M
Mr. Roboto
Folks: In the last couple of months, I've had problems with
certain PCs in for repair, where *known* drivers won't install
or they install but don't work. Case in point, is a Dell
Inspiron 6000 laptop, which needed an OS refresh, weeks after I
replaced the hard drive and developed some sort of software
problem.
The customer returns the laptop (on Sat 17 Jun) and I decide to
reinstall the OS. Per my procedure, I always save the drivers
(ie. the original files from the mfr) on the hard drive, just in
case. So, I have a working driver on the drive, in *both* the
self-extrating archive form and exploded for immediate use by
XP. However, reinstalling the audio driver doesn't work. XP
sees the driver as correct, but I get NO AUDIO. Ok, let's
download the driver again and try again. No joy. FWIW, this is
the *only* audio driver offered for this particular laptop
model, so I *know* this is the correct driver.
Everything else is installed and seems to work normally. Also
per my standard procedure, I've cleared the CMOS on the laptop.
It's been my experience that clearing the CMOS routinely fixes
many oddball failures with the various editions of Windows, just
not this time.
Is there another technique which will force a given driver to
install, IN SPITE OF WINDOWS ? It has to be something like a
registry key or some cache that needs to be deleted, but I'm
clueless....MR
certain PCs in for repair, where *known* drivers won't install
or they install but don't work. Case in point, is a Dell
Inspiron 6000 laptop, which needed an OS refresh, weeks after I
replaced the hard drive and developed some sort of software
problem.
The customer returns the laptop (on Sat 17 Jun) and I decide to
reinstall the OS. Per my procedure, I always save the drivers
(ie. the original files from the mfr) on the hard drive, just in
case. So, I have a working driver on the drive, in *both* the
self-extrating archive form and exploded for immediate use by
XP. However, reinstalling the audio driver doesn't work. XP
sees the driver as correct, but I get NO AUDIO. Ok, let's
download the driver again and try again. No joy. FWIW, this is
the *only* audio driver offered for this particular laptop
model, so I *know* this is the correct driver.
Everything else is installed and seems to work normally. Also
per my standard procedure, I've cleared the CMOS on the laptop.
It's been my experience that clearing the CMOS routinely fixes
many oddball failures with the various editions of Windows, just
not this time.
Is there another technique which will force a given driver to
install, IN SPITE OF WINDOWS ? It has to be something like a
registry key or some cache that needs to be deleted, but I'm
clueless....MR