[janlafata]

I have an MSI K8MM3-V x64 AMD motherboard with a 3200 MHz processor, 2 GB's of RAM, a 256 MB NVidia GeForce 7600 graphics card, A Creative Labs Audigy SE sound card and a Coolmax 550 watt power supply.

The board I am using is refurbished. I had to send one back because of some bad PCI slots, before that, the first MSI motherboard, which was new, didn't even boot up. Now they've sent me this replacement and twice now I've gotten an error message after the desktop comes up concerning a USB device that is not recognized.

I did not get this message on my previous MSI board, and the MSI techs, God Bless em', said they don't think I should worry about it. Brilliant eh?

By the way, I am running Vista x64 and all of the three USB devices that I am running, a printer, a scanner and a webcam, all work fine. And everything looks good in device manager.

When I was running XP x64, an unknown device was always showing in device manager and I never could figure out what that was or what to do about it.

On this error message, which I have attached, it says "One of the USB devices attached to this computer malfunctioned and Windows does not recognize it". It then shows in the main window that it's a USB Root Hub (2 ports) and includes an unused port and an unknown device.

Then at the bottom it says "Recommendation: Try reconnecting the device. If Windows still does not recognize it, try replacing the device.

I'm wondering if a BIOS update might solve this. Otherwise I'm stumped. But my system runs fine, and if anything I'd just like to stop seeing the error message. Anyone now how to to that on Vista?

[Scleros]

Do you have all Microsoft Service Packs and updates for Vista installed? Any release notes for available BIOSes should include a list of fixes that you can peruse for your issue. One possibility is that it is a phantom "device" that's erroneously detected or incorrectly detected because the board's chipsets weren't properly recognized due to the correct chipset driver not being installed first when the operating system was installed. Another possibility is that it is a subcomponent of one of your attached USB devices and the wrong driver is installed. Unplug your devices one by one and see if error persists. A third possibility is you are damaging the boards with static or otherwise during build. Three MSI boards plus the Abit seems unlikely to me for genuine board failures. I've only had a handful of boards that were DOA or developed issues during burn-in out of hundreds of replaced boards. Where the heck are you buying boards?

[janlafata]

Scleros.. First of all, thanks for replying. For one thing, I haven't seen that USB error message in a few days, but I still don't know if that means I'm out of the woods yet or not.
Yes I do have all Microsoft Service Packs and updates for Vista installed? That's always the first thing I do after I install Windows, is install my chipset drivers, in this case, a VIA chipset.

I am also fairly certain that I installed the correct driver for the chipset at the time. It was VIA Hyperion x64 version 5.18, the latest version. And on the issue of the BIOS, let me tell you about what I did for that in a sec. For I have an addditional issue I've been dealing with (The computer God's aren't making this easy!). It happened right after I installed SP1.

In my ongoing efforts to continue to try to solve my SP1 issue, and in case your not up on this, here's what it is (I have two posts on it). Right after I installed SP1, it listed my RAM in System Properties as being 16.0 GB's, when in reality I only run 2 Gb's. Microsoft is aware of this issue and is supposed to be contacting me next week, after researching the issue a little more.

Anyway yesterday I downloaded the MSI Live Update utility. It searches for the latest BIOS, drivers and utilities. I had it set on finding newer versions only and in my results for a newer BIOS, nothing came up. In another search, it did come up with a VIA Chipset driver update, which surprised me. But this search result said it was VIA Hyperion 5.11, which, of course is an older version than the one I have in there.

But why would it show me as needing an older VIA chipset driver? Is it just that because with this being an older board, it runs better on an older chipset driver? I'm confused on that. Also it did not say anything about version 5.11 being x64. So I am hesitant to install it at this time, although I would think the driver utility would know that I'm running a x64 processor and OS and provide me with a x64 VIA driver.

Next issue... By unpluging the different USB devices one at a time to see if the error persists.. I don't know if that will do anything. Like I said, the error message has only appeared twice initially. But when I called MSI the other day and told them about it, they had me uninstall all of the devices under Universal Serial Bus Controllers in Device Manager, then reboot. But when my desktop came back up, I did see the USB error message one more time, very quickly. But I haven't seen it since, so maybe that did something.

