Fix device errors and missing drivers

Practical guides for the problems people see most often in Device Manager. Most of them start with the same first step: find the hardware ID of the device.

• How to find the hardware ID of a device in Windows
  Find the hardware ID of any device in Windows 11 and 10 with Device Manager, PowerShell or pnputil, and learn how to read VEN/DEV and VID/PID codes to get the right driver.
• Unknown USB Device (Device Descriptor Request Failed): how to fix it
  Why Windows shows “Unknown USB Device (Device Descriptor Request Failed)” with Code 43 and USB\VID_0000&PID_0002, and step-by-step fixes: cable, ports, power, USB selective suspend and drivers.
• “Windows has stopped this device because it has reported problems” (Code 43)
  What Device Manager error Code 43 means for graphics cards, USB and Bluetooth devices, and how to fix it: power reset, clean driver reinstall, chipset drivers and hardware checks.
• “This device cannot start” (Code 10): how to fix it
  How to fix “This device cannot start (Code 10)” in Device Manager: find the device, reinstall or roll back the driver, get the right driver by hardware ID, and rule out hardware faults.
• SM Bus Controller: what it is and which driver to install
  “SM Bus Controller” with a yellow mark in Device Manager is a chipset SMBus device. Learn which driver it needs (Intel Chipset Device Software or AMD chipset driver) and how to install it.
• PCI Simple Communications Controller driver
  On most PCs “PCI Simple Communications Controller” is the Intel Management Engine Interface (MEI). Check the hardware ID and install the matching Intel MEI driver.
• PCI Data Acquisition and Signal Processing Controller driver
  What “PCI Data Acquisition and Signal Processing Controller” is (usually an Intel thermal subsystem), how to identify it by hardware ID and which chipset or thermal driver fixes it.
• Base System Device driver: how to identify and fix it
  “Base System Device” is a generic name for a device without a driver, most often an SD card reader or a chipset component. Identify it by hardware ID and install the right driver.
• “PCI Device” without a driver: how to identify it
  Windows lists an unknown card or chip as “PCI Device” under Other devices. Use its VEN and DEV codes to find out what it is and install the correct driver.