Which Windows XP service monitors USB hardware changes?

Question

Desktop PC with Windows XP Pro not recognizing an internal multi-card reader connected to USB on motherboard. This devce used to work. Some services have been disable to improve perfomance. I'd like to make sure the proper service is running. Can someone tell me which Windows XP service monitors when a USB device is connected?

Answer 1

I think you are looking for

Plug and Play

Enables a computer to recognize and adapt to hardware changes with little or no user input.

C:\WINDOWS\system32\services.exe

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The following system components depend on this services

Smart Card
Manages access to smart cards read by this computer. If this service is stopped, this computer will be unable to read smart cards. If this service is disabled, any services that explicitly depend on it will fail to start.
C:\WINDOWS\System32\SCardSvr.exe

Or

Universal Plug and Play Device Host

Provides support to host Universal Plug and Play devices.

C:\WINDOWS\system32\svchost.exe -k LocalService

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Note: The listed executable is not meant to be manually executed. - @Tom Wijsman

Answer 2

I've seen this happen when "something" (don't ask me what) gets messed up in XP's handling of devices, and it simply quits responding to a given device being plugged in or unplugged.

I've always handled cleanup of this problem by hand, but the DriveCleanup tool looks like it will do this automatically.

If you really want to do it the hard way, here's quick instructions:

• Open a Command Prompt with Administrator privileges
• Run the following command: set devmgr_show_nonpresent_devices=1
• Then run: start devmgmt.msc
• In Device Manager, Go to the View menu and select Show Hidden Devices
• Find all the ghosted entries under Disk Drives, Storage Volumes, and USB Controllers and uninstall them (this can be done either by right-clicking and selecting Uninstall, or left-clicking and tapping the Delete key)

Once you've removed everything, the device should work once you plug it in. If it's already plugged in, force a rescan from Device Manager.

Answer 3

Best bet to see if the card reader is dead or not, Power down the PC, unplug the power cord, open the PC and disconnect the card reader from the motherboard, close the PC case and power up into windows for a few minutes, shut down and disconnect power cord again, connect the card reader to the motherboard, power up, if Windows does not detect the card reader in device manager, then the reader is toast.

Uninstalling it in Device manager does not always get the reader detected properly again, you have to physically remove it from the motherboard and boot into windows with it disconnected, then shut down and connect it back.