Problems with A315-56 drivers after upgrading from Windows 10 21H1 to 21H2, specifically my keyboard

desbest
desbest Member Posts: 54 Die Hard WiFi Icon
edited January 2022 in Aspire Laptops
17th of December

Why does Windows Module Installer (which handles installing window updates) sometimes appear in the task manager despite Windows Update saying that my computer up to date? I'm using Windows 10 21H2




After the process finishes, nothing new in "view update history" appears to be installed.


Also why do I also see this when restarting?



5th of January


For reference, this all started on the SAME day I upgraded from Windows 10 21H1 to 21H2

Here's what ran

  • Windows Module Installer
  • WIndows Module Installer Worker
  • Microsoft Compatibility Telemetry
  • Device Census
  • Microsoft Device Telemetry
  • Modern Setup Host
  • WindowsUpdateBox.exe
  • musnotify.exe
  • musnotificationux.exe
  • musnotifyicon.exe
  • UsoClient.exe


So after 5 weeks of seeing the above in task manager (especially the first two), Windows Problem Reporting was running for an unusually long time of over 24 hours so I looked it up in Process Explorer and it was running this command. This was straight after recovering from an unexpected shutdown after leaving my laptop stationary for hours without any user input. 

werfault.exe /hc /shared Global\c4083235e0d843009ed66fcb305bca8d /t 2188 /p 7020


/hc seems to stand for hardware compatibility checker.

You might be interested in looking at the threads for that process.

I then thought it was never going to end so I restarted my computer and Windows Problem Reporting didn't appear again afterwards.

On the 28th of December some drivers got blocked on my laptop by Microsoft after the hardware diagnostics or hardware compatibility checker that Microsoft did. I noticed that the "g", "h", and "m" keys didn't work on y keyboard but all I had to do to fix it, is to replace the uninstalled and blocked driver Intel SMBus with the one that Driver Booster has called ELAN SMBus, as well as reinstalling the Synaptics Trackpad driver again from the Acer website for my product (which fixed the "g", "h", and "m" keys on my keyboard).

A few days later on the 3rd of December Microsoft blocked even more drivers (evidenced by Device Manager in the events tab) on my laptop so now those solutions don't work any more.

Not only did Microsoft block the Intel SMBus driver on the 28nd but they also blocked the replacement ELAN SMBus driver on the 3rd as well, so now I can't get my keyboard to properly work any more when I could before in that 5 day time period.

The only difference is that if I try to install the Intel SMBus it will say that no drivers exist for it, but with the ELAN SMBus, there are drivers for it, it just won't switch on even if enabled.



Despite that date saying the 31st, from my personal experience the 3rd is when that solution stopped working after I used the sfc and dism commands in command prompt.

So it's obviously a software issue, not a hardware issue.

So in question there are 5 drivers to deal with as seen in Device Manager

  • Intel SBus Driver or ELAN SBus Driver
  • Intel(R) Serial IO GPIO Host Controller - INT3455
  • Intel(R) Serial IO I2C Host Controller - 34E8
  • Intel(R) Serial IO I2C Host Controller - 34E9
  • Synaptics HID Device


All drivers say they are working properly in the "general" tab but in the events tab, the 34E8 and 34E9 one says it hasn't started along with all the SBus ones.


Device PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_34E8&SUBSYS_14221025&REV_30\3&11583659&0&A8 had a problem starting.

Driver Name: oem25.inf
Class Guid: {4d36e97d-e325-11ce-bfc1-08002be10318}
Service: iaLPSS2_I2C_ICL
Lower Filters: 
Upper Filters: 
Problem: 0x15
Problem Status: 0x0

Device PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_34E9&SUBSYS_14221025&REV_30\3&11583659&0&A9 had a problem starting.

Driver Name: oem25.inf
Class Guid: {4d36e97d-e325-11ce-bfc1-08002be10318}
Service: iaLPSS2_I2C_ICL
Lower Filters: 
Upper Filters: 
Problem: 0x15
Problem Status: 0x0

Device PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_34A3&SUBSYS_14221025&REV_30\3&11583659&0&FC had a problem starting.

Driver Name: oem97.inf
Class Guid: {4d36e97d-e325-11ce-bfc1-08002be10318}
Service: ETDSMBus
Lower Filters: 
Upper Filters: 
Problem: 0x15
Problem Status: 0x0



I am not sure if the problem in the code block above is outdated because if I was to uninstall it then my mouse/trackpad would stop working, then would work again upon restarting once the driver is reinstalled, so it must be acknowledging the driver to some extent. All drivers mentioned say DN_STARTED so it seems like it's currently running.



