Laptop with several XP problems

[mm]

A young friend with not much money was given a beautiful laptop with
XP on it, as originally sold.

But it has a strange collection of problems!

Maybe they're related or maybe some are well known?

1) None of the 3 USB ports work, with a flashdrive or a mouse. How do
I tell if this is a software or hardware problem? (I really need a
USB mouse because I hate the built-in pad.)

2) The sound doesn't work and it says there is no sound device, though
there used to be!

3) When Device Manager is displayed, NO devices appear.

4) It boots maybe quicker than mine, but some things are verry slow.
A virus/trojan full hard drive scan showed nothing.

When I had this problem, a month after installing XP, I disabled all
the services and startup programs and reinstalled them a little at a
time. I found two services**, either of which slowed me down
tremendously, but he doesn't have either of those. Before checking
the services for him and startup programs, is there something I should
do first?

**Shell Hardware Detection, and Uninteruptable Power Supply.

Thanks a lot.

 

[mm]

1) None of the 3 USB ports work, with a flashdrive or a mouse. How do
I tell if this is a software or hardware problem? (I really need a
USB mouse because I hate the built-in pad.)

I should have said that the ball-less mouse lights up and the flash
drive lights up, but neither is recognized by the computer.

 

[Mike S]

I should have said that the ball-less mouse lights up and the flash
drive lights up, but neither is recognized by the computer.

Make and model?

Does it have a hidden partition so you can restore it to the factory
condition when it sold? I would seriously consider that, then installing
the software he needs.

 

[Daave]

A young friend with not much money was given a beautiful laptop with
XP on it, as originally sold.

But it has a strange collection of problems!

<snip>

It is imperative that whenever someone obtains a used PC that they wipe
it and start fresh. In another post, you indicated this was an Avaratec
laptop. Unless the hard drive has been altered, hitting F4 immediately
after powering up should invoke "Recover Pro," which should return the
laptop to its original condition.

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

It is imperative that whenever someone obtains a used PC that they wipe
it and start fresh.

In my view, "imperative" is somewhat too strong a word, but I strongly
agree with you that everyone in that situation *should* do it.

If I acquired a used computer, no matter who previously owned it, the
first thing I would do with it would be to reinstall the operating
system cleanly. You have no idea how the computer has been maintained,
what has been installed incorrectly, what is missing, what viruses and
spyware there may be, etc. I wouldn't want to live with somebody
else's mistakes and problems, possibility of kiddy p0rn, etc., and I
wouldn't recommend that anyone else do so either.

 

[news.microsoft.com]

You mentioned it's an Averatec laptop. I have a 6100 works fine.

Their site seems to have all the extra drivers you likely need. It's not
enough to just install XP but you also must install the manufacturer's
motherboard, audio, USB etc. drivers. As you don't have the original install
cd's that's the way to go (and basically is for all pc's nowadays when don't
have original Restore disks).

 

[mm]

You mentioned it's an Averatec laptop. I have a 6100 works fine.

Their site seems to have all the extra drivers you likely need. It's not
enough to just install XP but you also must install the manufacturer's
motherboard, audio, USB etc. drivers. As you don't have the original install
cd's that's the way to go (and basically is for all pc's nowadays when don't
have original Restore disks).

Great idea. It has two options, a list of drivers, but the only one
that relates to a problem I know of is the audio driver. It doesn't
show anything for USB. I should look for a generic USB driveer, I
think, but how will I install it when Device Manager doesn't work?

It also had a link to a DriverAgent page, which said Welcome Averatec
customers, and offered a driver scan. Since it was recommended by
Averatec I did it, and it froze the computer at 40% of the scan. Did
the same thing 3 times.

On my own computer, I dl'd the same program, same version number from
the same site, and it ran to completion and said it had newer drivers
for 12 out of 36 drivers. (Although none of those things are giving me
problems)

So maybe that's another thing broken about the Averatec? That it
won't run the driver scan.

Also Help and Support from the Windows key won't work. It says it has
no Help and Support Service, and indeed it doesn't, although my XP has
that service.

