PCI-e USB 3.0 card aggravation

[luthierwnc]

Hi All, It seems I've been pestering one forum or another a lot lately. This is a two-part question.
The setup will explain the first and the second goes beyond it.

I have an office computer that I've tried to install an Insignia PCI USB 3.0 card in. Physically the card went in fine. In trying to install the disk I got an error (#1720) that it couldn't install correctly. I downloaded the latest version of the drivers and got error (1628 I think) that it couldn't be installed. The program has yet another error that keeps it from being uninstalled in the control panel. I scoured the box for any Insignia files and deleted one from the program files. I also checked the registry files and couldn't find a single trace of the install but the drivers still show up on the uninstall choices and won't leave.

BTW, i5-2400 Windows 7 64-bit, SSD, HDD, 8GB RAM, GRX 750.

The first question is whether anybody knows what's going on? I found this thread on the exact subject but it didn't end conclusively (I tried this too to no avail).

http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/339563-28-card-renesas-driver-failing-install

The next question is whether a card is the best way to get USB 3.0 on a light-weight computer anyway. I'd certainly give this card 1 out of 5 eggs but most of the other ones on the market seem to be made with the same quality and failure rate -- probably in the same factory. Insignia tech support suggest I go stand in line at the Geek Squad. I told them I'd already lost enough time and money and wasn't going to compound the issue by having someone waste work time watching them scratch their heads. Cheaper to by another card -- if it works.

Any ideas? Thanks as always, Skip

 

[Karsten75]

I will just tell you that drivers are neither in the Program Files folder nor in the Registry. http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/hardware/ff544868(v=vs.85).aspx

As for the specific errors, I have no clue. There may be software on your computer that blocks the uninstall, or there may be an issue with the Installer itself. Sometimes days of intense fiddling does resolve things like that, but sometimes not.

There is really no other way to install USB 3.0 capability on a machine that does not have it on the motherboard.

I have this in one of my machines for additional USB ports. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=9SIA1HD0PB5476

 

[luthierwnc]

Your card looks a lot like mine. Mine would probably work if it knew what to do. What I can't figure is how the software got so fubar. Loading it from a disk fails because of some untraceable error. Downloading is the same message with a different error code. The original error code has confused everyone on Google.

And then there is the uninstall. About 8 seconds in I get a new error message that the installation failed. I've deleted every file on the computer with word Insignia. I combed the registry for leftovers. I did the .dll change on the link I posted. Then I go back to the uninstall window and there is the name bold as brass -- completely unnoticed by a show-hidden-files search. Telling it to uninstall is supposed to be a command -- not a request. I've gotten rid of viruses that didn't hang in there that tough.

Insignia offered a insouciant solution that would cost far more than buying another card but a third of those don't seem to work any better than this POS. Then I still have to uninstall the original driver remnants. For the same thirty bucks I could have gotten a nice bottle of red and my head would hurt less.

Please keep those ideas coming in, sh

 

[Karsten75]

http://www.revouninstaller.com/

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/magazine/2008.08.utilityspotlight.aspx

http://support.microsoft.com/KB/290301

Information is posted in the KB article http://support.microsoft.com/kb/290301
Notice
This article previously contained a link to the Windows Installer Cleanup utility (MSICUU2.exe). If you were directed to this article to solve a problem installing a product other than Microsoft Office, please contact your software manufacturer for installation support on the product.

While the Windows Installer Cleanup utility resolved some installation problems, it sometimes damaged other components installed on the computer. Because of this, the tool has been removed from the Microsoft Download Center.

 

[luthierwnc]

Thanks Karsten75, I downloaded the free Revo and was able to remove the fragments of the original install. Then I reinstalled the drivers. I got further this time and two Renesas USB drivers are added to the Device Manager. I'm trying to use a Seagate Backup Plus 1TB external drive for routine backups. I plug it in and it immediately starts spinning and the LED is on. A couple minutes later I get a message that there is an unrecognized USB device but the spinner keeps working. Clicking into that it says "this device is disabled ..." because of Error 29.

I've rummaged around for that but fix recommendations are all over the map. The Microsoft fix is ineffective.

I think in 2487 BC, I was an Assyrian goat merchant and arrogantly told a peer, "Ha, why would I need an abacus? I've still got ten fingers!" Every thousand years or so, I'm reincarnated as a vortex of negative technological energy to right the karmic balance. That way, when I buy a simple computer device, plug it into the slot and download the drivers, I can be the one in the sample population that gremlins in the BIOS and registries torment for hours. It's a drag but I'm glad to be helping mankind on the whole