Prev: error when reinstalling XP Pro
Next: Windows 7 - theme wall paper
From: Mike S on 18 Jun 2010 21:57
On 6/18/2010 6:40 PM, mm wrote:
> On Thu, 17 Jun 2010 08:52:54 -0700, Mark Adams
> <MarkAdams(a)discussions.microsoft.com> wrote:
>
>>
>>
>>
>> "Mike S" wrote:
>>
>>> On 6/17/2010 1:13 AM, mm wrote:
>>>> On Wed, 16 Jun 2010 07:13:35 -0700, Mark Adams
>>>> <MarkAdams(a)discussions.microsoft.com> wrote:
>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> A couple of other things, inline below:
>>>>>
>>>>> "mm" wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>>> On Tue, 15 Jun 2010 07:29:52 -0700, Mark Adams
>>>>>> <MarkAdams(a)discussions.microsoft.com> wrote:
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> "mm" wrote:
>>>>>>>>> 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 Blank
>>>>>>>> Device Manager and first hit said that the Plug and Play Service has
>>>>>>>> to be enabled. It wasn't. How did that change??
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> Don't have an answer for this.
>>>>>
>>>>> Anybody?
>>>>
>>>> Well, since you can't think of anything, I'm going to assume he
>>>> disabled the services. And maybe other services we haven't found yet.
>>>>
>>>> He's supposed to call me up and we'll compare all the Services I have
>>>> with the ones he has. I have about 93 listed on msconfig, 53 of them
>>>> running. And he has about 19 even now that he put back the two I
>>>> wrote abot. I didn't realize the difference was so much. Makes it
>>>> more likely that that's the problem.
>>>>
>>>> I referred to it somewhere that he may have marked them disabled.
>>>>>
>>>>>>>> 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?
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> Maybe he uninstalled the 4 in 1 driver from Add/Remove Programs. Grill him
>>>>> some more, he might still be "rare."
>>>>
>>>> You have a point there! Can you really uninstall something as
>>>> important as the 4 in 1 driver?
>>>>
>>>> (only 2 of the parts seem to get used on this model.)
>>>>>
>>>>>>>> So everything is fixed except maybe the CD burning. (Reading works.)
>>>>>>>> He or we should be able to fix that.
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> CD burner won't burn without burning software, but will still read. Download
>>>>> CDBurnerXP for free. Google for it.
>>>>
>>>> He had something that used to work iiuc and it said, Can't find drive.
>>>>
>>>> But we'll try your thing too. Some of the free and privately written
>>>> stuff has better errror messages, too. Like when Verizon wouldn't
>>>> let me forward an email I got from some party-club, Eudora gave me the
>>>> entire error message, which said it had identified my outgoing email
>>>> as spam. A couple other email programs wouldn't let me send it
>>>> either, but the error message was truncated, or wasn't even there,
>>>> only some indication from the program, but none of the text.
>>>>>
>>>>>>>> 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.
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>> What's interesting is that when they WERE NOT working, the light in
>>>>>> the mouse and flashdrive woudl still go on, and they would still go on
>>>>>> when the computer WAS OFF. Now that the usb works, the lights are off
>>>>>> when the computer is off.
>>>>>>
>>>>> Funny how drivers work, huh?
>>>>
>>>> For sure.
>>>>>
>>>>> You'll get her sorted yet. Keep plugging away.
>>>>
>>>> Thanks.
>>>
>>> In spite of what a previous poster said, I have had very good results
>>> using the freeware DriverMax.
>>> http://www.innovative-sol.com/drivermax/index.htm
>
> Thanks, and thanks for your prior post. I dl'd it and it looks good.
> I have only looked, haven't dl'd anything yet
>
> Then I'll see how my young friend is doing. He sent me a list of
> remaining problems but I can't remember even how many there were.
>
>> Hmmm... I'll check into this one. I've got an old box kicking around I could
>> try it on.
>>
>>
>>> Myself I would download every driver I could find for that machine, do a
>>> factory restore from the iso on the hidden partition, install all of the
>>> latest downloaded drivers, then see how well it worked.
>>>
>>> Mike
>>> .
>> Might be the best solution if there is a recovery partition. Won't need to
>> download the drivers either. They should already be in the recovery image.
>
> There's a factory restore point in this case. Is that in fact the
> same as a hidden recovery partition?
>
> (I have an old copy of partition manager somewhere, but have to find
> it.)

