IDE 1.8.0, Windows 8.1 x64, Tools>Port grayed out

I recently got my hands on an Arduino Uno starter kit (I believe it is a clone) and I am having issues with getting the initial blink test to run.

At first, I had trouble getting Windows 8 to accept a driver (I've tried unplugging and replugging in the USB A/B cable and restarting my computer) and after a bit of research on Google found out that you have to disable device signature for the drivers in the BIOS. After I did that, it let me install a driver but I have my doubts that it is the correct one because my device manager doesn't even recognize that it is an Arduino.

After installing the IDE and driver for the Uno, I tried to run my blink test. I could select the board type but the port selection is grayed out. I did some more research, and the forums and Google keep pointing at a driver issue.

The problem here is that in every fix I have found it says to find your Arduino under "Ports (COM&LPT)" or "Other Devices" in the device manager, but my device is under "USB controllers" as an unknown device. All my attempts to install a driver for it either end up with a "The folder you specified doesn't contain a compatible software driver for your device" or "The best driver software for your device is already installed" message. Also, the device status in the device manager is "Windows has stopped this device because it has reported problems. (Code 43). A request for the USB device descriptor failed."

NOTE: I have tried using the folders with the Arduino drivers, the Old_Arduino_Drivers.zip(after extraction, of course), the Chinese CH341SER driver, and the FTDI drivers for windows. I have had no luck with any of these.

I realize that there are a lot of threads on this forum and a lot of them are similar to mine, but no thread I have seen has had a relevant fix. It is very frustrating and I would appreciate any help, thank you.

Just out of curiosity what type of USB port are you using ?

According to this site

I am using USB 3.0

You may want to try on a USB 2.0 port or put a powered USB 2.0 hub between the USB 3.0 and the Arduino.

If you have one that's great. If not see if you can borrow one just to try.

Most computers and laptops still have some USB 2.0 ports so maybe try it in each you may get lucky.

I am a lucky man, in the sense that I actually have a USB 2.0 port on my computer AND a powered USB 2.0 hub. Unfortunately, the built in 2.0 port doesn't even detect the device at all; but.... the hub does change the error from "USB device descriptor" to "Port Reset Failed".

I looked that error up and found a litany of "fixes" ranging from changing the power settings to not turn off the ports to updating the Generic USB hub drivers to disabling my computer to turning off my USB Root Hub to simply trying to update the driver again. None of this works, however(even with multiple restarts); the Ports menu is still gray, but I remain optimistic. I will keep searching.

Any other ideas would be appreciated. Thank you.

Like you I did a search and yes there are lots of issues with win 8.0 / 8.1 and USB devices failing for no apparent reason.

The common thread seems to be an uninstall of the root hub driver as you say.
When doing that You should have minimal items plugged into the USB ports
Windows should also offer to REMOVE the driver and you should select YES as that is the correct way to do it.

I am not 100% sure if win 8 suffered the USBSER.SYS issues but if it did you may be able to roll back some of the windows updates. I cannot remember the actual KB that was the cause but you may want to check for and se if uninstalling them helps

KB2913431
kb2913431
kb2621440
kb797309
kb2529703
KB2949927

Another in the same thread mentioned the following and then doing a restart. That would allow windows to replace the files with known good copies (most of the time)

usbccgp.sys - renamed to usbccgp.sys.old
usbehci.sys - renamed to usbehci.sys.old
usbhub.sys - renamed to usbhub.sys.old

Another fix that also seemed to work for a number of people was to open a command prompt as Administrator and run the following command " sfc /scannow "

Whatever you do dont use any driver type finder programs as they are often a cause of more trouble than they are worth. Many being laden with adware and other unwanted nasties.

Okay, that is a lot to take in, but I did some tinkering and here is my current status:

-For Windows 8.1 and earlier, usbser.sys doesn't automatically load when you attach an appropriate device(according to their site), but that doesn't mean that there isn't a problem so I checked all of my updates. Of the updates I have(234 installed and 93 not installed because I turned off automatic update) none of them were on your list so I abandoned the update scenario.

-As far as the usbxxx.sys files you mentioned, I didn't know if any were bad and I restart my machine quite often so that may or may not be the issue, I'm not sure; but I know that the System File Checker will know so for my next point...

