Unfortunately, I was still not able to re-install the USB Serial adapter. This did show up a number of other USB devices including the malfunctioning serial driver (I deleted every USB device such as my mouse and webcam devices). I had seen something like this from browsing Experts Exchange earlier today but I had forgotten to select View -> Show Hidden Devices. Thanks for all your replies (I have just subscribed to the service and am very impressed). (6) Searched the MS Knowledge Base for related problems. (4) Tried deleting those keys while if 'Safe' mode. Some of these are referring to unknown devices, possibly the USB Serial adapter. (3) Tried to delete various USB Vid_* registry keys (as mentioned in ). (2) Re-installed Win XP (in-place upgrade). (1) Deleted all USB device drivers (including invisible devices) via Device Manager (so that only working/connected devices would be re-installed). The machine was pre-installed with Windows XP Pro SP1 and I have added all the latest security and driver updates. The laptop is a Hi-Grade M6600 with a Pentium 4M 2.5GHz processor. I don't want to go to the trouble of performing a clean installation of Win XP since the problem may happen again and I need a proper solution. I tried using a different USB Serial adapter (Prolific) but with the same result.Īll 4 USB ports on the laptop work with a mouse, keyboard, memory stick and webcam so I presume the hardware is OK.įrom what I have done so far (see 'What I Have Done' below) it would appear that there are old registry entries referring to the USB Serial adapters and that these may be interfering with the re-installation. There was a problem installing this hardware.Īn error occurred during the installation of the device. When I tried to re-install the drivers (after deleting any that were lying around), the New Hardware Wizard always came displays the message: Then the notebook refused to access the adapter as a serial interface. I have been using a Targus USB - Serial adapter (model PA088) on by laptop for some months.

Targus pa088 driver