Problem: I was unable to get my DeathAdder Elite recognized by any Synapse version in Windows 10 r1809. Even after reinstalling everything a few times, many reboots and manual driver installs in device manager. I even tried installing a legacy DeathAdder driver pack, which I do not recommend - it probably screwed things up even more.
Solution: I finally pulled head-from-arse and decided to do a full "nuclear" wipe of all Razer related software, files and registry entries. After a reboot, I installed Synapse 3 and the mouse was recognized.
Here is EXACTLY what I did. YMMV.
Standard "This Day and Age" Disclaimer:
[indent]I am an IT Professional with over a decade of deep-dive Windows experience. I am not affiliated with Razer. I have restore points and backups to fall back on; so should you. I'm not responsible if you break something or lose data by following these steps. Read every step BEFORE starting. Wash behind your ears. Eat your vegetables. Be nice to your sister.[/indent]
1. Create a System Restore Point in case things go belly-up.
- Start>type "create a restore point">Select Create a Restore Point
- Under Protection Settings, make sure System Protection is ON for C:
- Click "Create..." and name your restore point something like "Undo Razer Wipe"
- If at any point you want to undo the changes we are about to make: open System Restore and restore to the point you just created.
2. Close all running Razer software.
- Right click the Razer icon(s) in the notification area of the taskbar (bottom right of primary monitor).
- For Synapse 3, select "Exit All Apps"
- For Synapse 2, select "Close Razer Synapse"
3. Uninstall all Razer software from Start>Settings>Apps>Apps & features. For me it was these:
- Synapse 2.x
- Synapse 3.x
- DeathAdder Drivers
4. Reboot the computer (Optional but, it should make the next few steps easier or unnecessary)
5. Open File Explorer (Start>type "File Explorer"). Delete the following folders (Right click>Delete).
- C:\\Program Files\\Razer
- C:\\Program Files (x86)\\Razer
- C:\\ProgramData\\Razer
- ProgramData is a hidden folder by default. If you do not see it in File Explorer, type %ProgramData% into the location bar and press Enter.
[indent]*When asked to provide Administrator permission, check the box "Do this for all current items" and select Continue.[/indent]
[indent]*Select "Skip" each time a box appears saying a file is "open in another program" - this means the file is locked - make note of its location for the next step. You may not encounter any locked files if you rebooted before this step.[/indent]
6a. Stop files that were "open in another program" and unable to be deleted (Skip this step if you did not encounter any locked files in Step 5)
- Open Task Manager (Right click taskbar>Task Manager)
- Select the Details tab (click "More Details" at the bottom left of the window if there are no tabs)
- Stop the processes that were "open in another application". (Right click>End Task>End process).
*I needed to stop the following processes, YMMV.
- vddaemon.exe
- steamcmd.exe
6b. Go back to File Explorer and Delete the folders that could not be deleted.
- Ignore C:\\ProgramData\\Razer\\Synapse\\Devices\\fonts (if you are a little OCD it can be deleted via the font control panel or after a reboot but, it won't affect this fix if you just leave it)
7. Scan for leftover Razer registry entries and delete them.
- Download and install RegScanner (https://www.nirsoft.net/utils/regscanner_setup.exe)
- Open RegScanner
- In the Find String field, type "razer"
- Under "Scan the following base keys", highlight all entries by clicking once (the first two are highlighted already, by default)
- Select "Scan"
- Wait for the scan to complete. It may take a while, depending on your PC's performance. It is complete when the status bar no longer says "Scanning..." and "Stop" is no longer displayed as the only menu option.
- Highlight all found items (Edit>Select All)
- Create a file to delete the registry entries. (File>Create Delete .reg File)
- Name the file "Delete Razer Entries.reg" and save it to your Desktop
- Close RegScanner
8. Reboot the computer (Not optional)
9. Download and install the latest version of Synapse 3 (https://www.razer.com/synapse-3)
- I only selected the Synapse and Macro Apps for installation - no Chroma, Hue, etc - but that really shouldn't matter.
10. Open Synapse. Your DeathAdder Elite should now be detected.
- If not, at least you can tell Razer Support that you did a complete 'nuclear' wipe of all Razer software and settings , so something else must be wrong.
Note: I may not be checking this post much to answer follow-up questions, etc. I'm not what you might call a "forum person". Nor do I wish to take ownership of Razer's hardware/software inconsistency issues. I'm just relaying my successful troubleshooting experience, in detail, with the hope that it will help someone, somewhere, at some time. Feel free to add constructive information and "talk amongst yourselves". No big whoop.
Cheers and be well.
