Device manager shows "USB PnP Audio Device" instead of "Rocksmith USB Guitar Adapter"

[Ossia]

I've looked all over, and no one has posted a fix for this problem that works.

When I plug my Real Tone cable into any of my PC's USB ports (both 2.0 and 3.0), it is recognized by Windows (8.1) as "USB PnP Audio Device", not "Rocksmith USB Guitar Adapter" as it should.

I know my cable works, because when I use it as input in Audacity, it records just fine. I know my cable has worked with the game as near as a month ago.

I've tried other troubleshooting methods, unplugging and plugging it back in, disconnecting and reconnecting the connector in the middle of the cable, uninstalling the incorrect driver, changing the incorrect driver to something incompatible, then uninstalling that driver, disabling legacy USB support in the BIOS (Which should also imply multiple reboots), updating other drivers, disconnecting all other USB devices, etc. etc.

Has anyone else had this problem and solved it? Anyone have any idea on other things to try?

[rcole_sooner]

Do you have any other audio software apps/drivers running that might be affecting it?

Any other USB hardware that might be causing an issue?


I have never seen mine come up as "USB PnP Audio Device".

I have several PCs/laptops running both Windows 7 and Windows 8.1, all 64 bit.

I have had trouble on .... only 1 of my PCs ... my main gaming/music PC .... nothing really different about it other than hardware make/model. I did have to mess with the USB 3.0 settings in the BIOS (or whatever ASROCK calls it).

Still from time to time it comes up unrecognized or "Hocksmith USB Guitar Adapter", neither of which will work.

Unplugging and replugging the cable a few times .. .maybe a reboot ... will eventually fix it.

There is no special driver for it, as far as I know, it is just the standard windows driver.

[Ossia]

I haven't installed any new audio drivers or software since the last time the cable worked, so I can't think that would be the issue. The next thing I'll try is disabling my audio card and switching to onboard audio to see if maybe there's a conflict there, although it worked fine before. I'm really just throwing things at the wall to see what sticks here.

I've unplugged all other USB devices with the exception of my mouse and keyboard, and disabled USB legacy modes in the BIOS, as was suggested elsewhere. Those actions didn't help. I've also restarted my PC, unplugged and plugged in the cable many times. The cable still refuses to be recognized correctly. I haven't had the "Hocksmith" problem that you and others have had (and at this point I'd see that as progress).

[rcole_sooner]

Have you tried disconnecting and reconnecting the little break away connection in the middle (towards one end) of the cable? On occasion folks have had that connection come loose.

If you have another PC to test the cable on, it may at least give you some confidence it is not the cable.

I am not sure, but I don't think you even need the game installed ... never tried it without it without the game installed .. so really a shot in the dark.

However, with Steam, it is free to install the game on as many machines as you want.

You would not have to play the game on the machine, but just see if the cable shows up right in device manager.

[MTZIGG]

Let me ask this.Does Rocksmith work? Because I worked on computer that did this. It would not show it as"Rocksmith USB Guitar Adapter"only "USB PnP Audio Device"and it showed up in the sound properties as a USB microphone.and the game worked fine If it does then play and enjoy ;-)

[Buck]

Originally posted by MTZIGG:

Let me ask this.Does Rocksmith work? Because I worked on computer that did this. It would not show it as"Rocksmith USB Guitar Adapter"only "USB PnP Audio Device"and it showed up in the sound properties as a USB microphone.and the game worked fine If it does then play and enjoy ;-)

I was thinking the same thing. This may just be a cosmetic/visual thing. Perhaps you're running an older OS that isn't officially supported?

EDIT - oh nm, you did say Win 8.1

[MTZIGG]

Originally posted by Buck:

Originally posted by MTZIGG:

Let me ask this.Does Rocksmith work? Because I worked on computer that did this. It would not show it as"Rocksmith USB Guitar Adapter"only "USB PnP Audio Device"and it showed up in the sound properties as a USB microphone.and the game worked fine If it does then play and enjoy ;-)

I was thinking the same thing. This may just be a cosmetic/visual thing. Perhaps you're running an older OS that isn't officially supported?

EDIT - oh nm, you did say Win 8.1

yup you are right is was not win 8 it was for sure 7
because ive only tried to put RS on a vista once a long time ago and never on an XP also in MY win 7 when running Audacity input shows USB microphone instead of the Cable .
win 7 and win 8 Aiso files suck for lag.RS wont use it but i run aiso4all file and it finds the cable in Audacity.weird to be sure. But if his works why fuss with what the computer calls it ;-)

[Ossia]

If it worked, I wouldn't be asking for help

When I try to tune, it gives me the "Real tone cable not found" dialog box. If I could manually set the input in-game I would be fine, since I know the cable works as an input (via Audacity). It appears, however, that the game is set to look only for the approved driver - unless there's a setting I'm just plain missing.

[rcole_sooner]

You might try uninstalling or disabling Audacity.

It could be blocking something.

Of course, if it was working with it before, then that is probably not it.

Once again, there is no "approved driver" just the standard windows usb audio device driver ... AFAIK. Any other driver could actually be causing a problem.

[Buck]

Originally posted by Ossia:

If it worked, I wouldn't be asking for help

okay, that's fine, but we're not going to assume.

My main guess right now is that it's being mis-identified due to some kind of issue with USB device enumeration. There are no "special" drivers per se, it uses the standard usb audio drivers (USBAUDIO.SYS) that Microsoft provides.

Things to try -
Nuke EVERYTHING USB related from device manager.

Disconnect the RS cable and any other USB devices that you can.

go to start -> run -> type "cmd" -> type "set devmgr_show_nonpresent_devices=1" then "start devmgmt.msc"

Device Manager opens.
click on "view" then "show hidden devices"
Scroll to the bottom in the "Univeral Serial Bus Controllers"
Remove EVERYTHING you see under there. (You can get way with just yanking the USB root hubs and composite devices too)
WARNING - doing this can bork up any USB printers you have, which might require a complete reinstall of it's software to get them working right again.

Reboot

Windows will start re-decting alot of hardware, Let it. Reboot if it asks.
last by not least, plug the Realtone cable back in, and hope it gets detected correctly.

[ianj001]

Have you tried connecting the cable to different USB inputs?