How to init or reset USB port via software?

  • Thread starter Thread starter VanguardLH
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VanguardLH

Guest
I have a USB device that doesn't initialize (become available) on
Windows startup but will init when I unplug and replug the device (and
into the same USB port). So it will work but with the hassle that I
have to unplug & replug it after a Windows restart.

Since the unplug and replug of the device triggers its init and
detection, I'm wondering if there is a utility that will do the same so
I can activate the USB device via software? This would need a command
line interface so I could have it run as a scheduled event and only for
that USB port (i.e., I or the utility would have to find the enumeration
for it under HKLM so that vendor ID device in that USB port got
initialized and no others).

I do have Microsoft's UVCview app to show the USB ports. There's one
that shows "FailedEnumeration: Unknown Device" after restarting Windows,
so I suspect that's the one for the device that doesn't init when
Windows starts. The status returned by the utility for that failed USB
enumeration is:

---===>Device Information<===---

ConnectionStatus: FailedEnumeration
Current Config Value: 0x00 -> Device Bus Speed: Low
Device Address: 0x00
Open Pipes: 0
*!*ERROR: No open pipes!

===>Device Descriptor<===
*!*ERROR: bLength of 0 incorrect, should be 18
bLength: 0x00
bDescriptorType: 0x00
bcdUSB: 0x0000
bDeviceClass: 0x00
*!*ERROR: Device enumeration failure

I also have their USBview utility which shows "DeviceFailedEnumeration"
status with the information:

Device Descriptor:
bcdUSB: 0x0000
bDeviceClass: 0x00
bDeviceSubClass: 0x00
bDeviceProtocol: 0x00
bMaxPacketSize0: 0x00 (0)
idVendor: 0x0000
idProduct: 0x0000
bcdDevice: 0x0000
iManufacturer: 0x00
iProduct: 0x00
iSerialNumber: 0x00
bNumConfigurations: 0x00

ConnectionStatus: DeviceFailedEnumeration
Current Config Value: 0x00
Device Bus Speed: Low
Device Address: 0x00
Open Pipes: 0

It doesn't matter to which USB port this device is moved. It almost
always fails to init when Windows loads. The device emulates two CD
drives, one with autorun.inf to auto-run an install or setup program if
the device is plugged in and the other is just a data drive (it's an ATA
adapter from TigerJet for VOIP).

These viewer apps show USB enumeration and device status. What I'd like
is a "kick in the pants" utility that will retry via software command to
init the device on that USB port. Obviously there is a hardware init
that occurs when I [unplug and] plug in the USB device. I'm wondering
if I can do that init via software.

There are only 4 pins in a USB port: VCC (5VDC), Data-, Data+, and GND
(ground). It is a differential bus hence the plus/minus designators for
the data inputs (I think this is for noise cancellation). So when the
device is plugged in, it seems it must send some commands to force its
detections and identify itself. Those comamnds would be sent on the
external interface between the controller chip and the port. I don't
know if similar commands can be sent to the internal interface of the
controller.

From what I see at the USB commands doc at
http://www.usb.org/developers/devclass_docs/usbmass-ufi10.pdf, you must
be able to send commands on the internal or host side of the controller.
Alas, that doc exceeds my ability to figure out a solution. I might be
able to cobble up a C program to issue the command but wouldn't know in
what order to issue those commands or how to handle their return codes.
Maybe all you need to send is the Send Diagnostic command which forces a
reset. Maybe I'm supposed to following with a Stop command (expected to
fail) followed by a Start command.

It is not an issue of overcurrent on the USB controller. The pair of
ports from a USB controller can have together a max of 500ma for draw.
Only 1 device is attached to one of the paired USB ports. The other
remains empty. The shared 500mA load is available in total to the one
device. Of course, if the device is faulty, it could be trying to draw
more than 500mA.

I tried using Device Manager to uninstall (delete) the "Unknown Device"
under a USB root hub and then do a hardware rescan. The device was
detected but again failed enumeration. So it might be an electrical
problem with the device that remains plugged in and powered on during
Windows startup that prevents it from being detected and that somehow
yanking it out and back in does something electrical that gets it
enumerated correctly. In that case, a software prod to send, say, a
reset or init command trying might won't work, but I'd like to try. It
may be that a software utility can't do anymore to prod the USB
controller to redetect the device than what I did in Device Manager.