I thought that had been covered thoroughly in previous posts. If there
is a hidden partition with an intact iso image, and if this is enabled
in the BIOS, you will be able to restore the software to the condition
it was in when it was sold. So all of the drivers it requires should
exist, and all of the hardware should react correctly (if the hardware
is functioning properly). There may be newer drivers for it, but all of
the problems you initially described should go away, and Windows should
be more responsive and fully functional. Personally I would definitely
do this. And you do not need a partition manager for this, the computer
has the software to read the iso image from the hidden partition and
overwrite the C:\ drive with the files saved in that iso image. All you
need to do is press the correct key while the machine is booting up to
access this feature. Is that confusing at all? Do you understand that
you do NOT need any third party software to do the factory restore?

Mike
From: mm on 19 Jun 2010 17:38
On Fri, 18 Jun 2010 18:57:48 -0700, Mike S <mscir(a)yahoo.com> wrote:

>On 6/18/2010 6:40 PM, mm wrote:
>> On Thu, 17 Jun 2010 08:52:54 -0700, Mark Adams
>> <MarkAdams(a)discussions.microsoft.com> wrote:
>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> "Mike S" wrote:
>>>
>>>> On 6/17/2010 1:13 AM, mm wrote:
>>>>> On Wed, 16 Jun 2010 07:13:35 -0700, Mark Adams
>>>>> <MarkAdams(a)discussions.microsoft.com> wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>> A couple of other things, inline below:
>>>>>>
>>>>>> "mm" wrote:
>>>>>>
>>>>>>> On Tue, 15 Jun 2010 07:29:52 -0700, Mark Adams
>>>>>>> <MarkAdams(a)discussions.microsoft.com> wrote:
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> "mm" wrote:
>>>>>>>>>> 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 Blank
>>>>>>>>> Device Manager and first hit said that the Plug and Play Service has
>>>>>>>>> to be enabled. It wasn't. How did that change??
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Don't have an answer for this.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Anybody?
>>>>>
>>>>> Well, since you can't think of anything, I'm going to assume he
>>>>> disabled the services. And maybe other services we haven't found yet.
>>>>>
>>>>> He's supposed to call me up and we'll compare all the Services I have
>>>>> with the ones he has. I have about 93 listed on msconfig, 53 of them
>>>>> running. And he has about 19 even now that he put back the two I
>>>>> wrote abot. I didn't realize the difference was so much. Makes it
>>>>> more likely that that's the problem.
>>>>>
>>>>> I referred to it somewhere that he may have marked them disabled.
>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>> 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?
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Maybe he uninstalled the 4 in 1 driver from Add/Remove Programs. Grill him
>>>>>> some more, he might still be "rare."
>>>>>
>>>>> You have a point there! Can you really uninstall something as
>>>>> important as the 4 in 1 driver?
>>>>>
>>>>> (only 2 of the parts seem to get used on this model.)
>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>> So everything is fixed except maybe the CD burning. (Reading works.)
>>>>>>>>> He or we should be able to fix that.
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>> CD burner won't burn without burning software, but will still read. Download
>>>>>> CDBurnerXP for free. Google for it.
>>>>>
>>>>> He had something that used to work iiuc and it said, Can't find drive.
>>>>>
>>>>> But we'll try your thing too. Some of the free and privately written
>>>>> stuff has better errror messages, too. Like when Verizon wouldn't
>>>>> let me forward an email I got from some party-club, Eudora gave me the
>>>>> entire error message, which said it had identified my outgoing email
>>>>> as spam. A couple other email programs wouldn't let me send it
>>>>> either, but the error message was truncated, or wasn't even there,
>>>>> only some indication from the program, but none of the text.
>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>> 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.
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> What's interesting is that when they WERE NOT working, the light in
>>>>>>> the mouse and flashdrive woudl still go on, and they would still go on
>>>>>>> when the computer WAS OFF. Now that the usb works, the lights are off
>>>>>>> when the computer is off.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>> Funny how drivers work, huh?
>>>>>
>>>>> For sure.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> You'll get her sorted yet. Keep plugging away.
>>>>>
>>>>> Thanks.
>>>>
>>>> In spite of what a previous poster said, I have had very good results
>>>> using the freeware DriverMax.
>>>> http://www.innovative-sol.com/drivermax/index.htm
>>
>> Thanks, and thanks for your prior post. I dl'd it and it looks good.
>> I have only looked, haven't dl'd anything yet
>>
>> Then I'll see how my young friend is doing. He sent me a list of
>> remaining problems but I can't remember even how many there were.
>>
>>> Hmmm... I'll check into this one. I've got an old box kicking around I could
>>> try it on.
>>>
>>>
>>>> Myself I would download every driver I could find for that machine, do a
>>>> factory restore from the iso on the hidden partition, install all of the
>>>> latest downloaded drivers, then see how well it worked.
>>>>
>>>> Mike
>>>> .
>>> Might be the best solution if there is a recovery partition. Won't need to
>>> download the drivers either. They should already be in the recovery image.
>>
>> There's a factory restore point in this case. Is that in fact the
>> same as a hidden recovery partition?
>>
>> (I have an old copy of partition manager somewhere, but have to find
>> it.)
>
>I thought that had been covered thoroughly in previous posts. If there

