iCUE won't install; service can't start (3.6.109)

[Okaria]

Hi, I just made my first Corsair gaming purchase (the HS70 headset) and unfortunately I'm having a really annoying issue: I can't get the iCUE drivers to successfully install. I've tried version 3.4.95, 3.5.11 and 3.6.109 but they all stall at being unable to start the Corsair driver service.

 

- I've tried manually starting the service, but it fails.

- I manually deleted all relevant registry keys and folders I could find between each install attempt.

- I've checked the Windows event logs, and the relevant error I'm seeing is:

 

Application: Corsair.Service.exe
Framework Version: v4.0.30319
Description: The process was terminated due to an unhandled exception.
Exception Info: System.Exception
  at CorsairLink4.Common.PowerManagementWatcher+<Start>d__0.MoveNext()
  at System.Runtime.CompilerServices.AsyncMethodBuilderCore+<>c.<ThrowAsync>b__6_1(System.Object)
  at System.Threading.QueueUserWorkItemCallback.WaitCallback_Context(System.Object)
  at System.Threading.ExecutionContext.RunInternal(System.Threading.ExecutionContext, System.Threading.ContextCallback, System.Object, Boolean)
  at System.Threading.ExecutionContext.Run(System.Threading.ExecutionContext, System.Threading.ContextCallback, System.Object, Boolean)
  at System.Threading.QueueUserWorkItemCallback.System.Threading.IThreadPoolWorkItem.ExecuteWorkItem()
  at System.Threading.ThreadPoolWorkQueue.Dispatch()
  at System.Threading._ThreadPoolWaitCallback.PerformWaitCallback()

 

Attempting to manually run Corsair.Service.exe as an Administrator displays this quickly before exiting: https://gyazo.com/a5bc7c4b3938a92b6a08c30654787ec3 (Although I've no idea if that's actually meaningful, considering the executable isn't meant to be invoked that way, but ¯\_(ツ)_/¯)

 

I'm running Windows 10 Pro 1803 (17134.228), with all available updates installed. I don't run any anti-virus software aside from the built-in Windows Defender.

 

Does anyone have any ideas?

[DevBiker]

I would disable the service for now. For that headset, you don't actually need it.

 

As for the error ... my guess is that there is something corrupted in your WMI store. That particular call is actually issuing a WMI query to watch for power management events. You may want to try rebuilding your WMI store (you can google it) ... but that's not a guarantee.

[Okaria]

Hey there, thanks for your response!

 

I wouldn't mind just leaving the service in a disabled state, but the problem is the iCUE installer won't allow me to complete the install if it doesn't start. If the service fails, the installer fails and only gives me an option to retry (which always fails) or cancel, which rolls back the installation completely.

 

I tried cheating and killing the installer via task manager so that the mostly installed iCUE would remain, and that worked absolutely fine until I rebooted, when apparently Windows did a cleanup of what it thought was a bad install. If you know of any way to disable that garbage collection that would be handy.

 

As far as WMI corruption goes, I did a winmgmt /verifyrepository and /salvagerepository and everything was 'consistent' according to diagnostics. I ran Microsoft's wmidiag script and everything was green there too. I'm not having issues with literally anything else on the machine, no other installs failing, or device or driver issues, etc. I did a sfc scan just for good measure and everything is fine there, too. I'm out of ideas :\

[DevBiker]

Well, heck ... I'm out of ideas as well. :(

[Okaria]

I figured it out! You were right about it being something to do with WMI, DevBiker. I did some digging around and found a single registry key that was off, and for whatever reason all of the WMI diagnostic tools were A-OK with it, but iCUE was not.

 

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Wbem\CIMOM\EnableEvents

 

According to Microsoft's documentation, "If True, the WMI event subsystem should be enabled." Apparently iCUE depends on that. Don't ask me why, but mine was set to 0. Changing this to 1 and rebooting instantly fixed the issue, and allowed me to install successfully. The service is running fine now.

 

Thanks again for putting me on the right track with WMI being the issue!

[DevBiker]

I figured it out! You were right about it being something to do with WMI, DevBiker. I did some digging around and found a single registry key that was off, and for whatever reason all of the WMI diagnostic tools were A-OK with it, but iCUE was not.

 

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Wbem\CIMOM\EnableEvents

 

According to Microsoft's documentation, "If True, the WMI event subsystem should be enabled." Apparently iCUE depends on that. Don't ask me why, but mine was set to 0. Changing this to 1 and rebooting instantly fixed the issue, and allowed me to install successfully. The service is running fine now.

 

Thanks again for putting me on the right track with WMI being the issue!

 

Wow! Awesome! We need to make sure that this is tracked. Very odd that this was set like this.