There's a couple scenarios that I haven't tested yet. I have not yet
tested disabling power management (to NOT allow power-saving mode) on
the USB root hubs; however, the problem that I have is when I start
Windows so it hasn't gone into a power-saving mode yet (but is coming
out of one, sort of). Every test, so far, has been with a warm start to
see if the USB device shows up after Windows starts up. I will test
later to see if a cold start works okay (i.e.; if the USB device needs
to get powered off so when it powers on with the host then it'll be
ready for detection by Windows).
 
Re: How to init or reset USB port via software?

Via Device Manager, try disabling the USB Hub device where the
problematic device is connected then re-enable it again. I sometimes
use this method when I virtually unplug my USB disk via the "Safely
remove USB device" tray icon and later decided that I still need it. I
don't want to physically unplug then plug it and I also can't
virtually plug it (no feature for that). If disabling then re-enabling
the USB Hub device doesn't work, try doing that with the Hub's USB
controlled device. Note: All devices connected to the same hub and/or
same controller will also be affected.


VanguardLH wrote:
> I have a USB device that doesn't initialize (become available) on
> Windows startup but will init when I unplug and replug the device (and
> into the same USB port). So it will work but with the hassle that I
> have to unplug & replug it after a Windows restart.
>
> Since the unplug and replug of the device triggers its init and
> detection, I'm wondering if there is a utility that will do the same so
> I can activate the USB device via software? This would need a command
> line interface so I could have it run as a scheduled event and only for
> that USB port (i.e., I or the utility would have to find the enumeration
> for it under HKLM so that vendor ID device in that USB port got
> initialized and no others).
>
> I do have Microsoft's UVCview app to show the USB ports. There's one
> that shows "FailedEnumeration: Unknown Device" after restarting Windows,
> so I suspect that's the one for the device that doesn't init when
> Windows starts. The status returned by the utility for that failed USB
> enumeration is:
>
> ---===>Device Information<===---
>
> ConnectionStatus: FailedEnumeration
> Current Config Value: 0x00 -> Device Bus Speed: Low
> Device Address: 0x00
> Open Pipes: 0
> *!*ERROR: No open pipes!
>
> ===>Device Descriptor<===
> *!*ERROR: bLength of 0 incorrect, should be 18
> bLength: 0x00
> bDescriptorType: 0x00
> bcdUSB: 0x0000
> bDeviceClass: 0x00
> *!*ERROR: Device enumeration failure
>
> I also have their USBview utility which shows "DeviceFailedEnumeration"
> status with the information:
>
> Device Descriptor:
> bcdUSB: 0x0000
> bDeviceClass: 0x00
> bDeviceSubClass: 0x00
> bDeviceProtocol: 0x00
> bMaxPacketSize0: 0x00 (0)
> idVendor: 0x0000
> idProduct: 0x0000
> bcdDevice: 0x0000
> iManufacturer: 0x00
> iProduct: 0x00
> iSerialNumber: 0x00
> bNumConfigurations: 0x00
>
> ConnectionStatus: DeviceFailedEnumeration
> Current Config Value: 0x00
> Device Bus Speed: Low
> Device Address: 0x00
> Open Pipes: 0
>
> It doesn't matter to which USB port this device is moved. It almost
> always fails to init when Windows loads. The device emulates two CD
> drives, one with autorun.inf to auto-run an install or setup program if
> the device is plugged in and the other is just a data drive (it's an ATA
> adapter from TigerJet for VOIP).
>
> These viewer apps show USB enumeration and device status. What I'd like
> is a "kick in the pants" utility that will retry via software command to
> init the device on that USB port. Obviously there is a hardware init
> that occurs when I [unplug and] plug in the USB device. I'm wondering
> if I can do that init via software.
>
> There are only 4 pins in a USB port: VCC (5VDC), Data-, Data+, and GND
> (ground). It is a differential bus hence the plus/minus designators for
> the data inputs (I think this is for noise cancellation). So when the
> device is plugged in, it seems it must send some commands to force its
> detections and identify itself. Those comamnds would be sent on the
> external interface between the controller chip and the port. I don't
> know if similar commands can be sent to the internal interface of the
> controller.
>
> From what I see at the USB commands doc at
> http://www.usb.org/developers/devclass_docs/usbmass-ufi10.pdf, you must
> be able to send commands on the internal or host side of the controller.
> Alas, that doc exceeds my ability to figure out a solution. I might be
> able to cobble up a C program to issue the command but wouldn't know in
> what order to issue those commands or how to handle their return codes.
> Maybe all you need to send is the Send Diagnostic command which forces a
> reset. Maybe I'm supposed to following with a Stop command (expected to
> fail) followed by a Start command.
>
> It is not an issue of overcurrent on the USB controller. The pair of
> ports from a USB controller can have together a max of 500ma for draw.
> Only 1 device is attached to one of the paired USB ports. The other
> remains empty. The shared 500mA load is available in total to the one
> device. Of course, if the device is faulty, it could be trying to draw
> more than 500mA.
>
> I tried using Device Manager to uninstall (delete) the "Unknown Device"
> under a USB root hub and then do a hardware rescan. The device was
> detected but again failed enumeration. So it might be an electrical
> problem with the device that remains plugged in and powered on during
> Windows startup that prevents it from being detected and that somehow
> yanking it out and back in does something electrical that gets it
> enumerated correctly. In that case, a software prod to send, say, a
> reset or init command trying might won't work, but I'd like to try. It
> may be that a software utility can't do anymore to prod the USB
> controller to redetect the device than what I did in Device Manager.
>
> There's a couple scenarios that I haven't tested yet. I have not yet
> tested disabling power management (to NOT allow power-saving mode) on
> the USB root hubs; however, the problem that I have is when I start
> Windows so it hasn't gone into a power-saving mode yet (but is coming
> out of one, sort of). Every test, so far, has been with a warm start to
> see if the USB device shows up after Windows starts up. I will test
> later to see if a cold start works okay (i.e.; if the USB device needs
> to get powered off so when it powers on with the host then it'll be
> ready for detection by Windows).
 
