Toshiba Cardbus Problem?

[Danny Diaz]

Originally Posted by jpsaul7usa

I tried the regedit to log the error but (1) I couldn't figure out what the Add Hardware service name was and (2) I don't know how to view the log.

That's actually not a problem - you read too far. Just turn on the logging levels for ALL devices (by setting the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Curr entVersion\Setup\LogLevel registry key to 0x0000FFFF), and check the logfile when it pops up and tells you it couldn't "find a file" - the logfile is called setupapi.log and it sits in your c:\windows directory (if memory serves me correct).

Originally Posted by jpsaul7usa

Puzzlingly, whenever the card is inserted in the laptop the device manager lists it but says that it is not working properly because the driver is not installed. When I try to delete the device it says that it is required to boot the computer. The device disappears from the list when it's removed.

Hmmm, may be the case of a corrupted dev node - I actually ran into a system showing the same symptoms with a scanner this past weekend. I had to reboot the computer with the device not inserted, and then perform the following steps:

1. Open a command prompt (start->run and type: cmd).
2. Execute the following command:
set DEVMGR_SHOW_NONPRESENT_DEVICES=1
3. Open your device manager, and select View->Show Hidden Devices.
4. Delete the dev node for your cardbus device.

Be careful, the DEVMGR_SHOW_NONPRESENT_DEVICES environment variable is one that most never have to use (mostly used when developing/debugging a driver). It will show you the "stored" devnode for a device not plugged in - when you plug in a device this devnode is loaded and used (there are some situations where this is not true, but that's beyond the scope of this exercise). If there's a problem with the devnode, it might not be possible to delete it with the device plugged in, so you have to cause Windows to show it to you when it's not plugged in - just the usual "Show hidden devices" doesn't work because that will just show hidden devices that ARE "plugged in".

Anyway, after deleting the devnode you should be able to attempt to install the driver again, and this time it will create a new devnode and *maybe* it will allow the driver to be installed properly.

Good Luck.

-Danny