Can't install driver on Win XP - "Unknown Device"

danielfe

New member
Hello,

I've been fiddling around trying to get the driver installed for my USB LCD with no luck.

A few details
- OS: Windows XP Service Pack 2
- User: a user account that is a member of the machine administrator's group

Scenario: I run the install for the driver which completes successfully, but when I plug in the device, Windows XP says it recognizes it and never gives me the option to choose the driver when installed. It say "Unknown Device" installed successfully, even after I uninstall the device and add using the "Add New Hardware Wizard" as shown in this Screenshot.

I then try to use device manager under USB>> Unknown Device and roll back the driver, but it says no driver is installed. Then I try to update the driver by selecting Update Driver, providing the path to crystalfontz under program files, but it says the driver is not newer then the currently installed driver as shown here in this Screenshot .

Any help would be *greatly* appreciated :)
Looking for additional LCD resources? Check out our LCD blog for the latest developments in LCD technology.
 

CF Web

Administrator
First we want to clean out the driver remnants by doing the following:

1) Uninstall any sign of the FTDI drivers through either the device manager and/or the "add/remove software"

2) Unplug the LCD

3) Delete the "C:\Program Files\Crystalfontz USB Drivers" directory

4) Delete any registry key containing "Vid_0403" in these 2 locations:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Enum\FTDIBUS
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Enum\USB
Note: Sometimes you have to change the permissions on these keys if you cannot delete them.

5) Delete the following 2 registry keys
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\FTDIBUS
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\FTSER2K
Note: Sometimes you have to change the permissions on these keys if you cannot delete them.

6) Go to the "C:\WINNT\inf" directory. Once there, organize by file type and look for all "oem.inf" files. They will have a number after each one such as "oem1.inf" or "oem22.inf". Open these in a text editor and look for ones containing "FTDIBUS.INF" and "FTDIPORT.INF" commented on the first line. Delete any that you find.

Now we want to download and reinstall the known good drivers from our site (version 2154b)

7) Download and reinstall the Crystalfontz FTDI drivers found here http://www.crystalfontz.com/software/cf-usb-2154b.exe

8) Plug in the LCD and manually point to the "C:\Program Files\Crystalfontz USB Drivers" location.

This *should* clean things up enough to get windows out of it's driver funk. If not, let me know and we'll re-evaluate where you're at.
 

reider

New member
I have, can`t for the life of me remember why, once or twice had a problem like that. What I did was let Windows do as it wished-it mostly does anyway. Then I went to control panel, located the device, right click, properties, change/update driver or some such. Point it to C:\Crystalfontz where my drivers are located and Bobs your Uncle, he`s mine too, lol. ;)

Reider
 

danielfe

New member
Still no luck

No luck, I followed the instructions step-by-step, let me know what else I can try. Responses inline so you can see the progress (or lack thereof).


1) Uninstall any sign of the FTDI drivers through either the device manager and/or the "add/remove software"
I'm not entirely sure what you mean here, there is no "FTDI driver" in add/remove programs, and I went to device manager and uninstalled the "unknown device"

2) Unplug the LCD
done

3) Delete the "C:\Program Files\Crystalfontz USB Drivers" directory
done

4) Delete any registry key containing "Vid_0403" in these 2 locations:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Enum\FTDIBUS
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Enum\USB
Note: Sometimes you have to change the permissions on these keys if you cannot delete them.
I searched the entire registry for any key with "Vid_0403" and didn't find any

5) Delete the following 2 registry keys
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\FTDIBUS
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\FTSER2K
Note: Sometimes you have to change the permissions on these keys if you cannot delete them.
I also searched the entire registry for "FTDIBUS" OR "FTSER2K" and found nothing
6) Go to the "C:\WINNT\inf" directory. Once there, organize by file type and look for all "oem.inf" files. They will have a number after each one such as "oem1.inf" or "oem22.inf". Open these in a text editor and look for ones containing "FTDIBUS.INF" and "FTDIPORT.INF" commented on the first line. Delete any that you find.
I used Windows Grep to make this easier, but found no reference to "FTDIBUS" or "FTDIPORT" using wildcard searches in *any* inf file. Note that as I'm on Windows XP, my INF directory in C:\Windows\inf and not C:\winnt\inf. Let me know if that affects this step at all

Now we want to download and reinstall the known good drivers from our site (version 2154b)

7) Download and reinstall the Crystalfontz FTDI drivers found here http://www.crystalfontz.com/software/cf-usb-2154b.exe
done

8) Plug in the LCD and manually point to the "C:\Program Files\Crystalfontz USB Drivers" location.
done, same result still not working, jumps to "Unknown device"

This *should* clean things up enough to get windows out of it's driver funk. If not, let me know and we'll re-evaluate where you're at.
 

danielfe

New member
Any Other Ideas?

Anyone have ideas or other suggestions to get this working? I've tried the solutions outlined above with no luck...
 

daks001

New member
Anyone have ideas or other suggestions to get this working? I've tried the solutions outlined above with no luck...
Go to your device manager (control panel->administrative tools->computer management, or start->run->type in compmgmt.msc)
Highlight the "unknown device" right click and select properties, then select the details tab, under device instance id (the default selection) you should see something like

USB\VID_0403&PID_FC0D\bla, bla, bla...

What comes up after the PID_? for a 635 it comes up as FCOD, 634 it's FC09....
 

danielfe

New member
Device Instance ID

Go to your device manager (control panel->administrative tools->computer management, or start->run->type in compmgmt.msc)
Highlight the "unknown device" right click and select properties, then select the details tab, under device instance id (the default selection) you should see something like

USB\VID_0403&PID_FC0D\bla, bla, bla...

What comes up after the PID_? for a 635 it comes up as FCOD, 634 it's FC09....
Thanks again for your help, I see the following info for the hardware:

USB\VID_0000&PID_0000\5&37787FF3&0&2
 

daks001

New member
Thanks again for your help, I see the following info for the hardware:

USB\VID_0000&PID_0000\5&37787FF3&0&2

That points to two different possible problems, one the FTUSB chip is fried on your display or the cable connection is not working on your computer. I don't know from your report if you have a internal or external USB connection but the first thing to try is a different USB port. Each USB (or any windows device) will report a unique ID (VID and PID). Since that information is not making it to your computer as both 0000 for VID and PID the first guess I have is there is a bad USB connection with your motherboard/USB port. So if you are using a internal USB cable, try the next port over, external try the next USB connection port. Your data connections from USB in the display are not making it to your computer.

Possible problems at this stage of diagnostics;
1) Fried USB chip on display (doubtfull as normaly your would not get both sets as 0000)
2) Broken/damaged USB cable
3) Bad/Intermitant USB port on the motherboard (happens more than I originally thought).

Try reconnecting your USB cable to a different port on the motherboard and/or reconnecting it at the back of the display. (easiest check at this point in time). Please keep us posted....
 
Top