Re: How to init or reset USB port via software?

Okay, so instead of uninstall/reinstall the USB device itself, I
disabled/enabled its root hub. The result was a popup (lower right
corner) saying a device was found but unknown. I clicked on it and a
list of ports on that hub were listed and the device was "Unknown
Device". So while it seems to detect there is a device attached to
that port, it doesn't know how to identify it.

Next will be to unplug the device, use Nirsoft's USBdeview to remove
all references (enumerations) for the device, manually check the Enum
registry key to ensure all references have been eliminated along with
all mount points that got assigned to them, any other cleanup (registry
and file), and start with a fresh install of the software that loads
off the USB device when plugged in. That's tomorrow's work. Time for
sleep.

Thanks for replying.


Jaelani wrote:

> Via Device Manager, try disabling the USB Hub device where the
> problematic device is connected then re-enable it again. I sometimes
> use this method when I virtually unplug my USB disk via the "Safely
> remove USB device" tray icon and later decided that I still need it.
> I don't want to physically unplug then plug it and I also can't
> virtually plug it (no feature for that). If disabling then
> re-enabling the USB Hub device doesn't work, try doing that with the
> Hub's USB controlled device. Note: All devices connected to the same
> hub and/or same controller will also be affected.
>
> VanguardLH wrote:
>> I tried using Device Manager to uninstall (delete) the "Unknown
>> Device" under a USB root hub and then do a hardware rescan. The
>> device was detected but again failed enumeration. So it might be an
>> electrical problem with the device that remains plugged in and
>> powered on during Windows startup that prevents it from being
>> detected and that somehow yanking it out and back in does something
>> electrical that gets it enumerated correctly. In that case, a
>> software prod to send, say, a reset or init command trying might
>> won't work, but I'd like to try. It may be that a software utility
>> can't do anymore to prod the USB controller to redetect the device
>> than what I did in Device Manager.
 
RE: How to init or reset USB port via software?

