Help w/Computer- Do I need to delete a driver? If so, how?

[Ro_Laren]

Help w/Computer- I Need my Laptop to Work so I can graduate!

I have been working on a lot of papers for school and last night I decided to plug a keyboard from an old desktop into my laptop to make things easier. The thing is the keyboard is from a Gateway desktop that I bought in 2001 and ran on a Windows Millenium operating system. I plugged the keyboard into my HP laptop, which I bought last year and is a Windows 7 operating system. When I plugged the keyboard into my laptop it took a minute or two as my computer automatically searched for a keyboard driver (over the internet?) to download on my computer. I was able to successfully use the keyboard yesterday, but today decided to work without the extra keyboard plugged into my laptop. I have been working on my computer since 10Amish today and then all of a sudden 30 minutes ago three columns of vertical lines started running down my computer:

I didn’t know what to do and control-alt-delete didn’t work so I just manually turned off my computer. When I turned it back on my computer gave me multiple safe mode options to run my computer in, but instead I decided to run it in normal mode:

When my desktop came up multiple screens related to a driver popped up. These messages did not pop up earlier this morning when I originally turned on my computer. First I got this pop-up in the bottom right-hand screen of my desktop:

Then this screen popped up in the middle of my desktop:

Lastly this pop-up came up (I don't have any devices plugged into any USB ports):

I can only imagine that this has to do with the keyboard that I plugged in last night. I have no clue how to erase the driver for that keyboard (it isn't in the Add/Remove Program menu). When I restarted my computer just now I didn't have the Gateway keyboard plugged in, but did have a mouse plugged in (this mouse has never caused me any probs). The last error message kept popping up even after I unplugged the mouse. Any advice? FYI, I just ran a complete virus scan, but it didn't up with anything... and I ran almost a complete scan last night, but there were no probs. Help!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Finn]

Are you able to operate the computer just fine otherwise, with that annoying box popping up whenever you turn it on?

 

[Ro_Laren]

Well, I just restarted the computer & everything seems okay so far. But again, the reason I had to restart it in the first place is because it went psycho & the Word program I was working on was replaced with there columns of vertical bars that were running / flashing down the screen.

 

[Finn]

The safe mode seems to happen time to time. But someone with IT experience here should be able to give feedback about the vertical bars. I don't think I've seen that before.

 

[Ro_Laren]

FYI... now my computer is not recognizing my mouse (ever since I unplugged it after I restarted my computer back up). I am turning of my computer for 5 minutes & then will restart it to see what happens.

 

[Marc]

FYI... now my computer is not recognizing my mouse (ever since I unplugged it after I restarted my computer back up). I am turning of my computer for 5 minutes & then will restart it to see what happens.

That won't make a difference - plugging in the USB keyboard has given Windows a bit of hard time. USB is supposed to plug and play but people in the industry call it plug an pray though it's improved greatly as time goes along.

Windows should have recognosed the the keyboard as standard USB device but there could be something in it's hardware that makes it appear different.

If you can still use your touch pad, go into Control Panel -> system - Device manager and expand all the categories. Under either human input devices or unknown device will be some device entries with either a red or yellow mark next to them. These are devices that windows doesn't have drivers for it.

Right click on each one, and choose to uninstall. Then reboot and let Windows re-detect the mouse etc.

 

[Ro_Laren]

FYI... now my computer is not recognizing my mouse (ever since I unplugged it after I restarted my computer back up). I am turning of my computer for 5 minutes & then will restart it to see what happens.

That won't make a difference - plugging in the USB keyboard has given Windows a bit of hard time. USB is supposed to plug and play but people in the industry call it plug an pray though it's improved greatly as time goes along.

Windows should have recognosed the the keyboard as standard USB device but there could be something in it's hardware that makes it appear different.

If you can still use your touch pad, go into Control Panel -> system - Device manager and expand all the categories. Under either human input devices or unknown device will be some device entries with either a red or yellow mark next to them. These are devices that windows doesn't have drivers for it.

Right click on each one, and choose to uninstall. Then reboot and let Windows re-detect the mouse etc.

I went to the Device Manager and clicked all of the items under the USB section that had a yellow mark next to them (there were none with a red mark). I then right-clicked to uninstall the devices and they completely disappeared from the Device Manager section. I then restarted the computer. When the computer came back on I went back to the Device Manager & one of the USB devices with a yellow mark is still there. The device is labelled "Uknown Device" as you can see below:

You can see in the pic above that the device status of the "Uknown Device" is "Windows has stopped this device because it has reported problems. (Code 43)."

Also, after I restarted my computer I plugged my mouse into a USB port. When that happened a second Uknown Device with a yellow mark appeared in the USB section of the Device Manager (this is not in the pic above). I tried to delete both Uknown Devices again and when I restarted the computer one was still there. While typing this message I got a pop-up in the lower right hand screen of my desktop about a USB device (I have not plugged anything into any USB ports). I just went to the Device Manager and there are now two Uknown Devices.

Also, only one of my two flashdrives will only work in one of my laptop's two USB ports. Ayudame por favor!!!

 

[Jadzia]

Windows should have recognosed the the keyboard as standard USB device but there could be something in it's hardware that makes it appear different.

If a keyboard has shortcut keys, it will often have it's own special driver. And often the driver is built into the keyboard, and will offer it to windows when it is first plugged in. Because of it's age, this driver won't know about windows 7, so it may not be compatible.

Also, after I restarted my computer I plugged my mouse into a USB port. When that happened a second Uknown Device with a yellow mark appeared in the USB section of the Device Manager (this is not in the pic above). I tried to delete both Uknown Devices again and when I restarted the computer one was still there. While typing this message I got a pop-up in the lower right hand screen of my desktop about a USB device (I have not plugged anything into any USB ports). I just went to the Device Manager and there are now two Uknown Devices.

Removing a device from Device Manager doesn't disable it. When Windows restarts it will find anything you've removed and (kindly) put it back for you. To properly remove it, you have to right click the Unknown Device and disable it, which makes the icon red.

But I don't think that's what you want... you want it to use a different driver. It won't choose a different one automatically.

Installing the old (working) USB driver will involve going into the Driver tab on the dialog, choosing to update driver, and manually selecting a working one from the list.

You may want to search the net for the name/model no of your keyboard, and find a driver that's compatible with windows 7. Just because it comes from gateway, doesn't mean it's gateway's own keyboard. It's likely to be made by some other company, and gateway puts their logo on it. Look on the base for a model number.

Also, only one of my two flashdrives will only work in one of my laptop's two USB ports. Ayudame por favor!!!

The worst case (less likely) scenario is if the USB controller on your laptop has been damaged. That can happen if there's static discharge to the USB controller from the keyboard. Static can build up in peripherals depending where they're stored, and what they're wrapped in.