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.
• Fixing "Unknown USB Device (Device Descriptor Request Failed)"
  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.
• Code 43: "Windows has stopped this device because it has reported problems"
  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.
• How to fix "This device cannot start" (Code 10)
  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 it needs
  "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: finding the right driver
  "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.
• Identifying a "PCI Device" that has no driver
  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.
• Ethernet Controller with no driver: how to identify it and fix it
  "Ethernet Controller" under Other devices means the network chip has no driver. Identify the chip by its PCI hardware ID and install the matching Realtek, Intel, Qualcomm or Broadcom driver.
• Network Controller: the Wi-Fi card without a driver
  "Network Controller" with a yellow mark is the Wi-Fi card without a driver. Read its hardware ID, find out whether it is Intel, MediaTek, Realtek or Qualcomm, and install the right package.
• Unknown device: working out what it is and which driver it needs
  How to identify an Unknown device in Windows Device Manager: read its hardware ID, tell PCI, USB and ACPI devices apart, and find the driver or the cause when the ID is empty.
• Code 28: "The drivers for this device are not installed"
  Device Manager error Code 28 means no driver is installed for a device that Windows identified correctly. Find the package by hardware ID and install it with Device Manager or pnputil.
• Code 31: "Windows cannot load the drivers required for this device"
  How to fix Code 31 in Device Manager: clean driver reinstall, leftover class filter drivers in the registry, network stack reset, system file repair and Memory integrity checks.
• Code 39: "Windows cannot load the device driver for this hardware"
  Code 39 means the driver file could not be loaded. Fixes by pattern: one device, a whole device class with UpperFilters and LowerFilters, or several devices blocked by Memory integrity.
• Code 52: "Windows cannot verify the digital signature"
  Why Code 52 appears on clean installs of Windows 10 and 11, which drivers it affects, how to find a properly signed package, and why disabling signature enforcement is not a fix.
• USB device not recognized: finding the real cause
  Why Windows shows "USB device not recognized": cable, port, hub and power problems first, then USB stack reset, selective suspend and the driver for the hardware ID.
• Installing a driver from an INF file or a CAB package
  How to install a driver without an installer: unpack a CAB with expand, use Update driver with Browse my computer, or add the package with pnputil, and what to do when the install is refused.
• Wi-Fi disappeared after a Windows update
  Wi-Fi gone after a Windows update: check what Device Manager shows, roll back the driver the update installed, check Airplane mode and the WLAN service, and reset the network stack.
• Bluetooth missing from Device Manager and Settings
  No Bluetooth switch in Settings and no Bluetooth section in Device Manager: install the driver for the USB hardware ID of the module, check the Bluetooth services and the power settings.
• SD card reader not working in Windows
  A built-in card reader that stopped working: find it by hardware ID, install the Realtek, O2Micro or Genesys driver, switch off PCI Express link power management and rule out the card.