Windows 8.1 problems with driver xbox 360 wired controller

[Rednekwes]

I'm having major migraine headache issues trying to get my wired xbox 360 controller to work on my laptop running windows 8.1. I downloaded the driver from Microsoft Hardware downloads and it worked for the first day I had it. But it hasn't worked since. I tried deleting and reinstalling the driver but that didn't work. I'm not too proficient in computers so I don't want to just start downloading random junk to try to get this to work. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

[zahl]

You don't need any drivers for 8.1. The ms driver download looks to be for win 7 so uninstall it, unplug the controller, restart and just plug the controller back in.

 

[Rednekwes]

I tried that and still nothing. My laptop doesn't even register that anything is plugged in. Any more suggestions?

 

[Bubble]

If you aren't even getting "Unknown USB Device" something is going wrong. I don't know if you already saw this, but I found a page on Microsoft's site about Windows 8.1 compatibility with the wired 360 controller.
Can you make sure something is wrong on the hardware end? If available, try different USB ports and try plugging in a USB storage device to the port you were using.