Device Manager Appearing Empty!

http://img266.imageshack.us/img266/4567/untitled0lj.jpg

For a few weeks now my Device Manager has been appearing empty. I've been looking all over the Internet for a solution and have tried many things such as the following which is to do with plug & play

I've also gone into the registry to try and sort it out by doing the following:

None of this has helped at all so far and I'm really stuck for what to do next.


HK

 

I would recommend that you post this here:

http://forums.majorgeeks.com/forumdisplay.php?f=35 (Malware Removal)

Also, when you go there, follow all of the steps listed in the first thread.

One of the malware experts will help you out.

I say this because this can be a symptom of having malware on your system. If I am mistaken someone will let you know!

 

You certain Plug and Play service is actually started?

 

Yes, very certain, I've checked & I've double checked, it's definitely started


HK

 

1. Go back to your Registry and try the following.
2. Maximize the "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE" window.
3. Scroll down to "SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Enum"
4. With "Enum" selected click the "Security", "Permissions" menu.
5. Click "Add".
6. Add the group "Everyone" and the user "SYSTEM".
7. Select "Everyone" and check "Read" ONLY!
8. Select "SYSTEM" and check "Full Control".
9. Click the "Advanced" button at the bottom of the window.
10. On the Advanced window check "Reset permissions on all child objects..."
11. Click "OK"
12. On the warning window click "Yes"
13. Close

Steve

 

Thanks Mat, but as I said in the bottom half of my first post, I've already tried that and still no luck. I even tried that 'device manager restore' that you told someone else to try a while back but that's not helped either. I'm really stuck for what to do.


HK

 

I've just tried doing it once again & when the warning window comes up I click 'YES' but I then get an error message as shown below:

Also, there isn't a check box saying 'reset permissions on all child objects'... instead it says 'replace permission entries on all child objects with entries shown here that apply to child objects'.

http://img428.imageshack.us/img428/1527/errormessage0fj.jpg


HK

 

OK. Go back under Advanced and uncheck both the "child objects" boxes under SYSTEM and Everyone.

Steve

 

Done.


HK

 

Crap. I can't figure out what's missing, I think you have you tried all the different settings and you have already tried my last resort, the Restore Tool.

Steve

 

lol FFS!! There's no way I'm formatting my PC either as I have about 15gb of music on there.

Is there NO other way I can fix it at all?


HK

 

Nope, I'll try that now. Could malware really be a culprit though? I've never heard of any that affects device manager.


HK

 

I just got done repairing someones laptop that had the same symptoms. I wound up having to slave their HD to my computer to get the songs off their HD.

I then checked their HD with Norton and Norton reported 141 threats on that HD.

 

Download THIS file to your desktop.

Save it to your desktop but don't run it yet.

Then reboot to Safe Mode, and double-click aproposfix.exe and unzip it to the desktop.

Open the aproposfix folder on your desktop and run RunThis.bat. Follow the prompts.

When the tool is finished, reboot back into normal mode.


I got this from another forum and it helped someone with an identical problem to yours.

Good luck, but whether it works or not, I would suggest you follow the Malware link.

 

Mate, you are a f*cking GENIUS. Thanks a lot, I don't know wtf that program did but whatever it was solved the problem. Thanks again, I appreciate it & thanks to everyone else who tried helping me


HK

 

You're welcome, don't forget to visit the Malware Forum as suggested as this problem is caused by infection.

 

I, too have the same problem. However using run>services.msc I get the followiong error message

"Unable to open service control manager database on."
"Error 5: Access is denied."

Do you folks feel this is a malware problem as well?

At the same time the Device Manager problem started I also lost access to System Information. Using run, msinfo32 I get nothing, nada, zip.

Win XP Pro SP 2
Pentium 4 2.80 gigahertz
Maxtor HD 41.11 GB
516 MB memory
Connected to internet by cable

 

You should start a new thread on this, not hijack this one.

 

Sorry, new here. Expected better manners.