As far as damaging the boards with static.. well, let me tell you. If it's one thing I watch when I build a system, it's possible static discharge. I even wear a grounded wrist strap while working. However with this third MSI board being a refurbished one and the bonehead techs at MSI handling it to check everything out, who knows there!

Also you asked about where I buy these boards. I usually start at Pricewatch.com and go from there. It's been harder and harder to find Socket 754 AMD x64 boards anymore, so sometimes I've ended up getting them from vendors who seem not quite as reputable as others.

Another update I need to mention (and I am having trouble keeping track of who I've talked with now, because I've made so many posts), is that I found out some interesting information yesterday that may also explain many things. In fact, it's all in my other post, which I believe, at this site, is called SP1 mind boggler update or SP1 horror story update. I can't remember anymore. I've posted so many threads at so many different sites!

You may want to see if you can find that post, but basically I talk about my conversation I had with the MSI techs. Originally they had told me that my MSI board was Vista compatible, and it's even listed on their website as being Vista Basic compatible. But stupidly, I never asked them if it was Vista x64 compatible. Yesterday they said it wasn't.

Also another moderator from another post from another site had me download an AMD diagnostic tool to see if my processor supported Hyper-V, which apparently is a hypervisor based virtualization system for x64 systems. Whatever that all means! So I ran the utility and it said my processor did not support Hyper-V. So add that to the list of things I'm fighting against.

But you know, I love working on computers and learning about them and troubleshooting. And even after all of these things I've gone through, the bottom line is that my Vista Basic x64, which according to MSI shouldn't even be running on my board, is actually running pretty well, so I'm speechless at this point and continue to just "go with the flow"!

If Vista x64 locks up for good here one of these days, I'm not going to fret. I can easily just whip XP Pro x64 on it or on another one of my boards. (I have three socket 754's now! Long story behind that)

Anyway, once again, thanks for your interest. And the story continues..

[Scleros]

But why would it show me as needing an older VIA chipset driver?

Don't know. I tend to avoid automated driver recommendation utilities and use the driver release notes or the latest WHQL certified driver.

Just looking at MSI's website, that board doesn't have a Microsoft "Designed For Vista" logo. If you want less headaches and wasted time in the future, get logo'd hardware. It has been through a gauntlet of formal testing.

[janlafata]

Scleros.. Once again thank you for commenting and becoming involved in this messy compatibility issue. You know before I comment, I just want to kind of vent on this whole issue about Vista compatible motherboards. Remember when Vista was getting ready to come out, and there were lot's of articles about system requirements, and hardware requirements and such?

Well I don't ever remember hearing much at the time about motherboard requirements. I mean, when the hardware requirements were starting to come out, I think I, like many people just assumed they could beef up their current system to Vista specs and everything would be all right. And that's what I did. I increased my RAM, my processor, my video card, even my power supply.

But when I first threw on Vista x32, it was a no-go in my book, way too slow. That's when, like I mentioned earlier, I started looking into the whole x64 thing, starting with XP x64. Then I test ran Vista x64 Home Premium... still a little too slow for me. Finally I settled on Home Basic x64, because it's a little more trimmed down and without that Media Center junk and Aero. (I had usually turned off Aero in home premium anyway)

But Vista Home Basic x64 is actually running pretty darn good right now on my MSI system and I'm committed, at least for now, of sticking with it and to continue to get it to run as fast as I possibly can. I've already disabled some services and scheduled tasks and I'm sure before long I'll looking at articles on doing registry tweaks and such. Anything to get one more little jolt of performance out of it.

And the most amazing this about all of this still, is that, according to MSI, Vista Basic x64 shouldn't even be running at all of my machine, but it is! I still don't trust those MSI techs though or believe that they know what their doing or saying half the time. So it could be that indeed my board is x64 compatible and they just aren't sure about it. I know many times they put out these specs because they haven't had a chance to test all of the Vista versions on a particular board.