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----
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"VanguardLH" wrote:

> I have a USB device that doesn't initialize (become available) on
> Windows startup but will init when I unplug and replug the device (and
> into the same USB port). So it will work but with the hassle that I
> have to unplug & replug it after a Windows restart.
>
> Since the unplug and replug of the device triggers its init and
> detection, I'm wondering if there is a utility that will do the same so
> I can activate the USB device via software? This would need a command
> line interface so I could have it run as a scheduled event and only for
> that USB port (i.e., I or the utility would have to find the enumeration
> for it under HKLM so that vendor ID device in that USB port got
> initialized and no others).
>
> I do have Microsoft's UVCview app to show the USB ports. There's one
> that shows "FailedEnumeration: Unknown Device" after restarting Windows,
> so I suspect that's the one for the device that doesn't init when
> Windows starts. The status returned by the utility for that failed USB
> enumeration is:
>
> ---===>Device Information<===---
>
> ConnectionStatus: FailedEnumeration
> Current Config Value: 0x00 -> Device Bus Speed: Low
> Device Address: 0x00
> Open Pipes: 0
> *!*ERROR: No open pipes!
>
> ===>Device Descriptor<===
> *!*ERROR: bLength of 0 incorrect, should be 18
> bLength: 0x00
> bDescriptorType: 0x00
> bcdUSB: 0x0000
> bDeviceClass: 0x00
> *!*ERROR: Device enumeration failure
>
> I also have their USBview utility which shows "DeviceFailedEnumeration"
> status with the information:
>
> Device Descriptor:
> bcdUSB: 0x0000
> bDeviceClass: 0x00
> bDeviceSubClass: 0x00
> bDeviceProtocol: 0x00
> bMaxPacketSize0: 0x00 (0)
> idVendor: 0x0000
> idProduct: 0x0000
> bcdDevice: 0x0000
> iManufacturer: 0x00
> iProduct: 0x00
> iSerialNumber: 0x00
> bNumConfigurations: 0x00
>
> ConnectionStatus: DeviceFailedEnumeration
> Current Config Value: 0x00
> Device Bus Speed: Low
> Device Address: 0x00
> Open Pipes: 0
>
> It doesn't matter to which USB port this device is moved. It almost
> always fails to init when Windows loads. The device emulates two CD
> drives, one with autorun.inf to auto-run an install or setup program if
> the device is plugged in and the other is just a data drive (it's an ATA
> adapter from TigerJet for VOIP).
>
> These viewer apps show USB enumeration and device status. What I'd like
> is a "kick in the pants" utility that will retry via software command to
> init the device on that USB port. Obviously there is a hardware init
> that occurs when I [unplug and] plug in the USB device. I'm wondering
> if I can do that init via software.
>
> There are only 4 pins in a USB port: VCC (5VDC), Data-, Data+, and GND
> (ground). It is a differential bus hence the plus/minus designators for
> the data inputs (I think this is for noise cancellation). So when the
> device is plugged in, it seems it must send some commands to force its
> detections and identify itself. Those comamnds would be sent on the
> external interface between the controller chip and the port. I don't
> know if similar commands can be sent to the internal interface of the
> controller.
>
> From what I see at the USB commands doc at
> http://www.usb.org/developers/devclass_docs/usbmass-ufi10.pdf, you must
> be able to send commands on the internal or host side of the controller.
> Alas, that doc exceeds my ability to figure out a solution. I might be
> able to cobble up a C program to issue the command but wouldn't know in
> what order to issue those commands or how to handle their return codes.
> Maybe all you need to send is the Send Diagnostic command which forces a
> reset. Maybe I'm supposed to following with a Stop command (expected to
> fail) followed by a Start command.
>
> It is not an issue of overcurrent on the USB controller. The pair of
> ports from a USB controller can have together a max of 500ma for draw.
> Only 1 device is attached to one of the paired USB ports. The other
> remains empty. The shared 500mA load is available in total to the one
> device. Of course, if the device is faulty, it could be trying to draw
> more than 500mA.
>
> I tried using Device Manager to uninstall (delete) the "Unknown Device"
> under a USB root hub and then do a hardware rescan. The device was
> detected but again failed enumeration. So it might be an electrical
> problem with the device that remains plugged in and powered on during
> Windows startup that prevents it from being detected and that somehow
> yanking it out and back in does something electrical that gets it
> enumerated correctly. In that case, a software prod to send, say, a
> reset or init command trying might won't work, but I'd like to try. It
> may be that a software utility can't do anymore to prod the USB
> controller to redetect the device than what I did in Device Manager.
>
> There's a couple scenarios that I haven't tested yet. I have not yet
> tested disabling power management (to NOT allow power-saving mode) on
> the USB root hubs; however, the problem that I have is when I start
> Windows so it hasn't gone into a power-saving mode yet (but is coming
> out of one, sort of). Every test, so far, has been with a warm start to
> see if the USB device shows up after Windows starts up. I will test
> later to see if a cold start works okay (i.e.; if the USB device needs
> to get powered off so when it powers on with the host then it'll be
> ready for detection by Windows).
>
 
Re: How to init or reset USB port via software?