Well, both things were discussed but iirc sort of separately, and I
just wanted to make sure they were the same.

>is a hidden partition with an intact iso image, and if this is enabled
>in the BIOS, you will be able to restore the software to the condition
>it was in when it was sold.

I don't know directly. All I know is that the Phoenix restore
software calls it a Factory Restore Point, but now I'm convinced they
are the same.

> So all of the drivers it requires should
>exist, and all of the hardware should react correctly (if the hardware
>is functioning properly). There may be newer drivers for it, but all of
>the problems you initially described should go away, and Windows should
>be more responsive and fully functional

It's the quicker, more responsive part that has finally attracted my
attention. He keeps complaining about this. I didn't notice it when I
had it, and a large part of what he complains about is the interenet,
but probably not all.**

>. Personally I would definitely
>do this. And you do not need a partition manager for this, the computer
>has the software to read the iso image from the hidden partition and
>overwrite the C:\ drive with the files saved in that iso image. All you
>need to do is press the correct key while the machine is booting up to
>access this feature. Is that confusing at all? Do you understand that
>you do NOT need any third party software to do the factory restore?

Yes. Thank you.

In fact I was hoping I could put something like this on my XP
computer. The Phoenix site no longer even mentions it. The downlaod
site I found just points to the Phoenix page, but to a page that no
longer exists. Some Torrents sites have it, but I thought all of
their downloads were improper. So I would ignore them except that
Phoenix has it seems abandoned this product and won't lose anything if
I get it via torrents. Or is there another freeware or paid product
I should look for. Or should I just use ImgBurn to make a copy of my
C: partition into another partition.

>Mike

**My female friend, he, and I all have verizon, and she says its
slower lately, and i've seen it slower sometimss. So maybe most of
his slowness is in verizon, but maybe not and why am I arguing with
this guy I finally realized. Let him do this, and if he's still not
happy with it, not my problem.

(I guess I'm afraid he won't backup adequately, including several
years of his mother's case reports from when they had only one
computer. She'll probably be furious if he loses all of those, even
though it is her responsibilty. He lost one backup when a harddrive
failed, and another was on a zip disk, but people here warned about
zip disks, and the zip drive was in the computer that. I think the
only good backup is paper, which will last at least until his mother
dies.)

Thanks.
From: Mike S on 19 Jun 2010 19:00
<snip>
>>>>> Myself I would download every driver I could find for that machine, do a
>>>>> factory restore from the iso on the hidden partition, install all of the
>>>>> latest downloaded drivers, then see how well it worked.
>>>>> Mike
>>>>> .
>>>> Might be the best solution if there is a recovery partition. Won't need to
>>>> download the drivers either. They should already be in the recovery image.
>>>
>>> There's a factory restore point in this case. Is that in fact the
>>> same as a hidden recovery partition?
>>> (I have an old copy of partition manager somewhere, but have to find
>>> it.)
>>
<snip>
>> is a hidden partition with an intact iso image, and if this is enabled
>> in the BIOS, you will be able to restore the software to the condition
>> it was in when it was sold.
>
> I don't know directly. All I know is that the Phoenix restore
> software calls it a Factory Restore Point, but now I'm convinced they
> are the same.

