I've been tying to connect a Roland FP-30 to a friend's laptop with no luck.
It installs instantly on my Win8.1 syste.

The OS sees it and fails to install the "driver". Further inspection in Device Manager shows it listed under Other with an exclamation. The info says that the keyboard doesn't require a driver and Roland has none to offer...

Research has been showing me a number of other similar reports but no conclusive solution...

If anyone has some insight here, I would be very grateful!

Thanks!

Not Windows 7 and not that hardware, but I had a similar thing recently, Windows 10 Pro and an M-Audio Midi Keyboard controller, the OS would see it and the same thing as you are describing, I just changed the USB cable and all was well, even though that USB cable worked fine in other cases. Tested it out further with some other USB cables I had, all of which worked for other purposes like my Alesis DM10 Studio drum kit etc, but a number of them displayed the same issue with the keyboard even though they worked fine with other hardware and purposes. Worth a try if you haven't already, quick and easy. I would try a few different cables if you have them available.

Matron Landslide
Not Windows 7 and not that hardware, but I had a similar thing recently, Windows 10 Pro and an M-Audio Midi Keyboard controller, the OS would see it and the same thing as you are describing, I just changed the USB cable and all was well, even though that USB cable worked fine in other cases. Tested it out further with some other USB cables I had, all of which worked for other purposes like my Alesis DM10 Studio drum kit etc, but a number of them displayed the same issue with the keyboard even though they worked fine with other hardware and purposes. Worth a try if you haven't already, quick and easy. I would try a few different cables if you have them available.

Thanks Matron!

I'm expecting him back tomorrow and I will try that. I have many usbA-usbB cables.

Funny... I opened a brand new cable he bought and was bothered by the fact that it is a Hosa which for me is very low grade stuff. I didn't say anything as I didn't want to make him feel bad....

I'll post results after next attempts...

There may be a wrinkle introduced by changing the cable in that doing so will trigger Windows to interrogate the device it is connected to just as unplugging and plugging in again will do. So a different result with a different cable may not indicate a defective cable, but failure to recognize the device in the first instance. If the device does not need a driver then either it is designed to use a built in Windows driver (a MIDI class compliant driver) or it loads a driver from the device firmware when it is connected for the first time. Sometimes it will only work on a particular USB socket, or only work with USB 2 for example but not with USB 3 even though the spec is supposed to be backward compatible. Some devices even have trouble with the same USB version managed by different chipsets, and it is not uncommon to have different chipsets controlling different ports in the same computer. I am not clear whether the Windows limit on installed MIDI devices was resolved in Win 7, but that is another possible issue, if you have ghost devices using up that limit.
 
https://www.harmonycentral.com/articles/solving-the-windows-midi-port-problem
 

Mine was repeatable over and over with the different USB cables (they weren't defective, they work fine with other hardware as I noted above) you could use one that works with the keyboard, and everything is fine, then replace it with one of the others, then the issue returns, then replace again with one that works and all is fine again, over and over Ad nauseam.
 
I think it comes down to (as with most things) 'all USB cables aren't created equal'

A powered USB-Hub solves many "impedance" type issues (similar to what Keni is describing).

 
Same here, a different cable and my 1st generation Oxyen 8 works. 

slartabartfast
There may be a wrinkle introduced by changing the cable in that doing so will trigger Windows to interrogate the device it is connected to just as unplugging and plugging in again will do. So a different result with a different cable may not indicate a defective cable, but failure to recognize the device in the first instance. If the device does not need a driver then either it is designed to use a built in Windows driver (a MIDI class compliant driver) or it loads a driver from the device firmware when it is connected for the first time. Sometimes it will only work on a particular USB socket, or only work with USB 2 for example but not with USB 3 even though the spec is supposed to be backward compatible. Some devices even have trouble with the same USB version managed by different chipsets, and it is not uncommon to have different chipsets controlling different ports in the same computer. I am not clear whether the Windows limit on installed MIDI devices was resolved in Win 7, but that is another possible issue, if you have ghost devices using up that limit.
 
https://www.harmonycentral.com/articles/solving-the-windows-midi-port-problem
 

Thanks Slartabartfast...

Yes. I've been through many of these issues before, but there's always another issue ready to get added to the list! 🎶

I know there are issues with cable length as well. I hadn't gotten to issue combinations and the cable works on my machine (tested after the failure).

Different chipsets means many possible issues and my machine is a mac pro while the failed laptop is a very old Asus...

The Roland keyboard does expect to use a windows generic driver. I also installed a 2x2 midiman MIDI interface to supply standard MIDI connections as well and it installed fine using it's own driver.

The laptop has win7 service pack 1... searching online it appears there never was an actual sp2, but there were a number of additional updates prior to being shut down... That will be another test if cable change doesn't solve the issue.

Jim Roseberry
A powered USB-Hub solves many "impedance" type issues (similar to what Keni is describing).

Thanks Jim...

Good idea, but this laptop woukd gave to use one of it's usb ports to connect such. Might work though. I guess that will be next on the list if not solved by the prior attempts.

kitekrazy1
 
Same here, a different cable and my 1st generation Oxyen 8 works. 

Thanks kitekrazy...

Session got moved to tomorrow afternoon...