[becca77]

Help!!

Why are there yellow question marks in my device manager?
How do I get rid of them?

See screen capture below:

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Have you got any PCI cards that aren't working? Unfortunately from the description there is no way for any of us to tell what the device is. You'll have to check at your end whether there is something that isn't working and needs drivers installed. Because it says it is uunsupported, Windows will not have the drivers, you will have to find what the device is and download the drivers or install them from a disk, if you have the disk.

PS: You can download Everest Home Edition and run it to tell you what devices you have in your machine, and look for something not on the Device Manager listing.

Edited by Tyger, 11 October 2005 - 11:46 AM.

[Tyger]

Have you got any PCI cards that aren't working? Unfortunately from the description there is no way for any of us to tell what the device is. You'll have to check at your end whether there is something that isn't working and needs drivers installed. Because it says it is uunsupported, Windows will not have the drivers, you will have to find what the device is and download the drivers or install them from a disk, if you have the disk.

PS: You can download Everest Home Edition and run it to tell you what devices you have in your machine, and look for something not on the Device Manager listing.

Edited by Tyger, 11 October 2005 - 11:46 AM.

[Jack123]

Topic- Unsupported Devices
Date- 12th Oct-2005
Poster – Becca77

You can use this following procedure to have [Device Manager] view [Non Present Devices] – This may give you a better look at your PC –

Usually the unsupported devices are going to be a Camera – WebCam – Hard Drive Enclosure or Ipod – That is USB Interface/Connection that is not supported by existing drivers or Drivers are not PnP –

Have you tried to Install any of these Devices – Are they Working –

The [Non Present Devices] will be indicated by the [Faded Gray] print – They are sometimes Correct & many times are Wrong – The correct Instances are acting as [Place Holders] for [PnP Devices] that are Installed Correctly BUT are not connected or Powered ON at the moment – (Such as a Printer) –

Many times you will see some of your USB Host Controllers show as [Non Present Devices] – which usually means that you probably have some intermittent USB Issues -

The Incorrect Instances are generally a result of a [Failed Driver Installation] and multiplies as you try blindly try to reinstall the driver – Normally [Device Manager] cannot show these [Non Present Devices] but with this procedure – It can be very useful to clean these [Instances] up –

These [Non Present Devices] are often the remains of an Uninstalled driver – OR - is a Non Supported/Unrecognized Driver -

______________________________________________________________

Preparation Process for [DEVICE MANAGER] to View [Non Present Devices] – This is a 2 Step process that needs to be done only once –

Step – 1 Set [Folder Options] to [Show Hidden Files & Folders]
Step – 2 Set [Device Manager] to [Show Non Present Devices]
______________________________________________________________

Step – 1 Open [Control Panel] and set [Folder Options] to show [Hidden Files & Folders] – (1 time process)

(1) – Click [Start] Button
(2) – Scroll up to [SETTINGS] > Click on [CONTROL PANEL]
(3) – Open [Folder Options]
(4) – Click on [VIEW] Tab
(5) – Scroll down to [Hidden Files & Folders]
(6) – Click the [SHOW HIDDEN FILES & FOLDER] Option
(7) – Deselect OPTION – [Hide Protected OS Files – Recommended]
(8) – Click [OK]
(9) – Close [Control Panel]
_________________________________________________________________

Step – 2 Prep [DEVICE MANAGER] to view [Non Present Devices] –( 1 time process)

(1) – Right Click [MY COMPUTER] > Click [PROPERTIES] on Drop Down Menu –
(2) – Click [ADVANCED] Tab – (on System Properties)
(3) – Click [ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES] Tab -
(4) – Under [SYSTEM VARIABLES] Section – Click [NEW] Tab –
(5) – In [NAME] Section – Type – devmgr_show_nonpresent_devices
(6) – In [VALUE] Section – Type the number 1
(7) – Close out by Clicking [OK] Tabs – 3 Times – (3 levels/panels to close)
(8) – Click on [START] Button > Then click on [RUN] –
(9) – Type – devmgmt.msc – and then Click [OK] – This will open [DEVICE MANAGER]
(10)– Click [VIEW] on Menu > Click [Show Hidden Devices] on Pop Down Menu –
(11) – View [Hidden Devices] – Indicated by Faded Gray Print – (Close when completed) –
(12) – Restart Computer – (To ensure a good [Initial] beginning -
_________________________________________________________________

Now Open [Device Manager] in Normal manner & Set [VIEW] options to [SHOW HIDDEN DEVICES]

Standard Process to Open [DEVICE MANAGER] with [Show Hidden Devices] Option set -

(1) – Right Click [MY COMPUTER]
(2) – Browse down [Menu] to [Properties] > Double Click to Open Properties Page
(3) – Click on [HARDWARE] Tab
(4) – Click on [Device Manager] Tab
(5) – Click on [View} on Menu Bar
(6) – **Click on [Show Hidden Files]**
(7) – Expand Folders as reqyired
(8) – You need to double left click or right click each line to reveal additional info
(9) – [Non Present Devices] will be denoted by –(Light/faded gray print)

** Step 6 will have to be set to [Show Hidden Files] on each opening of [Device Manager] **
___________________________________________________________________

Now Browse thru – you need to Expand Folders & either Left Double Click or Right Click all lines to see more info – you are now looking for the – [Muted/faded gray] Devices with Yellow Warning Signs or have a Bold repeated instance of same name –

If you do have a faded gray instance & bold instance – That is indicating that either 2 Drivers are installed or you have some remains of a previous Driver –

YOU NOW HAVE THE ABILITY TO - [Uninstall these NON PRESENT DEVICES] - Just Double Click or Right Click to bring up the [Properties Page] & Click on [Driver] Tab & Uninstall - Only uninstall the [Incorrect Ones] - If you do Unistall a Correct One - It will Reinstall whenever you reconnect the device -

Jack123

Edited by Jack123, 12 October 2005 - 05:29 AM.

[becca77]

Topic- Unsupported Devices

You can use this following procedure to have [Device Manager] view [Non Present Devices] – This may give you a better look at your PC –

Jack123

Oh thank you for this!! I figured out that the question marks are for my printer?!?!?! How weird.

Probably because I had this printer for soooo long and originally got it when I had Win95. I really botched the install to get it to work on my XP OS because the driver wasn't "digitally signed". Now I am afraid to mess with the yellow question marks in device manager because it was an enormous pain to get my printer to work with XP.

[Jack123]

Topic- Unsupported Devices-2
Date- 13th Oct-2005
Poster – Becca77

That’s good – Here is the link for Free Home Edition of [EVEREST] – Use it to analyze your PC – Using [Everest] along with Improved [Device Manager] can give you a good viewpoint on your [Hardware Issues]

Just for my information – Were you able to see your Printer as a [Non Present Device] – How many Instances showed up – What is the Interfacing/connection used with Printer – USB – LPT –

http://www.lavalys.c...p?pid=1&lang=en

I thought Tyger posted the link – but I noticed it was gone – There are more Links that [Everest] will give you when you Run the application – There are others also but this is easy to use & do not have to be on line to use –

Good Luck –
Jack123

[becca77]

I have an uncle who is an elite hacker genius (a good hacker - not a cracker) who happened to stop over my house yesterday and he fixed it. Everything still works! No more yellow question marks. I have no idea what he did.

Too bad I don't see him more often.