Factory Restore Point it is. Is your friend willing to learn how to work
on her own computer? This is a great opportunity for her: with your help
she could restore to a clean version of XP, install the s/w she wants to
use, configure windows to look and run the way she wants, she could
learn a lot. And if she ever gets a really bad virus where cleaning it
would be too much trouble, she could repeat the process herself.

>> So all of the drivers it requires should
>> exist, and all of the hardware should react correctly (if the hardware
>> is functioning properly). There may be newer drivers for it, but all of
>> the problems you initially described should go away, and Windows should
>> be more responsive and fully functional
>
> It's the quicker, more responsive part that has finally attracted my
> attention. He keeps complaining about this. I didn't notice it when I
> had it, and a large part of what he complains about is the interenet,
> but probably not all.**

Hmm, I don't know what that means or how to diagnose it. I'd want to
deal with a specific problem to diagnose it. It may be that doing the
Factory Restore wouldn't affect this at all. Which browser is loading
which page, and with or without which add-ons, and how is the Verizon
service that day, can she d/l the same page w/the same browser faster at
another wireless location that uses a different ISP, etc.? I would
consider starting a new thread for this if you decide to pursue it,
since this one is getting quite long.

> In fact I was hoping I could put something like this on my XP
> computer. The Phoenix site no longer even mentions it. The downlaod
> site I found just points to the Phoenix page, but to a page that no
> longer exists. Some Torrents sites have it, but I thought all of
> their downloads were improper. So I would ignore them except that
> Phoenix has it seems abandoned this product and won't lose anything if
> I get it via torrents. Or is there another freeware or paid product
> I should look for. Or should I just use ImgBurn to make a copy of my
> C: partition into another partition.

I would consider starting a new thread for this one too. There are
different approaches you can use with freeware programs.

> **My female friend, he, and I all have verizon, and she says its
> slower lately, and i've seen it slower sometimss. So maybe most of
> his slowness is in verizon, but maybe not and why am I arguing with
> this guy I finally realized. Let him do this, and if he's still not
> happy with it, not my problem.
>
> (I guess I'm afraid he won't backup adequately, including several
> years of his mother's case reports from when they had only one
> computer. She'll probably be furious if he loses all of those, even
> though it is her responsibilty. He lost one backup when a harddrive
> failed, and another was on a zip disk, but people here warned about
> zip disks, and the zip drive was in the computer that. I think the
> only good backup is paper, which will last at least until his mother
> dies.)

Apologoies for calling her a him. I'd consider suggesting that she
bring the computer to her mother, explain that she's going to wipe ALL
of the data, and that the mother should remove all of her files before
giving the computer back. Myself I would burn the files to CD, and copy
them to another hdd or two zipped (IZARC is a great freeware program for
this). Problem solved. No need to add a layer of people problems to the
technical problems. And yes you've helped her quite a lot already.

Best Regards,
Mike
From: mm on 21 Jun 2010 05:50
On Sat, 19 Jun 2010 16:00:11 -0700, Mike S <mscir(a)yahoo.com> wrote:

><snip>
>>>>>> Myself I would download every driver I could find for that machine, do a
>>>>>> factory restore from the iso on the hidden partition, install all of the
>>>>>> latest downloaded drivers, then see how well it worked.
>>>>>> Mike
>>>>>> .
>>>>> Might be the best solution if there is a recovery partition. Won't need to
>>>>> download the drivers either. They should already be in the recovery image.
>>>>
>>>> There's a factory restore point in this case. Is that in fact the
>>>> same as a hidden recovery partition?
>>>> (I have an old copy of partition manager somewhere, but have to find
>>>> it.)
>>>
><snip>
>>> is a hidden partition with an intact iso image, and if this is enabled
>>> in the BIOS, you will be able to restore the software to the condition
>>> it was in when it was sold.
>>
>> I don't know directly. All I know is that the Phoenix restore
>> software calls it a Factory Restore Point, but now I'm convinced they
>> are the same.
>
>Factory Restore Point it is. Is your friend willing to learn how to work
>on her own computer?

