Member Avatar for Kraai

Hi

I purchased a Huawei E355 Mobile wifi dongle (usb plug and play) but for some reason, it is not self installing on my xp, sp3 machine.

When I insert it into a usb port, nothing happens. I know the usb port works, because other usb plug and plays installs automatically. In other words, the found new hardware wizard appears and it gets installed, but not with this dongle, nothing like that happens.

When I look in device manager, it is not shown there, and there are no yellow exclamation etc and it is also not shown as "other" It is, according to the manual, suppose to show up under mobile devices, and under network cards, and under usb in device manager, as well as in "my computer" as a drive, but nothing like this, because it does not start the installation process.

I tried the "install new hardware" from control panel, but it does not show on a list of hardware to install.

There are no driver downloads from the manufacturers website either.

I have search high and low, and found many similar problems people experience with XP, and even followed some "solutions" on microsoft support website where I had to edit some stuff in the registry, but no luck.

What else can I try for windows to recognise the device and install the drivers?

The device is working fine, when I plug it into a laptop or anywhere else, so it is not a faulty device, but something on my pc.

Any help will be apreachiated.

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Dani AI

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correctly identified the most likely root cause: the stick never completed USB enumeration, so Windows XP never had a device to install. Mobile broadband sticks often need a significant initial current and (on many models) present themselves first as a tiny USB mass‑storage device that delivers drivers, then switch to their network/interface mode. If the port can’t power the stick or the host controller is incompatible, nothing appears in Device Manager and the "Found New Hardware" flow never starts.

Common, low-effort checks and fixes that address that situation:

  • Use USB ports on the motherboard rear I/O instead of front-panel ports or unpowered hubs; rear ports normally supply more reliable current.
  • A self-powered USB hub or a Y-cable that draws extra current can resolve under‑powering without changing the PC.
  • If the machine has USB 3.0 ports and XP lacks the proper host‑controller drivers, plugging the stick into a USB 2.0 port or installing the vendor XHCI/EHCI driver can enable enumeration.
  • Inspect Device Manager with "View → Show hidden devices" and examine the "Universal Serial Bus controllers" tree for disabled/errored entries; update chipset and USB host‑controller drivers from the motherboard/vendor site.
  • For deeper diagnosis, Microsoft’s USBView (USB System Viewer) or similar tools reveal whether the USB host sees the device at all; that separates a power/host issue from a Windows driver issue.

Because confirmed a simple port change fixed the problem, the most reliable long‑term options are using a rear motherboard port or a self‑powered hub and keeping chipset/USB drivers current on older XP systems. Avoid relying on weak front-panel ports or unpowered splitters for high‑current dongles.

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Member Avatar for rubberman

It may be a usb power problem. Not all ports on some PC's provide adequate power for such dongles - WiFi devices have a pretty high power cost. Try other ports on your system. At least one probably has a higher power load capability.

Member Avatar for Kraai

Kudos to you rubberman, you were spot on, I am getting old now and forgot the obvios. Thank you!

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