Universal Serial Bus (USB) Controller Error - Won't Boot Into Windows

placeboblack

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Jan 18, 2013
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10,510
Hi everyone. I really am at a loss and feel quite hopeless about my issue, any help would be greatly appreciated.

The situation so far:
Computer was working fine the last time I booted it, turned it on to do some data analysis (via SPSS) and then all of a sudden I noticed some weird artifacts (some of the data cells were appearing and flashing underneath the window) and then the screen showed a bunch if tearing and then froze. Not good obviously, I thought some hardware component had failed.

So I unplugged and reconnected everything, but the screen would always freeze on the black "Starting Windows" screen. Tried all of the tools windows offers for start-up problems and that didn't work. So I tried booting up in safe mode and I can get into my PC that way. So I figured it wasn't a hardware issue anymore (my assumption, please correct me if that's wrong). So I did some digging and learned that it could possibly be a driver issue, so I went to the device manager and sure enough there was one item with the yellow check mark - Under "Other devices" is "Universal Serial Bus (USB) Controller." Oddly enough, under properties for it it says that there is no driver installed.

So after some more searching I found a forum post here saying that it was more than likely a USB 3.0 driver error, so I got it off the website. When I tried to install it it gave me error 1719 "Windows Installer service could not be accessed," so I searched on that and found the windows help for it, but in order to start it I need to be out of safe mode. As you can see, I am now stuck in a logic loop: I (think) need to install the driver for the USB 3.0 to get into windows normally, but to do that I need to be in windows normally to install the driver.

I have also tried to uninstall and disable the device, but it still wont boot up.

Please, help me!

Specs:
Custom Build
Windows 7 64-bit
Geforce 670
12 gigs of ram
X58 Classified3 mobo
i7-990
 

placeboblack

Honorable
Jan 18, 2013
5
0
10,510
I tried using the OS disc to repair, but it ended with it telling me to contact the system administrator. I ran the chkdsk and it didn't say anything was wrong.

UPDATE: OK, so now I cant even boot into safe mode. When it is loading the drivers the screen freezes and there is a thin line of colors at the top of the screen. I have a triple channel memory setup, so I've pulled them out and tried one by one in the first red port - freezes. Tried the next red port - freezes. ****? Are my DIMM ports fried? Are all three of my sticks of RAM fried? I can boot from the windows 7 cd though, does that mean the ram is ok? Completely lost at this point.
 
check what plugged into the pc by the usb port. sometimes you can have to many devices plugged in and can hang a system going into windows. also if there a issues between the keyboard and mouse and the bios you can have error. a lot of asus mb had issues with some usb mouses till a bios update. I think one of your issue may be a power issue or the video card if you saw artifact on the screen. if your mb has onboard video i would pull the video card and see if you can get into windows. if not see if someone has a spare video card. if you cant get into windows (damaged) wont go into safe mode. try booting from hirem boot cd mini xp. I rule out hardware issues if you can boot into mini xp.
 

placeboblack

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Jan 18, 2013
5
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10,510
Just installed windows on a separate hdd, and it works just fine. Incredibly disappointing since it took forever to get all my games modded and everything set up. Why cant windows repair itself? What could have caused windows to freak out in the middle of normal operation, none if it makes sense.
 

placeboblack

Honorable
Jan 18, 2013
5
0
10,510
SOLVED:
It was the video card. I swapped it out for an older one I had and I got into my desktop. I guess the screen tearing at the time of the first crash should have been the red flag. Thanks everyone for your suggestions.