He had been, but all of a sudden he's been busy. I don't like to ask
prying questions.

For now I'm the driving force, I guess, because I want to see how this
turns out.

>This is a great opportunity for her: with your help
>she could restore to a clean version of XP, install the s/w she wants to
>use, configure windows to look and run the way she wants, she could
>learn a lot. And if she ever gets a really bad virus where cleaning it
>would be too much trouble, she could repeat the process herself.

Exactly.

>>> So all of the drivers it requires should
>>> exist, and all of the hardware should react correctly (if the hardware
>>> is functioning properly). There may be newer drivers for it, but all of
>>> the problems you initially described should go away, and Windows should
>>> be more responsive and fully functional
>>
>> It's the quicker, more responsive part that has finally attracted my
>> attention. He keeps complaining about this. I didn't notice it when I
>> had it, and a large part of what he complains about is the interenet,
>> but probably not all.**
>
>Hmm, I don't know what that means or how to diagnose it. I'd want to
>deal with a specific problem to diagnose it. It may be that doing the

Of course.

>Factory Restore wouldn't affect this at all. Which browser is loading
>which page, and with or without which add-ons, and how is the Verizon
>service that day, can she d/l the same page w/the same browser faster at
>another wireless location that uses a different ISP, etc.? I would

Alternatively, I could take it to my house and compare my computer
with his, using the same ISP. But he also says there are non-browser
slownesses. I didn't follow him or forget which they are.

He wanted to restore, but for the sake of learning something, I wanted
to at least attempt to do it the other way. And I have learned
things.

>consider starting a new thread for this if you decide to pursue it,
>since this one is getting quite long.
>
>> In fact I was hoping I could put something like this on my XP
>> computer. The Phoenix site no longer even mentions it. The downlaod
>> site I found just points to the Phoenix page, but to a page that no
>> longer exists. Some Torrents sites have it, but I thought all of
>> their downloads were improper. So I would ignore them except that
>> Phoenix has it seems abandoned this product and won't lose anything if
>> I get it via torrents. Or is there another freeware or paid product
>> I should look for. Or should I just use ImgBurn to make a copy of my
>> C: partition into another partition.
>
>I would consider starting a new thread for this one too. There are
>different approaches you can use with freeware programs.

Okay, when I have time, a new thread.

>> **My female friend, he, and I all have verizon, and she says its
>> slower lately, and i've seen it slower sometimss. So maybe most of
>> his slowness is in verizon, but maybe not and why am I arguing with
>> this guy I finally realized. Let him do this, and if he's still not
>> happy with it, not my problem.
>>
>> (I guess I'm afraid he won't backup adequately, including several
>> years of his mother's case reports from when they had only one
>> computer. She'll probably be furious if he loses all of those, even
>> though it is her responsibilty. He lost one backup when a harddrive
>> failed, and another was on a zip disk, but people here warned about
>> zip disks, and the zip drive was in the computer that. I think the
>> only good backup is paper, which will last at least until his mother
>> dies.)
>
>Apologoies for calling her a him.

He is a he. The female friend is a third person altogether, whose
only connection is that she says Verizon is slow lately. :)

I do a little bit for her but not much, and most of it is over the
phone, helping her do it herself. She used to have a boyfriend who
just did things for her and never said what he was doing. She likes
my style better. (She took a course at a high school or junior
college years ago, and it seems to have given her a good start. Plus
she's pretty smart. OTOH, it's hard to get her to look at all the
options something has, so years later, I can still make her happy by
telling her about some feature that she could have found herself years
ago. But we're just friends. We tried dating and it doesn't work.)

> I'd consider suggesting that she
>bring the computer to her mother, explain that she's going to wipe ALL
>of the data, and that the mother should remove all of her files before
>giving the computer back.

