Won't stop trying to install device driver

It's showing up in Device Manager (without enabling ghost or hidden views). See the attached SS.

I haven't gone into the BIOS yet, but the only changes I made to the BIOS were two months ago when I got it from the factory, to verify the service tag and check the OC/turbo settings, get the HDD serial number, etc. I'll check it now to make sure that the firewire port settings weren't changed, but I'm the only user, and I haven't checked the BIOS since I flashed it with the updated driver way back then.

**EDIT: It is enabled in the BIOS. I didn't make any changes.

As per your last post, I'm not sure what all info you needed me to grab, aside from checking whether it was showing up in Device Manager and/or the BIOS. Did I miss anything?

Nope, you did good

Your DevManView data showed the JMicron 1394 controller as Connected=No so i guessed its hardware not detected but your DevMgr snapshot clearly shows otherwise. Hmmm..

So i would do the following
> Still check BIOS (even tho it should be enabled since it shows up in your DevMgr)
> Then i would go to Dell website to reinstall the chipset drivers. Reboot
> If problem still exists, check for any 1394 driver downloads as well to install

/* EDIT */
I just looked at the Dell site. And they do list JMicron 1394 drivers. So do try reinstalling the them as well

Okay, I reinstalled the chipset and firewire drivers. Both were a clean boot before start, and a reboot after finish. I still get that annoying little pop up when the laptop boots, nothing changed.

Both installations showed successful on completion, no errors appeared except that little popup after the PC boots saying "driver installation failed."

I just uncovered a bit more info looking at the "action center" details which I had to root around a bit to find as they don't pop up for easy access when the error appears:

Description
Driver Management concluded the process to install driver FileRepository\johci.inf_amd64_neutral_b4debe9d56148fa5\johci.inf for Device Instance ID PCI\VEN_197B&DEV_2380&SUBSYS_04651028&REV_30\4&27026504&0&00E4 with the following status: 0x436.

This helps me not at all, however, as I can't decode the message.

Your 1394 controller problem is quite a puzzle! Not the least of which is the fact that
1) You're getting driver installation failed errors for the 1394 controller YET
2) I see from your snapshot, the 1394 controller appears in Device Manager without any error icons AND it's not listed as a Problem Device

Which makes me wonder if the driver installer that's failing is the result of a driver installation program configured to run when Windows bootsup (vs. being a driver install invoked by the Windows Device manager itself. Could be a reason device manager, itself, isn't complaining by showing any error icons)

Try this quick experiment first. Disable the 1394 controller in Device Manager and reboot a couple times. Do you still see the installation failed error even when the controller has been disabled???

/* EDIT */
Uggh. I googled the most recent error message you posted. I don't know what error status 0x436 indicates

Try disabling the device tho per above. Is easy and at least let's see what happens.

No error message on boot with the device disabled. As soon as I re-enable the device in devmgr, the 'device driver installation' dialogue appears in the system tray, and a few seconds later, it fails. Screenshot attached. (Enable)

Uhhhhm... THIS is weird! A few seconds ago I was just looking in my device manager, and the firewire port DISAPPEARED! No joke, screenshots attached. Nothing shows up under "ghost" or "show hidden" files either. =( One second I was looking at it, then screen refreshed and it was gone before my eyes. Reloading device manager didn't change anything. (Disappear, expanded 1 & 2)

Rebooting did cause it to reappear. On a whim I went to device manager, right clicked the firewire port and selected "update drivers," and let Windows 'search automatically for most up to date driver.' Apparently Windows thinks my driver is up to date and working properly. Screenshot of that attached, too.

1. In worst case, maybe you can just leave your 1394 controller disabled?

If troubleshooting gets too painful (and other then you trying a fresh Windows reinstall) do you really need the 1394 controller? Do have any firewire devices? Maybe you can just leave it disabled? (I never had occasion to need or use a firewire device myself.)

2. 1394 disppeared

I can’t explain that either! Are you sure you set your environment variable correctly to see ghosts? Have you verified you can see ghost devices? Sometime later (should you feel like it - not important for right now) you can test with a USB drive. Unplug/replug the USB drive and confirm you see the USB drive’s ghost appear/disappear in DevMgr when you view hidden devices

3. I found error status= 0x436
fyi... about the the error message you posted earlier

0x436 error= Name is already in use as either a service name or a service display name
Which i'd guess means Windows is complaining of a naming conflict during the 1394 driver install. (fyi.. that long cryptic string in that error message is the Windows ID it uses internally to uniquely identify your 1394 device)

4."Apparently Windows thinks my driver is up to date and working properly"
Let's see what DevMgr reports (cause is weird your DevManView data reported earlier would appear to say something else)

In DevMgr, rt click Properties
> On General tab, is Device Status= Working Properly?
> Is there a Driver tab? What does Windows show as your driver?

4. A newer JMicron 1394 driver

The JMicron support site posts a new driver for your 1394 chip. But look/double check this yourself. AND be sure to create a System Restore point if you want to try it.... What i find
> Dell download says its JMicron JMB380 1394 device, driver version 1.00.11.00
> Look here to checkout JMicron download of a v1.00.17 driver for that device

5. Using VEW to show your Windows Event Log

I saw an error in instructions in the link here for VEW tool. If you want to try it again, to run VEW under Windows 7: You should rt click it and select Run as Administrator

1. I need firewire, it's rarely used but it must be functional for the circumstances in which it is needed.

2. The disappearing device act is a phenomenon. I had ghost devices and hidden devices all set to view - when I saw it disappear I made certain of it. No explanation, but I'm guessing it's a symptom of the larger issue. Maybe for just that period of time, Windows realized it wasn't working? (Even though the rest of the time it thinks it is...)

3. Interesting. My first guess would be that it has something to do with the new driver installation not overwriting the old one but creating a duplicate or something? Could that be the source of the whole problem...?

4. General shows working properly. Windows shows driver info as follows:
--Provider: JMicron Technology Corp.
--Date: 3/31/2010
--Version: 1.0.11.0
--Digital Signer: MS Windows Hardware Compatibility Publisher

4.2. I'm going to install that new driver now and edit this post when it's done.

**EDIT: The driver installation showed up as successful, however when I go to device properties in Device Manager, it's now only showing up under "hidden" and it still shows the old driver version.

5. Uploaded the file.

**EDIT: I hate calling India, so I normally fix things myself. Because this was taking so long to fix and it seemed we were running our options down, I called Alienware Support and let them connect to see if they could solve the issue. They Uninstalled the driver and rebooted, and everything updated properly upon reboot. I swear, when I did this before it didn't work. So I'm glad it's solved, and a bit baffled. Heh -.-

Bottom line: I'm glad you now got it to work!

I think you may have had multiple problems going on which is why an earlier reinstall attempt didn't work last time. Tho, actually, based on your most recent results i was about to advise the same and have you try uninstall and reboot (honest! ). Given
> Windows Device Manager shows the driver was installed and working
> Yet on Bootup driver install was attempted and failed basically due to "driver or driver name already exists" so it failed probably cause there something already installed

Anyway glad it's now fixed

/* edit */
And your accelermeter too

Thanks again for all your help.