Windows XP Hidden Devices

[alocurto]

I open device manager in windows XP Pro.

I go to the View menu and check off 'Show Hidden Devices'

When I do that 2 network cards that were previously installed on my system show up. When I try to right click and hit uninstall it says:

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Device Manager
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Failed to uninstall the device. The device may be required to boot up the computer.
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OK
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Is this normal? In the system information window of XP it says the device drivers are not started. Does this impact my performance? Can this cause any problems?

 

[spyordie007]

Does this impact my performance?

Because the device drivers for them are not loaded, most likely not.

Can this cause any problems?

I cant think of any common problem that this would relate to, are you having any problems?

 

[alocurto]

Yes, a rig I have has been funky. Just looking for a starting point. I figured this was normal but I just wanted torun it by someone. THanks for the reply.

 

[NogginBoink]

It's normal. Ignore it and go on your merry way.

Probably not the best possible design, but it's the way Windows is designed.

 

[thegorx]

try disabling it first then uninstall

 

[KF]

>Is this normal? In the system information window of XP it says the device drivers are not started. Does this impact my performance? Can this cause any problems?

Uninstalling unused devices has always worked for me. I did it just now for a PS2 mouse and an HID device. I also did it for a network card not long ago, and I did not get the message you did.

The performance impact is probably negligible, but I believe many devices go through a detection routine every time Windows boots (which takes some time), and if they are not detected, the driver is not enabled. A problem with this is that some other device may get probed inadvertantly and get screwed up, or be detected as present even when it isn't, and you get an incorrect driver loaded. My present network card was incorrectly detected by XP as a similar card, and did not work until I directed XP to the right driver. IAC, I always delete removed or replaced devices. because years ago I had a flakey instablilty problem caused by this on W98. If was a video driver for a discarded card for a now defunct company (S3). When I hand deleted the files out of the Windows directory, the problem went away. It took me quite a while to get around to trying that. BTW, the driver had been removed from Device Manager, but that was not enough. It is for reasons like this that some fanatics reinstall the OS every few months.

Uninstalling (with the uninstall program if provided) is best done BEFORE you remove the device. Then shut down and remove it. I still have an ATI accessory program (for an ATi video card I removed) that loads every time XP boots on one of my computers, and warns me it will not start because there is no ATI card. The uninstall program will not uninstall it because it says there is no ATI device present. True. That's why I want to uninstall. One of these days I'm going to put back that ATi card so I can get rid of that SOB.

You might try looking at the "Control Panel, Add or Remove Programs" for an uninstaller. Some companies do that for their device drivers.

You might try deleting in Safe Mode.

Maybe you still have a network connection referencing these old network cards? I don't know if that's possible. If so, delete them.