There is no point in me switching back to the Intel one because then it just says that "no drivers are found for this device" (see above image). I cannot find the relevant drivers for Intel SMBus on the Acer website.

By the way, I can't do an in-place repair or a reset of y laptop to reinstall windows, because Secure Boot is on in the BIOS and I need to turn it off first, of which I cannot do because my BIOS password contains the "h" key that my laptop cannot recognise.

Does anyone have any ideas of how I can get y drivers fixed so I can have the "g", "h" and "m" keys to work again?

The positive part is that since Microsoft blocked the faulty Intel SMBus driver from being used, my laptop isn't as hot as it previously was any more. Now it doesn't get really hot any more. Imagine if a fire, electric sparks, overheating or explosion had happened, prior to Microsoft's hardware compatibility checker with them blocking drivers.

I've also tried using System Restore to go back to a point when my keyboard properly worked and that didn't work either. Also using dism and sfc didn't work.



Answers

  • JackE
    JackE ACE Posts: 44,873 Trailblazer
    edited January 2022
    (1) Open Device Manager. If you don't see any red or yellow warnings, open the Keyboard folder, right click on each driver you find and uninstall the drivers,
    (2) Then exit Device Manager without trying to reinstall anything. Shut down Windows normally.
    (3) Unplug charger, Insert paperclip into reset pinhole on bottom for about a minute
    (4) Plug charger back in but wait for battery charge LED to turn from steady orange to steady blue
    (5) Turn machine back on and let Windows automatically re-install fresh copies of the keyboard drivers.

    Many processes running in TaskManager are actually on-line monitors or scanners that continuously scan for new messages, updates, etc. So for example, even though your machine might be up to date at one point in time, the scanner is still on looking for the next update whenever it's sent out  by Microsoft, Intel, etc in the future. Then when you check for updates later --- even only a few minutes later --- you'll see that new  updates are available instantlly because the scanner has already noted them in your system's storage.  


    Jack E/NJ

  • desbest
    desbest Member Posts: 54 Die Hard WiFi Icon
    Hello I've just tried out all those instructions just now and it didn't help to solve the problem. I still can't use the "g", "h", and "m" keys on my keyboard.
    Do you have any other ideas?
  • JackE
    JackE ACE Posts: 44,873 Trailblazer
    Open Control Panel. Search 'restore point'. Click 'create a restore point' in left pane. If System Protection is turned on, click the System Restore button. Click next. Do you see a restore point with a date stamp about when these issues started?

    Jack E/NJ

  • desbest
    desbest Member Posts: 54 Die Hard WiFi Icon
    I’ve just looked and there’s no restore point dated before the 28th of December so I don’t think that will work for me.
  • JackE
    JackE ACE Posts: 44,873 Trailblazer
    >>>On the 28th of December some drivers got blocked on my laptop by Microsoft after the hardware diagnostics or hardware compatibility checker that Microsoft did. I noticed that the "g", "h", and "m" keys didn't work on y keyboard but all I had to do to fix it, is to replace the uninstalled and blocked driver Intel SMBus with the one that Driver Booster has called ELAN SMBus, as well as reinstalling the Synaptics Trackpad driver again from the Acer website for my product (which fixed the "g", "h", and "m" keys on my keyboard).>>>


    I'm not sure what you mean by "drivers got blocked". Aside from this, the ghm keys usually have no special software- or driver-related significance or features on a laptop's keyboard. So I doubt anything really got fixed by the trackpad drivers or DriverBooster. I say this because the keyboard basically uses the same software drivers used since the WinXP era. So I think the fix was only intermittent --- a fluke observation --- possibly reflecting dirty ghm keyswitches under the ghm keycovers.

    To test this, go to this link  to test if ghm keys really are disabled or just exhibit intermittent behavior. Repeatedly tap on them to see if they intermittently register.  If they do, try to use a soft bristle facial blush brush to gently dig under the keycovers while blowing air to try to dislodge the contamination or debris that have accumulated on the switch mechanisms. Usually hygroscopic debris --- aka food crumbs --- commonly get stuck in the switch mechanisms. :)

    Jack E/NJ

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