 

[Mark Adams]

Great idea. It has two options, a list of drivers, but the only one
that relates to a problem I know of is the audio driver. It doesn't
show anything for USB. I should look for a generic USB driveer, I
think, but how will I install it when Device Manager doesn't work?

It also had a link to a DriverAgent page, which said Welcome Averatec
customers, and offered a driver scan. Since it was recommended by
Averatec I did it, and it froze the computer at 40% of the scan. Did
the same thing 3 times.

On my own computer, I dl'd the same program, same version number from
the same site, and it ran to completion and said it had newer drivers
for 12 out of 36 drivers. (Although none of those things are giving me
problems)

NEVER use one of these driver detecting programs. They charge you money to
download drivers that are available for free from the manufacturer's website,
and they frequently offer obsolete or completely wrong drivers- a sure way to
hose your system.

Go to the Averatec website and download all the drivers for your model
machine and burn them to CD. Install the drivers from the CD. If a "chipset"
driver is listed, install it first and reboot the computer. That will
probably get the USB ports working by providing support for the "Enhanced USB
Controller". Install the video and audio drivers next. Reboot and go to
Device Manager and look for yellow exclamation points next to devices.
Continue to install the drivers for those devices.

 

[mm]

NEVER use one of these driver detecting programs. They charge you money to
download drivers that are available for free from the manufacturer's website,
and they frequently offer obsolete or completely wrong drivers- a sure way to
hose your system.

I figured I had nothing to lose since otherwise the next step was
going to be the Factory Restore Point.**

Go to the Averatec website and download all the drivers for your model
machine and burn them to CD. Install the drivers from the CD. If a "chipset"
driver is listed, install it first and reboot the computer.

Yeah, it does have that.

That will
probably get the USB ports working by providing support for the "Enhanced USB
Controller". Install the video and audio drivers next. Reboot and go to
Device Manager and look for yellow exclamation points next to devices.
Continue to install the drivers for those devices.

Okay. I'll do that. Thanks a lot.



**I figured I had nothing to lose with a driver scan since otherwise
the next step was going to be the Factory Restore Point. And
DriverAgent was actually linked to on the Averatec website.

DriverAgent didn't finish, but Driver Detective did and it claimed the
computer had no USB optical mouse driver, which is the kind of mouse I
had plugged in that wouldn't work. . Personally, I didn't think there
was a separate driver for optical mice versus ball mice, but what do I
know? I know that at the manufacturer's website, there were 9
drivers, but none of them mentioned USB. (I wrote this before I read
what you said about Chipset, but it accurately reflects my feelings
last night. The only one I thought might have helped me was an audio
driver, but the audio is third on the list of what needs fixing.

 

[Jim]

I figured I had nothing to lose since otherwise the next step was
going to be the Factory Restore Point.**

Yeah, it does have that.


Okay. I'll do that. Thanks a lot.



**I figured I had nothing to lose with a driver scan since otherwise
the next step was going to be the Factory Restore Point. And
DriverAgent was actually linked to on the Averatec website.

DriverAgent didn't finish, but Driver Detective did and it claimed the
computer had no USB optical mouse driver, which is the kind of mouse I
had plugged in that wouldn't work. . Personally, I didn't think there
was a separate driver for optical mice versus ball mice, but what do I
know? I know that at the manufacturer's website, there were 9
drivers, but none of them mentioned USB. (I wrote this before I read
what you said about Chipset, but it accurately reflects my feelings
last night. The only one I thought might have helped me was an audio
driver, but the audio is third on the list of what needs fixing.

Driver Detective is rubbish . ( I have used it once , uninstalled it )

 

[Daave]

You mentioned it's an Averatec laptop. I have a 6100 works fine.

Their site seems to have all the extra drivers you likely need. It's
not enough to just install XP but you also must install the
manufacturer's motherboard, audio, USB etc. drivers. As you don't
have the original install cd's that's the way to go (and basically is
for all pc's nowadays when don't have original Restore disks).

This information assumes that OP will be using a generic OEM *XP
installation* CD.

However, this does not have to be the case. OP now knows how to obtain
the *Avartec recovery CD* (what you refer to as an "original Restore
disk"). As long as he uses that, all the drivers are instantly included.

