Xbox 360 wired controller on a PC

Verbose

This absolutely shouldn't be giving me this much difficulty but I'm tired of trying to figure this out. Basically I am trying to get my wired xbox controller working on my Window 7 64bit pc. I understand it is supposed to just download the driver for the controller when it plugs in but it fails. I just need someone to lay out for me exactly what drivers I need.

Foomy

don't think there was a driver install when i plugged mine in the first time, it just worked.
but try this: http://www.microsoft.com/hardware/en-us/d/xbox-360-controller-for-windows

Hahnsoo1

This looks promising:
http://www.microsoft.com/hardware/en-us/d/xbox-360-controller-for-windows

EDIT: Beat'd. :-P

Verbose

Yeah, see, that is what I, like any other normal person would and did do. No go, it still doesn't work and now you see why I am hella confused.

Foomy

hmmm that is very odd.
is it showing up under devices and printers when you have it plugged in?
you could try uninstalling it from device manager, it should be listed under "Microsoft Common Controller for Windows Class" than plugging it back in and seeing if windows detects and installs it right this time.

Verbose

I have also tried that. I go to devices and printer, and I have tried both troubleshooting it, where it fails to do anything, and uninstalling the device and replugging it in.

Foomy

have you tried testing to see if the controller works on another computer or a 360?
ummm try a different usb port maybe?

i'm at a loss as to why it's not working for you.

Hewn

This is a wired controller, and not a play n charge plug? The play n charge thing won't work on the PC. I doubt this is the case, but I have to ask since this is a genuine mystery.

Verbose

It is not.

Hewn

Well, I guess you'll have to try it on another PC to see if it's the PC or the controller.

illig

Just to make sure, its a true wired controller and not a wireless one with a usb charging cable plugged in, right?

Cause the wireless one won't work, unless you get a wireless receiver for the pc.

<edit> doh. That's what I get for not refreshing a page.

Verbose

Jesus Christ. I just spent the past couple hours getting the SP1 update I apparently didn't have, plus extra windows updates, only to find that it still does not in fact work.

Btw the error is code 10, device can not start.

Maguano

tried it in different ports?

Zxerol

Code 10 basically means that Windows can't start up the device and it has no idea why. Yeah, it's not a very useful error code. Could be driver issues, the USB port not supplying enough power to juice it up, or some random gremlin in the machine for all it knows.

Bedlam

What are you trying to get it to work in?

Could you try to download xpadder or somthing like that and see if it resposnds?

Essee

Bedlam wrote:

What are you trying to get it to work in?

Could you try to download xpadder or somthing like that and see if it responds?

That's a good idea for later, just... at the moment Windows is saying it can't start the device, meaning there's a hardware issue (possibly power to the controller) preventing him from even getting to the software troubleshooting point. I don't think that error normally shows up if Windows itself properly recognizes the device, especially if he's correctly grabbed the drivers by now... I suppose in the midst of doing the hardware troubleshooting he might as well check xpadder if he doesn't trust Windows, though.

I would personally try swapping the controller around to all your different USB ports (particularly if you're trying to use ports that are part of the case or maybe on your keyboard rather than the ones on your motherboard, since sometimes those aren't powered) like people have said... You might also want to try bending the cord around a bit while continuing to try in case there's a short in it (this has been an issue for me several times in the past). Is this a brand-new (to you) controller, by the way? If you just got it, naturally, you can return it and exchange it for a controller that might actually work instead. If not, when was the last time you knew it worked on your 360? Does it still work on the 360, and do you have the cord in a similar position when trying to use it on your computer?

Verbose

As an update: I was trying to get it working for Kingdoms of Amalur, which is irrelevant as far as I can tell, and I gave up on it last night because I just wanted to play some after working on this issue for hours. I got it at Christmas and it worked fine on my laptop right around Christmas, though I hadn't used it since then. I do still need to try other usb ports/ try it again on my laptop to see if it might have broken but I'm not at my place right now. However I haven't had trouble with this usb port in the past and the controller works fine on my xbox. So I guess I'll post/edit later.

I also might try xpadder but I believe that wouldn't work since I already tried something similar (actually might be xpadder idk) and it simply wouldn't recognize the controller.

EDIT: So It works now. I tried it on my laptop where it worked fine, then switched it to a different usb port on my main computer where it still did not work. Then I was like, why not, and tried once more on yet another usb port that I rarely use and lo and behold it works perfectly. So I guess yay?

Essee

Verbose wrote:

EDIT: So It works now. I tried it on my laptop where it worked fine, then switched it to a different usb port on my main computer where it still did not work. Then I was like, why not, and tried once more on yet another usb port that I rarely use and lo and behold it works perfectly. So I guess yay?

That's one of the primary troubleshooting strategies for hardware issues. Not working? Plug it in EVERYWHERE EVER until it works! Even if it should make no difference. ESPECIALLY if it should make no difference. Glad you got it working. :P

Foomy

so I guess that one usb port is full of gremlins, glad you got it working in the end.

wstdonwiteout

Had exactly the same problem. After an hour or reinstalling and unstalling the drivers I finally decided to unplug every USB device except for the wireless controller. Lo and behold it started working!! Even after plugging in the other usb devices after the wireless controller it still continues to work. I think it has something to do with power draw so if anyone is having this problem i'd suggest they try unplugging all USB devices except for this controller.