-I ran the sfc scan and found some trouble with one of the .inf files, specifically CNBJ2530.dpb of prncacla.inf, so I took action to fix that. This command VVVVVV

DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth

fixed everything and when I reran sfc/ scannow, it came up with no corruption. Unfortunately, after going through with that the issue still persists.

I got in contact with a friend who uses a Linux distro and he advised that I try my Arduino on a Linux to see if that would change anything. I got a virtual machine with Ubuntu onto my computer and tried it again to see maybe if Windows is really the problem, but the problem still persists on the VM. I kept playing with it on Windows to maybe get some more clues and what I found out is that if you plug in just the cable without the Arduino attached that the computer still recognizes it as a device, despite there being no device connected, which leads me to believe that Windows doesn't even know that there is an Arduino or other microcontroller at all.

I have no idea where to go from here: is this a OS issue, is this a hardware issue, is this an IDE issue, is my port intermittently defective, or are the I/O Gods just angry with me. All I know is that this version of my Arduino clone comes preloaded with the blink program and it's blinking so this has to be software(?).

Thanks for your help, by the way. Keep it coming if you don't mind.

I got a virtual machine with Ubuntu onto my computer and tried it again to see maybe if Windows is really the problem, but the problem still persists on the VM.

Normally a VM uses the ports via the host (at least this is true to my configuration here - I am using a Mac as host and Windows/Linux as VM's whenever there is an unavoidable need to do so).

So I guess your PC has got into a state where every new "fix attempt" will contribute rather to mess up the situation more. In the times when I was forced to use Windows, the system got confused more and more only 6-9 months after re-installation. That's why I always kept a fresh installation as backup and re-installed the system. Unfortunately after having post-installed all the fantastic updates which were kind of mandatory (in Microsoft's eyes) the system, which worked as expected after fresh re-installations, started to "alzheimer" right after the updates more and more, until I lost my patience and switched over to a Mac which saved me tons of nerves since then.

Ok, that might not be a solution for you, but maybe you can think of installing a second partition with a fresh system on your PC only dedicated to Arduino? And have a backup of the fresh installation saved to get back on the road whenever Windows updated your PC into an unusable system again. Just a thought.

I have no idea where to go from here: is this a OS issue, is this a hardware issue, is this an IDE issue, is my port intermittently defective, or are the I/O Gods just angry with me. All I know is that this version of my Arduino clone comes preloaded with the blink program and it's blinking so this has to be software(?).

To get a focus what is wrong:
Do you have a chance to try the latest IDE with another PC (maybe a friend's laptop) of which you know that it has got USB 2.0 and is working fine?

If that works you should think of doing a fresh install (if possible, on a second partition on your PC).

I have installed the 1.8.0 IDE on my Windows 8.1 machine, my Ubuntu VM, and my wife's Windows 7. All three times the ports are grayed out and on the Windows 7 machine there isn't even a recognition of a device being connected.

I'm not too hot on your idea but if I can't get this to work then I am going to be forced to do a system restore or maybe even a fresh install, like you said.

...but that's gonna be a last resort for me.

Unfortunately I agree with RTP007 about the system restore or rebuild.

That's where I got to after a lot of chasing a similar issue.

Luckily I have my own server which keeps good backups and I keep my data on another drive thanks to an OOBE split drive setup so it was quite painless and pretty quick for me.

Fact that you said windows saw just a cable as a USB device does say that the cable is either a very odd cable and not to be trusted until you work out what it is.
For sure try a few cables and see if that does work.

I looked up the file that SFC found and it does seem to pertain to windows 8 more than anything else.

Just be prepared for that restore at this point as I don't have much else to offer and given your new info it looks like the best path...

Can you post decent pics of the Arduino (both sides) and of the cable JIC we can see anything ?

Well boys, Troubleshooting 101 in effect here. First, I ripped the printer cable off of my printer to test a known good and Windows recognized the device, but it wasn't under USB controllers in my device manager. I got frustrated... until I saw it underneath the Ports (COM & LPT) section. Hooked it up, uploaded the program with a 200 ms delay instead and everything worked just fine. The culprit was a wonky Chinese USB cable. My wife is calling Smraza to get an exchange in the near future. I feel so dumb; I would never have guessed that the stupid cable was bad. It transmitted power and let a device show up on my computer so I figured that it was fine.

Thank you for your help and sorry for wasting your time, hahaha. I really appreciate it.

[SOLVED]

The clues were in your last post thank goodness...

Glad to hear you are up and running.