VERY noob question, but need help

[Fuzzy]

I have touched XP Embedded machines exactly twice...and by touch, I mean that
in the literal, physical meaning.

So, I was recently called to troubleshoot a restauraunt which was having
issues with two Windows XP Embedded SP2 computers (IBM 4820-563) utilized for
their POS.

Well, one has a display going out - no problem to troubleshoot there - a
hardware issue, however, the second system has an odd problem...

The POS software freezes during startup, and I think the reason might be a
driver issue.

When I go into device manager, two devices show up under "other":
Base System Device
PCI Serial Port

When I compare it to one of the working machines, it appears to be
"Multifunction Devices" and two items listed under "Multifunction Devices":
IBM 4840-xx3 PCI Multi-I/O Controller & IBM 4840-xx3 Serial Controller

That's all that is unusual in Device Manager.

However, the touch screen (Infrared) displays fine, but the touch doesn't
work.

I'm really confused as to how to install drivers for the two given devices
(I've assumed they pertain to the touchscreen, but perhaps I am wrong).

What would I need to do in order to install drivers on this machine (which
is running Windows XP Embedded SP2)? I've tried to download and install the
drivers as if I were using normal XP (non-embedded), but this fails to work
(the software installs, but the devices remain under "other" in device
manager.

Any ideas or help would be greatly appreciated - sorry for being so
ignorant, but this is a new customer to me, and a new OS to me.

Thanks,
Fuzzy

 

[Fuzzy]

Helen,

Thank you for the quick response. As per the hibernation...it doesn't
appear these machines are set to hibernate (I haven't seen any of them do
it).

What do you do to gain the touchscreen back in those cases where you have
lost them?

Thanks again,
Fuzzy

 

[Richard]

From a command prompt, type EwfMgr c: and see if EWF is enabled and what
type of overlay there is if it is enabled. If EWF is enabled, you will need
to disabled it, reboot, installed the drivers, reboot and get everything
working properly before you enable EWF again.

Richard

 

[Ralph A. Schmid, dk5ras]

If EWF is enabled, you will need
to disabled it, reboot, installed the drivers, reboot and get everything
working properly before you enable EWF again.

In this case it would be enough to install the stuff, choose not to
reboot immediately, apply the committ command to ewfmgr, and then
reboot manually.


-ras

--

Ralph A. Schmid

http://www.dk5ras.de/ http://www.db0fue.de/
http://www.bclog.de/

 

[Gene]

I am not very good with computers so bear with me. I injoy using download
manages but I am having problems with it when it comes to my e-mail account.
When I try to open attachments in mye-mail the download manager starts
downloading. I am using Orbit Download Manager. Can you recommend one that
doesn't effect my e-mail accounts.

 

[Fuzzy]

Richard,

I have performed a search on one of the XP Embedded machines, and no ewfmgr
file can be found (searched performed on ewf*).

I appreciate any other info you might be able to provide - as your
suggestion makes a lot of sense to me. Is there any way to simply "copy" the
ewfmgr.exe file from another system?

Thanks,
Fuzzy

 

[Richard]

Yes, that is my usual process, however I found installing certain drivers,
you may have to commit and restart a couple of times so I normally disable
it until I'm done and everything is working then enable it when done.

About the same I guess. For regular file updates and such I just Commit &
Restart.

Richard

 

[Richard]

If EWFMgr.exe isn't on the image then I doubt you have EWF Enabled.

Richard

 

[Fuzzy]

I think I might be looking at a hardware issue instead of a software issue.
However, I'd still be happy to hear from anyone who has thoughts on my
situation. Here's what I've found:

The computers are both IBM 4840-563 devices.

Computer A seemed to work fine in Windows XP Embedded SP2 other than it had
two devices listed under “other†in device manager; a PCI Serial Device, and
a Base System Device. The touchscreen wouldn’t work, but the display worked
properly.

Computer B worked fine in Windows XP Embedded SP2 other than the visual
display was out (the touchscreen worked).

Using Ghost, I imaged each computer's drive to avoid any corruption and just
utilized these hard drive images to test things. (Setting the original
drives off to the side to avoid corruption). Here’s what I found:

No matter which computer I placed Computer A’s drive into – the Base System
Device and the PCI Serial Device showed up under “other†in device manager
(as expected, I guess).

But here’s what I didn’t expect…when I placed Computer B’s drive into
Computer A, it lost the two drivers (which normally each showed up as a
“Multifunction Deviceâ€; IBM 4840-xx3 PCI Multi-I/O Controller; IBM 4840-xx3
Serial Controller) and they now showed up under “other†as PCI Serial and
Base System Device – just like on the other drive.

To confuse matters further, I was able to replace computer B’s
display/touchscreen with the display/touchscreen from computer A, and
everything worked perfectly – no deficiencies at all! Computer B works 100%.
Computer B was returned to the customer.

So, what we are left with is Computer A in the following state:
No output to the display
No touchscreen functionality
No valid drivers (still have items show up under “other†– even with the
good “Computer B†drive image applied).

We know that Computer A had the driver issue even with a known good display
and touchscreen (because this is the display/touchscreen now functioning
perfectly on Computer B).

We know that if we take computer B’s perfectly working drive image and place
it into Computer A, the Multifunction Device entry (and IBM 4840-xx3 PCI
Multi-I/O Controller & IBM 4840-xx3 Serial Controller subentries) disappear,
and instead, the two items; PCI Serial Device and Base System Device show up
under “other†in device manager. We know this occurred regardless of which
display/touchscreen was attached.

How is it that no matter which display/touchscreen we connect to computer A
(even with a known good image from computer B applied to it), that we still
receive the same problem in device manager, and the loss of the two drivers?

We have also switched out the two RJ45/serial/USB panels and interchanged
them between the two computers – it does not affect the symptoms at all.

So we have swapped hard drives, communications panels, and monitors - and
the symptoms remain the same…two devices listed under "other" and no
touchscreen functionality.

Again, it isn't necessary, as this forum isn't about hardware issues, but if
anyone sees a possibility of what the problem might be - I'd sure appreciate
the help! Otherwise, I'll consider the topic closed.

Thanks to everyone who helped - it gave me a few more things to eliminate
along the way!!