 

[news.microsoft.com]

This information assumes that OP will be using a generic OEM *XP
installation* CD.

However, this does not have to be the case. OP now knows how to obtain the
*Avartec recovery CD* (what you refer to as an "original Restore disk").
As long as he uses that, all the drivers are instantly included.

Can't say that's my experience. I have the original retore cd's came with
this Averatec 6100 laptop. I once had to redo the system when I upgraded the
hard disk and although memory is sketchy I do seem to remember there were a
couple of drivers "missing" hence Device Manager exclamations after install
was "complete" (modem was one me thinks). Is how/why I know they have their
drivers online

 

[Daave]

Can't say that's my experience. I have the original retore cd's came
with this Averatec 6100 laptop. I once had to redo the system when I
upgraded the hard disk and although memory is sketchy I do seem to
remember there were a couple of drivers "missing" hence Device
Manager exclamations after install was "complete" (modem was one me
thinks). Is how/why I know they have their drivers online

Then it's a crappy recovery CD.

Good advice, then.

 

[mm]

NEVER use one of these driver detecting programs. They charge you money to
download drivers that are available for free from the manufacturer's website,
and they frequently offer obsolete or completely wrong drivers- a sure way to
hose your system.

Well this is what finally happened tonight. Don't start your reply
until reading the whole thing.

I had already left the laptop with my young friend with instructions
to backup any personal data, things he wrote, etc. to CD's, when I
came home and read Mark's post that I'm replying to.

Turns out the CD writer wasn't working either (No CD in drive) so then
I was going to have him gat some google storage space and upload it
there.

Then I read Mark's post

Go to the Averatec website and download all the drivers for your model
machine and burn them to CD.

I made the CD and went there tonight.

Install the drivers from the CD. If a "chipset"
driver is listed, install it first and reboot the computer.

There was, also called 4in1, and I ran that driver .exe first and
rebooted, and I think it didn't help. Then I ran it again, and it
detected the USB flashdrive. Hooray.

That will
probably get the USB ports working by providing support for the "Enhanced USB
Controller".

Yes indeedy.

Install the video and audio drivers next. Reboot and go to

Installed audio, from the self-extracting file, and got a long string
of "Creation of folder Failed". In fact it didn't extract anything.
Did it again, same result.

Skipped video for now because video seemed good.

Did CPU Power, but it wanted to uninstall things. I guess because
everything was installed. Hmmmm. Maybe we should have uninstalled
and installed, but I just put that one aside for later, and then
skipped it.

Ran MousePad, or SomethingPad, Touchpad, because his cursor had been
moving, usually falling down the screen, when no one was touching
anything. Not enough time for me to decide if this fixed it, and my
young friend wasn't sure if it was better or not.

WLAN and LAN have been working fine so I put them aside for later and
skipped them.

I don't know what CARD is. And I forget now what the other two are.

Device Manager and look for yellow exclamation points next to devices.
Continue to install the drivers for those devices.

Device Manager still didn't work. Googled error message for CD
writing program and first hit said that the Plug and Play Service has
to be enabled. It wasn't. How did that change??

Also the error message when I tried to use Windows Help said the Help
& Support service was not working.

Ran services.msc and both services are disabled. Put both on
Automatic.

Sound now works, icon in systray for removing USB device appears, File
Manager works (and there are no yellow exclamation marks!.


The remaining questions are: What could mess up the USB so that the
chipset driver had to be reinstalled? How do such things happen?
And, any chance these services disabled themselves, or must my young
friend have done so?

Under grilling he admitted that he might have done something when he
was trying to stop something he didn't like. That could account for
the services but what about the USB driver?

He's 23, impatient, antsy, might even have DPDT or DBA or one of those
things people take ritalin for. Probably not but I like the line.

So everything is fixed except maybe the CD burning. (Reading works.)
He or we should be able to fix that.

And it was all in all the chipset driver, two services. and maybe the
Touchpad driver.

Thanks a lot Mark, Daave, news, mike S, windrider, Ken, and Jim.

He had no money for another computer and had been trying to fix up a
win98 box. This is much better.