any generic gamepad wireless dongle works on laptop but not on desktop PC — Code 28 / Driver unavailable

Question

any generic gamepad wireless dongle works on laptop but not on desktop PC — Code 28 / Driver unavailable

AbdelRahman Hesham 0

Hi, I’m trying to fix a Redragon G808 Harrow wireless gamepad issue on my Windows 10 desktop PC.

The controller and 2.4GHz USB dongle work fine on my laptop, but on my desktop PC the dongle/controller keeps flashing and Windows says the controller driver is unavailable.

Desktop PC:

Windows 10 Pro 22H2
OS Build: 19045.6466
Motherboard: ASUS PRIME H610M-K D4
Controller: Redragon G808 Harrow wireless gamepad
Connection: 2.4GHz USB dongle, not Bluetooth

Problem on desktop PC:

In Settings > Bluetooth & devices, it shows:

Controller — Driver is unavailable

In Device Manager / pnputil, it shows:

USB\VID_24C6&PID_542A

Device Description: Controller

Problem Code: 28 (CM_PROB_FAILED_INSTALL)

So Windows detects the dongle, but it stays as an unknown “Controller” with no driver.

Working laptop behavior:

On my laptop, the same dongle/controller works correctly. In Device Manager / pnputil, it appears as:

USB\VID_045E&PID_028E

Xbox 360 Controller for Windows

Driver Name: xusb22.inf

It also creates a HID game controller entry using input.inf.

So the controller itself and dongle are not dead. The laptop initializes it properly as an Xbox 360/XInput controller, but the desktop PC gets stuck at VID_24C6&PID_542A.

Things I already tried:

Tried different USB ports, including rear motherboard ports
Removed the device from Bluetooth & devices
Uninstalled the failed Controller device from Device Manager
Used pnputil /remove-device
Restarted multiple times using shutdown /r /t 0
Installed ASUS motherboard chipset drivers
Installed Intel Chipset driver
Installed Intel Serial IO driver
Installed Intel Consumer ME driver
Confirmed the motherboard/SM Bus/PCI unknown device issues are now fixed
Installed/reinstalled Redragon/XInput driver package
Tried manually selecting Microsoft drivers in Device Manager
Tried Xbox 360 Controller for Windows
Accidentally tried Xbox 360 Wireless Receiver for Windows, but removed it because it was not the correct match
Checked joy.cpl, but the controller does not appear there on the desktop
Noticed Steam Xbox Controller Enhanced Features Driver was present, so I suspect Steam’s controller driver could possibly be interfering, but I’m not sure

Current status:

After fixing chipset drivers, the only remaining problem device is:

USB\VID_24C6&PID_542A

Controller

Problem Code: 28

The dongle keeps flashing and never appears in joy.cpl.

What I suspect:

It seems like the desktop PC is not letting the Redragon receiver switch from its raw/uninitialized USB mode:

VID_24C6&PID_542A

into the working Xbox/XInput mode:

VID_045E&PID_028E

Since the laptop does this automatically, I suspect either:

Windows controller/XInput driver stack is broken on the desktop
Steam’s Xbox controller driver is interfering
The Redragon dongle has a weird compatibility issue with this desktop’s USB stack
The controller is stuck in the wrong mode and not switching to XInput on this PC

Has anyone fixed this exact issue with a Redragon G808 Harrow or another controller stuck as VID_24C6&PID_542A with Code 28?

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2 answers

Your answer

Answer 1

Hi AbdelRahman Hesham,

Since the controller and 2.4 GHz receiver work normally on your laptop, the hardware itself is likely functional. The key difference is that the desktop is detecting the receiver as USB\VID_24C6&PID_542A with Code 28, which indicates Windows has detected the device but has not successfully associated a working driver with it.

As you've already covered most of the common driver and chipset troubleshooting, I would suggest checking for a possible device-enumeration conflict:

Open Device Manager and enable View > Show hidden devices.
Remove any greyed-out entries related to previous game controllers, Xbox peripherals, or HID game devices.
Restart the PC and reconnect the receiver directly to a rear USB port.

You can also test whether the controller is detected differently in a new Windows user profile or after a clean boot, which can help identify if another application or service is affecting device detection.

It may also be helpful to compare the output of pnputil /enum-drivers on both systems and verify whether the Xbox 360 Controller for Windows (xusb22.inf) driver package is present on the desktop, since the laptop appears to be using that driver successfully.

I hope this helps narrow down the cause. Let me know if you need further assistance, feel free to ask me by clicking "Add Comment" or "Add Answer" if you cannot add comment so your response will be visible. Thanks for your effort.

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Hendrix-V 16,075 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2026-06-20T07:39:37.03+00:00

Hi,

If you have any further questions or updates regarding this issue, please feel free to let me know in the Comments section. I'd be happy to assist you.

Answer 2

Code 28 in Device Manager means the driver for the device is not installed or no compatible driver was found for the reported hardware ID.

On the desktop, the device is staying at USB\VID_24C6&PID_542A and failing with CM_PROB_FAILED_INSTALL (Code 28). That matches the documented behavior where Plug and Play cannot find a compatible driver for the device’s hardware IDs:

STATUS_PNP_NO_COMPAT_DRIVERS (0xC0000490) is a DNF (driver not found) condition.
In this state, Device Manager shows Code 28 and the device remains an unknown “Controller”.

Because the same dongle enumerates as USB\VID_045E&PID_028E and binds to xusb22.inf on the laptop, the hardware is working and Windows’ standard XInput stack is capable of handling it when the device presents the Xbox-compatible VID/PID.

On the desktop, the failure is specifically that Windows cannot find any INF whose Models section matches USB\VID_24C6&PID_542A, so the device never progresses beyond its initial USB identity and never loads a function driver. This is exactly the Code 28 / CM_PROB_FAILED_INSTALL scenario described in the documentation.

From the documented guidance, the only supported resolutions for Code 28 are:

Install or reinstall a matching driver package for the device from the hardware vendor so that its INF claims the device’s hardware ID.
If the vendor’s INF uses Include/Needs to reference Microsoft-supplied INFs, ensure those referenced INFs exist on the system and that the TargetOSVersion in the INF matches the OS version and architecture.
If no compatible driver exists for the hardware ID, the device will remain in Code 28 and cannot be used on that system.

For an end user, the recommended steps are:

In Device Manager, uninstall the “Controller” with Code 28.
Use Action → Scan for hardware changes so Windows attempts to reinstall the driver.
If Windows still cannot find a driver, download and install the latest driver package for the Redragon G808 dongle from the manufacturer’s website and repeat the scan.
If a driver path is requested during installation and no driver is available, the device cannot be used on that PC until the vendor provides a compatible driver.

If, after installing the vendor’s latest package, the device still reports Code 28 with USB\VID_24C6&PID_542A, this indicates that no INF on the desktop is matching that hardware ID. In that case, the behavior seen on the desktop (unknown “Controller”, Code 28, no entry in joy.cpl) is expected per the Code 28 definition, and there is no additional Windows-side configuration to force it into the Xbox/XInput identity.

References: