USB Devices not recognised on R320

Hi HuggaBounce,

Thanks for posting.

Have you updated the BIOS? Here's the link.  

I found some information regarding the iDRAC and recommendations to update that as well. Here's the link.

Hope this helps.

Hi Robert

I appreciate you taking the time to reply.

Yes, the system has all updates from SUU 16.06, including BIOS 2.4.2 and iDRAC 2.30.30.30 applied very recently, but everything was working fine after applying (I know because I was at the physical console and using an external USB keyboard/mouse to do the updates).

Something has happened between then and now and I don't know what, as I have not done any other changes or updates to Dell software or Windows OS since.

I don't know why iDRAC would be trying to attach a device called "Keyboard" or "Mouse" when I have disconnected mine.  Maybe they are virtual keyboard/mouse, but I don't use the virtual console (I'm not even licensed for it I don't think!).  I have no idea what EP1 and EP2 are in an iDRAC, if I knew I might be able to narrow the problem down, but tech support just keep saying to call Microsoft :-/

I'm certainly going to check SUU 16.10 and see if there is anything new I can apply (see a new iDRAC has been released too, it's worth a shot I guess).  Scheduling another outage for next week :(

Let me contact someone who is more versed in servers than I.  

Thanks Robert,

I have an outage scheduled for a few hours tonight.  I will check out what happens in safe mode, and apply the latest SUU and chipset driver (as suggested by tech support).  Maybe something will "reinstall" and come good.

Once I know more I will update you.

HuggaBounce,

It sounds like the USB ports are disabled, when they are disabled the USB will work through POST, and then will stop afterwards. Which sounds a lot like what is occurring. Within the BIOS (F2 at startup) under Integrated Devices, you should see that the User Accessible USB Ports's are enabled or disabled? If disabled then go ahead and enable them. Reboot and see if they function.

If not then then the issue is likely driver based.

Let me know what you find.

Thanks Chris

A disabled USB in the BIOS would have been too simple :-P  I checked the setting anyway and it was enabled.  In my device manager screenshot earlier, the USB controller/hubs are all OK in device manager collapsed tree.  If i reboot the iDRAC, the devices go and reappear, so USB must be "seeing" something.

Safe mode revealed nothing, the issue did not alleviate in Safe mode.   I was unable to log in via RDP in safe mode to check the device manager status or do anything (stupid me forgot I would lose RDP connectivity in safe mode and I spent a good chunk of my time just recovering to normal mode).  Maybe I'll try again next week; it must be something to do with Windows as external keyboard/mouse were also fine in Windows recovery mode.

Updated the Chipset and iDRAC firmware version and no change.  No surprise really.  I'm concluding it is most likely a Windows patch has broken something, as I discovered I also cannot mount ISOs or do System State backups anymore.  I tried uninstalling a couple of recent patches dealing with VSS and USB and no change.  I always check I can log into the console after every Windows update so I'm not convinced it is the issue, but I need to try something I guess  A good hard look at the logs next and have to consider either a reinstall or call to Microsoft (an expense I don't want just yet if its as stupid as a flipped registry value).  

Further to this thread, it seems my issue mounting ISO's and System State backups is related to the USB devices not working.  

Any dynamically added device fails to correctly identify a driver and  start.  I realized this when trying to diagnose the System State problem, a new device (something like Microsoft_VHD_ISO_VHBA_01) would be created in Other Devices at the point where the backup fails ("A virtual disk support provider for the specified file was not found").

I'm at a loss to understand why the devices aren't finding a driver (code 28).  Even if I select a driver manually, it fails to start correctly (code 10).  Even basic USB keyboard which Windows has built-in drivers for fail.   sfc /scannow has not helped.

So I'm probably going to call Microsoft since it's affecting a broader range of issues.   I'm thinking I might remove all recent Windows Updates though, just to be sure.  

I'd like some advice on how I should proceed with a backup though, since I can't use Windows Backup or USB while the OS is running (booting an OS from DVD everything is fine).  Any ideas of good Dell or 3rd party tools to make an image before I mess around more?  It's a Windows Essentials server, so running AD etc, and I don't want to lose the system.  

I'm also looking for opinion of whether a doing an in-place upgrade to Server 2016 might be a possible solution?