. VIA has a licensing agreement with Microsoft for the USB 2.0 drivers and will only distribute them on the discs included with the hardware (in my case, my motherboard).

Any ideas guys? Thanks.

 
I had similar issues installing the drivers on 2 ECS K7S5a Pro mobos.. (these mobos use a VIA USB2.0 controller) I found out that I had to unplug ALL devices attached to the ports before the driver would install!
 
Originally posted by: stevewm
I had similar issues installing the drivers on 2 ECS K7S5a Pro mobos.. (these mobos use a VIA USB2.0 controller) I found out that I had to unplug ALL devices attached to the ports before the driver would install!
Click to expand...

that's true with any usb driver install.
 
Okay, sounds weird but I'll try it. (They installed fine with several things plugged into them before).

have you patched winxp at all?
Click to expand...

Yes, I have. In fact, I'm pretty sure that XP will not support USB 2.0 until SP-1 is installed.

Thanks a lot for the replies! They are much appreciated.
 
Even with all of my USB devices unplugged, the installer does the same thing. I'm about ready to throw this dammed motherboard out window! Why the hell does everything else on it work flawlessly except for this? Go figure....
 
Are there any (?) devices in Device Manager? Or is it just that the software won't install? SP1 is supposed to install USB drivers for you...I've done it before with my add-on NEC USB2 card. Right now, I'm running an unpatched XP installation without SP1 and the USB2 works fine with the drivers that came with my card.
 
Gasp! Now that you mention it, my Asus MB CD won't install on WinXP SP1... but on mine it gives a message that WinXP already has the drivers and only install it if you have Win2k, Me, etc. Sorry for the drama, I coudn't resist 😉 .
 
I finally got it to work. I was poking around on ASUS's FTP and found an older version of the USB 2.0 driver distribution for the VIA chipset. That one actually installed and worked fine, so I'm 200x happier now. It still puzzles me though that when I first got this motherboard, the drivers installed fine off the CD, and I was also running SP-1 at the time.

Are there any (?) devices in Device Manager? Or is it just that the software won't install? SP1 is supposed to install USB drivers for you...I've done it before with my add-on NEC USB2 card. Right now, I'm running an unpatched XP installation without SP1 and the USB2 works fine with the drivers that came with my card.
Click to expand...

The USB controllers did show up in the device manager, but as a "Standard Controller" only. USB 2.0 shows up as an "Enhanced Controller" when it's installed properly. Furthermore, if you read on Microsoft's website, the NEC is the only USB 2.0 chipset that Windows XP SP-1 officially supports right out of the box. Other chipsets (like the VIA) have their own software distributions that essentially make Microsoft's USB 2.0 driver compatible with them. Weird, eh? Software license agreements are so fun sometimes.

Now if you run any of the Windows XP predecessors (e.g. 9x, 2k) this is not a problem because Microsoft doesn't officially support USB 2.0 at all on these operating systems and it is the responsibility of the hardware manufacturers to address that issue. So, this means that you can just trot along to the manufacturer's website and grab the drivers. Finding an old distribution on ASUS's FTP was pure dumb luck on my part....

Can't people make up their minds?
 
Originally posted by: lobadobadingdong
Originally posted by: stevewm
I had similar issues installing the drivers on 2 ECS K7S5a Pro mobos.. (these mobos use a VIA USB2.0 controller) I found out that I had to unplug ALL devices attached to the ports before the driver would install!
Click to expand...

that's true with any usb driver install.
Click to expand...



I'm aware you generally install drivers first with USB devices, but I was refering to the USB Controller ITSELF. The VIA USB2.0 controller drivers are the only USB controller drivers I have encountered that reqiured everything to be disconnected before they would install.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

TRENDING THREADS

Back
Top