Driver messed up OS?

[Rick]

I attempted to install Lexmark's custom drivers for my Z53
printer, and it has apparently caused some problems that
I'm at a loss to correct. I have a Dell Dimension 4100,
933 MHz Pentium III with 512 MB of RAM, running Windows XP
that was clean installed in Oct. / Nov. last year. All
Windows updates have been installed. Installation of the
custom Z53 driver (CJXP53LE) requires removal of
the "basic" driver first, and then must be installed
through "add/remove hardware" wizard. The first time I
attempted this, the driver would not work (control panel
would freeze up and printer would not print). I used
Lexmark uninstaller to remove custom driver, but received
an error message that it did not receive all components.
Windows then automatically installed the basic driver and
printer worked fine. I then noticed a problem with my
Outlook program, when a few buttons (the "New Message"
button for example) would flicker when the pointer hovered
over it. I realized after a bit that the "flicker" was due
to the balloon trying to appear. Balloons work fine on all
the other buttons in Outlook, and there is no evidence of
a problem in any other application. At first I thought
the problem may have been related to the install of a
recent MS critical update, but saw nothing on the message
boards to that effect. Realizing the driver was the only
other (attempted) change made to my system, I speculated
that it might be the culprit. Given that the custom driver
did not install cleanly, I figured the only solution was
to attempt to install it again, and then fully uninstall
it. I did attempt to install the Lexmark custom driver
again, again it would not work, but this time it
uninstalled without any errors. Unfortunately, I then
discovered that not only did I still have the problem with
the flickering buttons in Outlook, but the Help functions
in Outlook and Word would not work (I know for a fact that
they worked before the second attempt to install Lexmark
driver, I used them). I was able to restore the Help
functions by using "Detect and Repair" for each of the
applications, but the flickering buttons in Outlook goes
on. That leaves me to believe that something is mucked up
in the Operating system. I attempted to use System
Restore, but could not get it to take system back to any
of the restore points I selected (I disabled Norton
Antivirus 2003 Pro, and Norton Personal Firewall 2004)
before running System Restore, it still wouldn't work. Any
ideas out there? Would really appreciate any suggestions.
I have purchased MS Office 2003 Pro, but am hesitant to
install it if I will only have the same problems (because
they exist at the OS level).

 

[Guest]

Try starting Windows XP in safe mode by pressing F8 at the very begining of bootup. Once in safe mode open outlook and see if the problem still exist. If not the problem could be something that is loading at startup. run msconfig from the run menu and clear all items. Not boot into normal mode and open Outlook and check for the problem. If the problem is gone open msconfig again and enable some of the items. reboot and retry. Do this until you find the problem program

I hope you find it

Tbro

----- Rick wrote: ----

I attempted to install Lexmark's custom drivers for my Z53
printer, and it has apparently caused some problems that
I'm at a loss to correct. I have a Dell Dimension 4100,
933 MHz Pentium III with 512 MB of RAM, running Windows XP
that was clean installed in Oct. / Nov. last year. All
Windows updates have been installed. Installation of the
custom Z53 driver (CJXP53LE) requires removal of
the "basic" driver first, and then must be installed
through "add/remove hardware" wizard. The first time I
attempted this, the driver would not work (control panel
would freeze up and printer would not print). I used
Lexmark uninstaller to remove custom driver, but received
an error message that it did not receive all components.
Windows then automatically installed the basic driver and
printer worked fine. I then noticed a problem with my
Outlook program, when a few buttons (the "New Message"
button for example) would flicker when the pointer hovered
over it. I realized after a bit that the "flicker" was due
to the balloon trying to appear. Balloons work fine on all
the other buttons in Outlook, and there is no evidence of
a problem in any other application. At first I thought
the problem may have been related to the install of a
recent MS critical update, but saw nothing on the message
boards to that effect. Realizing the driver was the only
other (attempted) change made to my system, I speculated
that it might be the culprit. Given that the custom driver
did not install cleanly, I figured the only solution was
to attempt to install it again, and then fully uninstall
it. I did attempt to install the Lexmark custom driver
again, again it would not work, but this time it
uninstalled without any errors. Unfortunately, I then
discovered that not only did I still have the problem with
the flickering buttons in Outlook, but the Help functions
in Outlook and Word would not work (I know for a fact that
they worked before the second attempt to install Lexmark
driver, I used them). I was able to restore the Help
functions by using "Detect and Repair" for each of the
applications, but the flickering buttons in Outlook goes
on. That leaves me to believe that something is mucked up
in the Operating system. I attempted to use System
Restore, but could not get it to take system back to any
of the restore points I selected (I disabled Norton
Antivirus 2003 Pro, and Norton Personal Firewall 2004)
before running System Restore, it still wouldn't work. Any
ideas out there? Would really appreciate any suggestions.
I have purchased MS Office 2003 Pro, but am hesitant to
install it if I will only have the same problems (because
they exist at the OS level).

 

[john tee]

Sounds to me like you have corrupted system files and
such. You can restore these without loosing any of your
programs by following this:

If you have access to a FULL version CD of Windows XP you
could run a "file-check" command on your PC to scan &
replace defective Windows components.

The main reason for using this utility is when you
suspect there may be a problem with a Windows XP system
file.
Perhaps you get a dialog box appear informing you of a
problem with a .dll file, or your program will just not
load! It is therefore worth checking to see if there are
any corrupt system files using scannow sfc.
To do this simply go to the Run box on the Start Menu and
type in:

" sfc /scannow " ( minus the "" marks of course )

--- Please note there IS a space between "sfc" and the
forward slash (/). It might be better to copy and paste
this command into "Run" on your PC. This is accessible by
pressing the "Start" button on your keyboard ----

This command will immediately initiate the Windows File
Protection service to scan all protected files and
verify their integrity, replacing any files with which it
finds a problem. It will however relace many of the
Microsoft Updates you may have downloaded over time, and
this will need to be re-done after.

Good luck, John in the UK