It doesn't work that way at their house. Even though the mother's
files are intrinsically her responsibility, since he "inherited" the
computer that had them, she has declared the responsibilty to be his.
Like certain household chores are his. (There might be another copy
in her possession. I've forgotten but afaik, she still wants to
preserve these. She's a clinical psychologist and I think she could
conceivably still be called to explain what she did, although every
year it gets less likely. Plus I guess she might want to review what
she did for some similar patient.)

>Myself I would burn the files to CD, and copy
>them to another hdd or two zipped (IZARC is a great freeware program for
>this). Problem solved. No need to add a layer of people problems to the
>technical problems. And yes you've helped her quite a lot already.

He didn't have a CD burner, but now that the USB is working, he can
copy everything to a flashdrive, and I can burn them for them. Or he
might have one soon for his win98 computer. !

They do loads of nice things for me too. I was driving by on Sunday,
yesterday, and stopped by largely to talk to him, but instead I got a
90 minute brunch, as part of their father's day celebration. They
feed me often, and the mother makes 4-course meals.

>Best Regards,
>Mike

Also to you. Thanks again.
From: Mark Adams on 22 Jun 2010 18:49


"mm" wrote:

> On Sat, 19 Jun 2010 16:00:11 -0700, Mike S <mscir(a)yahoo.com> wrote:
>
> ><snip>
> >>>>>> Myself I would download every driver I could find for that machine, do a
> >>>>>> factory restore from the iso on the hidden partition, install all of the
> >>>>>> latest downloaded drivers, then see how well it worked.
> >>>>>> Mike
> >>>>>> .
> >>>>> Might be the best solution if there is a recovery partition. Won't need to
> >>>>> download the drivers either. They should already be in the recovery image.
> >>>>
> >>>> There's a factory restore point in this case. Is that in fact the
> >>>> same as a hidden recovery partition?
> >>>> (I have an old copy of partition manager somewhere, but have to find
> >>>> it.)
> >>>
> ><snip>
> >>> is a hidden partition with an intact iso image, and if this is enabled
> >>> in the BIOS, you will be able to restore the software to the condition
> >>> it was in when it was sold.
> >>
> >> I don't know directly. All I know is that the Phoenix restore
> >> software calls it a Factory Restore Point, but now I'm convinced they
> >> are the same.
> >
> >Factory Restore Point it is. Is your friend willing to learn how to work
> >on her own computer?
>
> He had been, but all of a sudden he's been busy. I don't like to ask
> prying questions.
>
> For now I'm the driving force, I guess, because I want to see how this
> turns out.
>
> >This is a great opportunity for her: with your help
> >she could restore to a clean version of XP, install the s/w she wants to
> >use, configure windows to look and run the way she wants, she could
> >learn a lot. And if she ever gets a really bad virus where cleaning it
> >would be too much trouble, she could repeat the process herself.
>
> Exactly.
>
> >>> So all of the drivers it requires should
> >>> exist, and all of the hardware should react correctly (if the hardware
> >>> is functioning properly). There may be newer drivers for it, but all of
> >>> the problems you initially described should go away, and Windows should
> >>> be more responsive and fully functional
> >>
> >> It's the quicker, more responsive part that has finally attracted my
> >> attention. He keeps complaining about this. I didn't notice it when I
> >> had it, and a large part of what he complains about is the interenet,
> >> but probably not all.**
> >
> >Hmm, I don't know what that means or how to diagnose it. I'd want to
> >deal with a specific problem to diagnose it. It may be that doing the
>
> Of course.
>
> >Factory Restore wouldn't affect this at all. Which browser is loading
> >which page, and with or without which add-ons, and how is the Verizon
> >service that day, can she d/l the same page w/the same browser faster at
> >another wireless location that uses a different ISP, etc.? I would
>
> Alternatively, I could take it to my house and compare my computer
> with his, using the same ISP. But he also says there are non-browser
> slownesses. I didn't follow him or forget which they are.
>
> He wanted to restore, but for the sake of learning something, I wanted
> to at least attempt to do it the other way. And I have learned
> things.
>
> >consider starting a new thread for this if you decide to pursue it,
> >since this one is getting quite long.
> >
> >> In fact I was hoping I could put something like this on my XP
> >> computer. The Phoenix site no longer even mentions it. The downlaod
> >> site I found just points to the Phoenix page, but to a page that no
> >> longer exists. Some Torrents sites have it, but I thought all of
> >> their downloads were improper. So I would ignore them except that
> >> Phoenix has it seems abandoned this product and won't lose anything if
> >> I get it via torrents. Or is there another freeware or paid product
> >> I should look for. Or should I just use ImgBurn to make a copy of my
> >> C: partition into another partition.
> >
> >I would consider starting a new thread for this one too. There are
> >different approaches you can use with freeware programs.
>
> Okay, when I have time, a new thread.
>
> >> **My female friend, he, and I all have verizon, and she says its
> >> slower lately, and i've seen it slower sometimss. So maybe most of
> >> his slowness is in verizon, but maybe not and why am I arguing with
> >> this guy I finally realized. Let him do this, and if he's still not
> >> happy with it, not my problem.
> >>
> >> (I guess I'm afraid he won't backup adequately, including several
> >> years of his mother's case reports from when they had only one
> >> computer. She'll probably be furious if he loses all of those, even
> >> though it is her responsibilty. He lost one backup when a harddrive
> >> failed, and another was on a zip disk, but people here warned about
> >> zip disks, and the zip drive was in the computer that. I think the
> >> only good backup is paper, which will last at least until his mother
> >> dies.)
> >
> >Apologoies for calling her a him.
>
> He is a he. The female friend is a third person altogether, whose
> only connection is that she says Verizon is slow lately. :)
>
> I do a little bit for her but not much, and most of it is over the
> phone, helping her do it herself. She used to have a boyfriend who
> just did things for her and never said what he was doing. She likes
> my style better. (She took a course at a high school or junior
> college years ago, and it seems to have given her a good start. Plus
> she's pretty smart. OTOH, it's hard to get her to look at all the
> options something has, so years later, I can still make her happy by
> telling her about some feature that she could have found herself years
> ago. But we're just friends. We tried dating and it doesn't work.)
>
> > I'd consider suggesting that she
> >bring the computer to her mother, explain that she's going to wipe ALL
> >of the data, and that the mother should remove all of her files before
> >giving the computer back.
>
> It doesn't work that way at their house. Even though the mother's
> files are intrinsically her responsibility, since he "inherited" the
> computer that had them, she has declared the responsibilty to be his.
> Like certain household chores are his. (There might be another copy
> in her possession. I've forgotten but afaik, she still wants to
> preserve these. She's a clinical psychologist and I think she could
> conceivably still be called to explain what she did, although every
> year it gets less likely. Plus I guess she might want to review what
> she did for some similar patient.)
>


