# Did my tablet just die?



## Hyena (Oct 18, 2010)

Today I accidentally plugged my tablet into the wrong USB port on my desktop (not sure if that is relevant) it started installing the drivers, then stopped and just gives a message "USB Device Not Recognized. One of the USB devices attached to this computer has malfunctioned, and Windows does not recognize it." the error message popped up as a "notification balloon" if that's what they're called.

 I figured maybe it was not getting enough power since I plugged it into the front USB of my case, upon plugging it into the back of my motherboard I just got the same message. I then booted my spare machine and plugged it into the front of the case and it installed the drivers correctly, but shortly gave me the same problem message and the amber light on the front just started blinking. so I unplugged it from the front of the case to the rear motherboard. It started to work for about an hour or so before it just fully stopped working and the light turned off. 

Are these signs that my tablet is on it's way out? Never experienced issues with until today.

System info. First system was Windows 7 Ultimate 64bit
Second system is Windows xp Home 
Tablet is a Wacom (Sapphire) AKA a renamed Graphire 3 from what I can find out it seems. 

I looked up the issue on google, someone reccomended going into device manager and under the USB controllers uninstall the wacom but that didn't work either. 

Anyone ever have this issue before?


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## Taralack (Oct 18, 2010)

Have you tried uninstalling and reinstalling yet? And what make/model is your tablet?


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## Runefox (Oct 18, 2010)

If you want to know up front what you're dealing with, grab a Linux LiveCD and test it with that, or plug it into another computer. If you get the same issue, then it's a good chance the tablet (or the USB cable! Try changing that, too) is dead. If not, it's driver purge time.


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## ToeClaws (Oct 18, 2010)

Runefox said:


> If you want to know up front what you're dealing with, grab a Linux LiveCD and test it with that, or plug it into another computer. If you get the same issue, then it's a good chance the tablet (or the USB cable! Try changing that, too) is dead. If not, it's driver purge time.


 
Aye, this.  I've seen Windows XP do the same thing on CAThulu's laptop. When Windows loses it's brain like that, often there's nothing short of a reinstall that will fix it.  In CAThulu's case, her solution was to just install Linux on the laptop and avoid future Windows headaches, but that's only feasible if what you do with the machine isn't negatively impacted by an OS change.


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## Hyena (Oct 18, 2010)

Toraneko said:


> Have you tried uninstalling and reinstalling yet? And what make/model is your tablet?




As I said in the description, its a Wacom Graphire 3


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## Hyena (Oct 18, 2010)

PhoebeDesmons said:


> Is your blue tooth all up to date? If not another thing is you scrambled some of your drivers. Try re-enstalling and rebooting your computer.
> 
> Break out the instruction manual because blinking flashing lights -means- something specific. If not download the instructions off of the wacom website.



Bluetooth? it's a graphire so it connects via USB. Yeah well it was only blinking once, now the light doesn't even come on anymore.


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## Hyena (Oct 18, 2010)

ToeClaws said:


> Aye, this.  I've seen Windows XP do the same thing on CAThulu's laptop. When Windows loses it's brain like that, often there's nothing short of a reinstall that will fix it.  In CAThulu's case, her solution was to just install Linux on the laptop and avoid future Windows headaches, but that's only feasible if what you do with the machine isn't negatively impacted by an OS change.


 
Well my problem every single program that I run maybe with the exception of trillian? (could just use pidgin) is fully incompatible with linux. Plus I've only had massive headaches with linux and its only ever been this huge problem that never worked correctly. it would work for a month then break beyond repair randomly. (was Ubuntu 6.06-10.04) Granted it's gotten better over time. 

This sucks because I'm not going to re install Windows, the thing that confuses me though, is the Windows 7 machine had the problem first. I plugged the tablet into a Windows xp computer, which had never even had the tablet installed on it before, and got the same "I can't find this device" message. Almost as if like the firmware inside the tablet that tells the computer what it is somehow got messed up. 

Going to boot into Ubuntu 10.10 64bit today and see if it works there.


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## Rhyrs (Oct 20, 2010)

Try going into the device manager and reinstalling the tablet. There should be an entry in there with a yellow triangle or a red circle. right click, uninstall, then scan for new devices. If that doesn't work, then I don't know.


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## Hyena (Oct 20, 2010)

Just thought I would post and update, it randomly started working again o.o;; I haven't gotten to use it at length yet, but day one I was having all the issues, I let it sit a while and day two it was still giving me the same error. Randomly this morning I plugged it in to try something someone else recommended on wacom's website and boom suddenly it works just fine. so be safe I went in and removed all the drivers and re installed them all and it seems to work now. 

Thanks a ton for everyone's help on this.


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