Hmm. This may be irrelevant but I used to have a USB CDMA modem which
is badly designed. It got too hot when being used. While it doesn't
draw too much power, at least one of its internal components is not
quite tolerance to heat. At first, the result was sudden hardware
stall - it got unresponsive. After unplug & replug it physically,
Windows can not detect it consistently. Sometimes it's detected,
sometimes don't. The solution was to cool down the device by putting
it in front of a blowing fan. After it was cooled, it works correctly
again. You might want to try this method too.

Other things I can think of are:
- If your USB device requires a special device driver, you should try
to find an updated version of the driver.
- Try to find out other users experiences who has the same type of
similar USB device (same manufacturer only) by visiting the
manufacturer's website forum, if any. Or use Google to search the web
about trouble with that specific USB device.

IMO, the USB device might use low quality or low durability
component(s). If the device is an old one, it might be the time to
replace it with a new one.


VanguardLH wrote:
> Okay, so instead of uninstall/reinstall the USB device itself, I
> disabled/enabled its root hub. The result was a popup (lower right
> corner) saying a device was found but unknown. I clicked on it and a
> list of ports on that hub were listed and the device was "Unknown
> Device". So while it seems to detect there is a device attached to
> that port, it doesn't know how to identify it.
>
> Next will be to unplug the device, use Nirsoft's USBdeview to remove
> all references (enumerations) for the device, manually check the Enum
> registry key to ensure all references have been eliminated along with
> all mount points that got assigned to them, any other cleanup (registry
> and file), and start with a fresh install of the software that loads
> off the USB device when plugged in. That's tomorrow's work. Time for
> sleep.
>
> Thanks for replying.
 
Re: How to init or reset USB port via software?


"VanguardLH" <V@nguard.LH> wrote in message
news:Oan0il5HJHA.2580@TK2MSFTNGP05.phx.gbl...
>I have a USB device that doesn't initialize (become available) on
> Windows startup but will init when I unplug and replug the device (and
> into the same USB port). So it will work but with the hassle that I
> have to unplug & replug it after a Windows restart.
>
> Since the unplug and replug of the device triggers its init and
> detection, I'm wondering if there is a utility that will do the same
> so
> I can activate the USB device via software? This would need a command
> line interface so I could have it run as a scheduled event and only
> for
> that USB port (i.e., I or the utility would have to find the
> enumeration
> for it under HKLM so that vendor ID device in that USB port got
> initialized and no others).



Will this help?

USBDeview v1.26
http://www.nirsoft.net/utils/usb_devices_view.html
 
Re: How to init or reset USB port via software?


"Marc" <marc15@invalid.cox.net> wrote in message
news:OCqYRtDIJHA.3932@TK2MSFTNGP03.phx.gbl...
>
> "VanguardLH" <V@nguard.LH> wrote in message
> news:Oan0il5HJHA.2580@TK2MSFTNGP05.phx.gbl...
> >I have a USB device that doesn't initialize (become available) on
> > Windows startup but will init when I unplug and replug the device (and
> > into the same USB port). So it will work but with the hassle that I
> > have to unplug & replug it after a Windows restart.
> >
> > Since the unplug and replug of the device triggers its init and
> > detection, I'm wondering if there is a utility that will do the same
> > so
> > I can activate the USB device via software? This would need a command
> > line interface so I could have it run as a scheduled event and only
> > for
> > that USB port (i.e., I or the utility would have to find the
> > enumeration
> > for it under HKLM so that vendor ID device in that USB port got
> > initialized and no others).


Does doing a "Scan for hardware changes" from Device
Manager bring it up?

If not, then software init may NOT be the solution - the device
may need a power cycle to kick it into life.
 
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