mm- Sorry, been away for a few days. As "Mike S" said, doing the factory
restore should return the machine to factory condition, assuming there are no
hardware failures. BUT, this is most likely a destructive reinstall, and any
data on the machine WILL BE PERMANENTLY LOST. Make sure your friend backs up
ALL of his and his mother's files to external media before doing this. Don't
trust flash drives for long term storage either. They're OK for moving files
to another computer for storage on the hard drive or burning to CD or DVD,
but they have a habit of failing when you least need them to. Double check
the condition of the copied files before deleting anything, or before
performing the factory restore.


> >Myself I would burn the files to CD, and copy
> >them to another hdd or two zipped (IZARC is a great freeware program for
> >this). Problem solved. No need to add a layer of people problems to the
> >technical problems. And yes you've helped her quite a lot already.
>
> He didn't have a CD burner, but now that the USB is working, he can
> copy everything to a flashdrive, and I can burn them for them. Or he
> might have one soon for his win98 computer. !
>
> They do loads of nice things for me too. I was driving by on Sunday,
> yesterday, and stopped by largely to talk to him, but instead I got a
> 90 minute brunch, as part of their father's day celebration. They
> feed me often, and the mother makes 4-course meals.
>
> >Best Regards,
> >Mike
>
> Also to you. Thanks again.
> .
>
First  |  Prev  |  Next  |  Last
Pages: 1 2 3 4 5
Prev: error when reinstalling XP Pro
Next: Windows 7 - theme wall paper