Yet another "Unknown Device" issue..

[BillP]

This question was originally posted by Michael on APC forums on 12/6/2010

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OS: Vista 32 SP2 (with all hotfixes installed and fully stable/clean). I have an APCAV J15 (I doubt the model number makes any difference). Plugging in an APCAV directly into an Intel chipset based USB bus builtin to my Intel motherboard.

Anyway, I've seen enough "Unknown Device" issues on Google specifically talking about APC UPS's when connected via USB 2.0 to PC's to know that I'm definitely not alone. However, I haven't found any definite answers.

I'm hoping someone can help give good advice on what's the deal with APC UPS's causing this kind of an issue.

I have over 20 USB devices on my PC. None of them have any issues whatsoever. This is the oddball in the bunch.

I'm guessing it might have something to do with the files in C:\Windows\inf

My highly experienced guess is there's a corrupted or missing .inf file in C:\Windows\inf responsible for installing/recognizing the APC UPS; as, I'm almost certain APC UPS drivers and respective inf/PNF files are native to Windows Vista. I just need to know which inf/PNF files they are.

If someone would kindly do a text search in their C:\Windows\inf folder (Windows Vista 32 preferred) for any file containing "APC" in it... and post the inf file here and respective PNF (if it is there too). You can zip the files here.

Thanks,
MKA
Microsoft Certified Engineer, A+, Netware 4, 5 Certified

[BillP · Accepted solution]

This reply was originally posted by Michael on APC forums on 12/7/2010

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Okay, now I know that the APC device is connected to the PC properly; and, not a hardware issue.

The Unknown device is:
Vendor: American Power Conversion
PnpID: VID_051D&PID_0002
Device: Uninterruptible Power Supply


The device and respective inf is provided by Windows (builtin). I think the Windows device driver database might be corrupted; which doesnt know where to get the native Windows Vista driver for APC UPS's (Hardware device ID: PnpID: VID_051D&PID_0002) locally. It's up to me to restore the Windows driver database on my machine.