But it is listed on their website as being at least Vista Basic compatible, nothing more.
And there's another gripe I have right there. About whenever people are looking for a newer board at a certain vendors site or even on the company's website, you don't always see any mention or not, to say anything about the "Designed for Vista logo" about a particular board being Vista compatible or not, and that's confusing to a prospective buyer.

Right now, I am still trying to find out out if that ABIT KV-85 board I just got back is Vista compatible or not. Originally, before I even bought the board, I amazingly was able to talk to a live ABIT technician about the KV-85. I asked him if it was Vista compatible or not and he said yes. Once again though, in my oversight, I had forgotten to ask him if that included x64.

Right now, I've signed up with the ABIT forums to ask them, once and for all, if it is or isn't Vista and Vista x64 compatible, but they've yet to send me a email conformation so I can post on their site. Talk about poor customer support, but that's a whole other topic!

But when I was running the ABIT, it ran great at first. It's got a very fast FSB and it seems very stable and solid. But I eventually I started having windows lock-ups, BSOD's and a few problems like that on it, but I don't know if you can blame that on Vista. Do you know, if you run Vista on board that wasn't designed for it, if it will slowly stress out the board and start causing problems?

I think I even had BIOS problems with that board and was told by someone, it might be corrupted. I kind of concur with that because when I tried to update or revert back to an older BIOS, it wouldn't take it. Who knows, maybe I shouldn't have even flashed it in the first place, In fact, I can't even remember now why I did or if I did, I've had so many boards these last three months.

Anyway, I RMA'd that board and they supposedly repaired it and even plopped a new BIOS chip in it. So , if I can somehow just find out, from someone with some authority and some brains, if it will handle Vista x64, I might just swap out the MSI board for that and give it another shot. I hate to waste a decent board.

I really think this ABIT board might just indeed be capable of running Vista x64. All you have to do, is do a search for ABIT KV-85 x64 and it will turn up lots of posts of people pulling it off successfully. But you know the thing that still bugs me, is that I never did figure out what did that board in before I sent it back. Was it Vista, my tinkering with the BIOS (and I can't even remember completely if I did. I get frustrated sometimes and just start trying all kinds of things) or just bad luck?

But I'm not too worried about all of this, or maybe I should be. All I know is, I'm not alone. There are thousands of people out there that are either trying to run Vista successfully or actually running it successfully on boards more outdated and less powerful than mine. And many of these people could care less about compatibility, specs, SP1, staying updated with Windows etc. They just want the prestige, I think of running the latest operating system from Micromuck.

But me, I'm a perfectionist when it comes to building, designing and maintaining my systems. I want everything done right, done by the book and always in a state of optimal performance. Unfortunately thanks to delivery of some crummy boards, a few research mistakes on my part and lack of factual information about Vista and compatibility, I find myself just barely hanging on.

Well at least my first-time experience with Firefox is going well!

[Scleros]

...you don't always see any mention or not, to say anything about the "Designed for Vista logo" about a particular board being Vista compatible or not..

If it ain't logo'd, I consider it incompatible. Vendors have to pay for logo testing and jump through a lot of hoops to boot, so any logos that are earned are going to be plastered all over the product's marketing material.

Do you know, if you run Vista on board that wasn't designed for it, if it will slowly stress out the board and start causing problems?

I never say never, but it's extremely unlikely as nothing is being "stressed". And then typically when you do stress components you only lose stability.

So, if I can somehow just find out, from someone with some authority and some brains, if it will handle Vista x64

How would someone determine compatibility? They test it by throwing a formal test suite at it and see if it passes. That's what the logo'ing process does. If the vendor didn't bother to have it logo'd it wasn't in their interest to do so given the age of the product, they knew it wouldn't pass, they didn't want to invest in driver modifications, or they just didn't care. You're already running Vista x64 to your satisfaction. What more do you want? Let's assume that it is, you can still have a lousy system if all of the drivers aren't certified or are poor quality or you build it wrong. Asking vendor personnel if their product is X is like asking a used car salesman if that compact sporty high gas mileage four banger can be driven on a race track. Yes it can, but the team that brings that car to a race is going to have issues the other teams don't. Consider the source.