dougbert

Hallelujah, I have been cured!!! First, my situation. About 5 days ago "the message" balloon started showing up suddenly. I hadn't used any of my external USB ports for at least as few days prior. My machine: HP Pavilion DV6910us, Vista Home Premium w/SP2. I found this thread, starting on about page 4. So, I started at the beginning. In retrospect, the answer that worked for me was about half way through the pages. Why do I never learn? Start at the end of a troubleshooting thread and work backwards. Duh!!! That's typically where you'll find resolutions, assuming they've been discovered. I had tried: reflashing my BIOS, deleting/restacking all my USB devices under Device Manager, registry hack for DisableSelectiveSuspend. Zip. Nada. Nothing worked. As so many of the more recent posts have noted, the answer turned out to be the SIMPLE answer. However, I ALMOST blew it. I turned off my laptop, and unplugged for at least a half hour. Turned it back on and STILL had the problem. So, I THOUGHT that wasn't the answer. Yes, I missed a CRITICAL step. Look at all the recent posts to note that the MOST IMPORTANT part of this process is to REMOVE THE BATTERY while it is powered off and unplugged!!! In my case I shut down, unplugged and removed the battery. Then, I left it that way overnight. I suspect those who say 30 minutes is enough may be correct. One final note. This morning I put the battery back in, but didn't plug it back in until I reached the Vista login screen. Yes. I did receive the dreaded "message balloon" one last time after my desktop came up. I believe that's when Vista "fixed" itself and was able to properly install the driver for the "unknown device". I haven't seen the error since, and I've rebooted again. I am convinced the problem is gone. Make certain you try this extemely simple procedure before you end up replacing your motherboard. Save some $$$!!!! Thanks go to all of you who posted this same content. May everyone's answer be this easy! I leave this thread "at peace" with the world...and Microsoft too! ;-}