Please save me from killing my computer

S

SimpleMinded

Vault Fossil
Hey, don't mean to spam the forums but I need help! And I know enough people on here love computers enough to be willing to save mine from a painful death when i throw it out the window :).

So here's the problem. My brother bought Battlefield 1942 and we went to install it on the computer. However, the game kept freaking out around 80% so I decided to try installing it in a safe mode environment to eliminate any bad compatibility issues with processes going on in the computer. Well, that didn't work so I returned to normal mode, only to find my computer has fallen to shit. My computer has lost track of my sound card (it says no audio devices in my sound menu and only beeps when it wants to make sounds) and my device manager in hardware is blank. I thought I would try adding my sound card to my computer by going to Add Hardware but alas, Add Hardware doesn't open. I double clicked it about 300 times to no avail.

Anyone have any idea what this all comes down to? I've windows xp, any other information that would be needed, please let me know before this computer faces an untimely death soon.
 
If you can still access the device manager, try right-clicking on your computer name and selecting "Scan for hardware changes".

Anything else wrong with it besides the sound card and "Add Hardware" problems?
 
/EDIT: DON'T TRY THIS YET!

Yep, try reinstalling windows. Hopefully that will fix it without having to reformat harddrive.

First. Run chkdsk /f in the command prompt, to check if there are any physical defects on your hard drive.

Second. put your windows disk in to the drive. Not the recovery disk. Follow the bouncing ball for a repair install of windows xp.

Third. If that don't work, you may have to reformat.
 
Dove said:
/EDIT: DON'T TRY THIS YET!

Yep, try reinstalling windows. Hopefully that will fix it without having to reformat harddrive.

First. Run chkdsk /f in the command prompt, to check if there are any physical defects on your hard drive.

Second. put your windows disk in to the drive. Not the recovery disk. Follow the bouncing ball for a repair install of windows xp.

Third. If that don't work, you may have to reformat.
Click to expand...

Hrm... My computer didn't come with an actual windows disk, just a windows recovery disk.

And I haven't found any other problems besides those... running a Direct X check it says No sound card was found. If one is expected, you should install a sound driver provided by the hardware manufacturer.

I guess I should search for a sound driver by the producer? If the card is in and it says that, would a driver make a difference? And I'll try scanning for hardware changes now.

EDIT: I clicked the button that says scan for hardware changes but nothing happens when I click it. Not sure if that is simply because I don't have a list of hardware to scan or what.
 
I would try taking the card out, powering up and checking to see if there are any differences. Then reinstall the card and see what happens. It's seems unlikely, but it's possible that the card just died - if everything else is working fine it's the most likely culprit. In any case it's best to try everything you can before reinstalling windows, unless there's nothing on the harddrive that you really care about.

Also, what brand of computer is it? Most companies that have windows pre-installed will have it on a partition on your harddrive that will let you reinstall without buying another copy of windows. If your computer has that option it should be pretty easy to find out if you can do it that way.
 
I dont know your issues seem more OS corruption related to me. It's sounding like you are going to need to re-install windows. You would be lucky if your warrenty is still in tact and valid. Otherwise, find yourself a copy of windows... And for the love of a god not ME.
 
Montez said:
I would try taking the card out, powering up and checking to see if there are any differences. Then reinstall the card and see what happens. It's seems unlikely, but it's possible that the card just died - if everything else is working fine it's the most likely culprit. In any case it's best to try everything you can before reinstalling windows, unless there's nothing on the harddrive that you really care about.

Also, what brand of computer is it? Most companies that have windows pre-installed will have it on a partition on your harddrive that will let you reinstall without buying another copy of windows. If your computer has that option it should be pretty easy to find out if you can do it that way.
Click to expand...

The computer is from ibuypower.com, I'm HOPING it's still on warranty, not sure. We got it... two years ago? I'll have to dig around for the information when we bought it. I tried reseating the sound card and reinstalling the drivers but no luck, it still claims that there is no sound device on the computer. Hrm... is it hard to swap sound cards? Maybe I can see if we can remove the sound card from my brothers computer and see if that one works in here.

How do I do that partition reinstall thing? And if I do, do I lose everything on the harddisk? Thanks.

O and if it helps any, I also just discovered that I can't switch users on windows XP anymore. I can log off users and sign on others, but no more two users at once.

And the icons for the logging off and turning off the computer have changed a bit too. Here's a photo of them if it works..
310331716DxFORJ_ph.jpg


and since it didn't... http://community.webshots.com/photo/233535348/310331716DxFORJ
 
it will enable me to connect remotely to your computer. and unlike windows remote connection (winxp pro only) it will enable you to see what i'm doing.

if you are interested send me an email at sovz@sovz.com
 
Uhm. AFAIK it is illegal to sell a computer with a preinstalled Windows OS if you're not also selling a copy of Windows (in which case you own the CD, whether they gave it to you or not).
 
Sovz said:
it will enable me to connect remotely to your computer. and unlike windows remote connection (winxp pro only) it will enable you to see what i'm doing.

if you are interested send me an email at sovz@sovz.com
Click to expand...

Hypothetically speaking, if we did that, would you be able to access private information on my computer and would i have a way of cutting you off if it did go that route? Not to insult, just to be secure :).
 
yep, click a button and hit disconnect client.

as I said, the main advantage this soft on others, is the ability to actually see what the client is doing.

anyhow, its up to you.
 
Ashmo said:
Uhm. AFAIK it is illegal to sell a computer with a preinstalled Windows OS if you're not also selling a copy of Windows (in which case you own the CD, whether they gave it to you or not).
Click to expand...
He does. It's on the recovery disk. Unfortunately, like mine, a recovery disk will not install windows until the hard drive is reformatted.
 
lilfyffedawg said:
Maybe I can see if we can remove the sound card from my brothers computer and see if that one works in here.
Click to expand...
O and if it helps any, I also just discovered that I can't switch users on windows XP anymore. I can log off users and sign on others, but no more two users at once.
Click to expand...

If you're having all these other problems with XP the sound card can be pretty much ruled out, I think, so you might as well not bother.

How do I do that partition reinstall thing? And if I do, do I lose everything on the harddisk? Thanks.
Click to expand...

As Dove said, if the computer came with a recovery CD it's probably on there. If not, it's either accessable from somewhere in the start menu or you'll need to do it the same way you would get into safe mode or BIOS (Holding down a certain key, usually and F key, as you boot up). The easiest way to find out is to contact the service/support dept of the site you bought the computer from and ask them what you need to do to reinstall windows. If all else fails, as Ashmo said you do own a copy of WinXP whether they gave you a CD or not, so there should be a windows cd key on your computer somewhere.

And yes, reinstalling windows is going to erase everything on your hardrive (unless all of your data is on a seperate partition or physical drive, which it probably isn't, sorry) so back up everything you want to keep before doing it.

Edit: You could also try "System Recovery", but I don't think it will help since you've booted up successfully since the problems started. I think you can choose this option from the same menu that you would choose Safe Mode from.
 
just thought I'd let you guys know... we got it working. After working on it for a ways, we went into Administrative Tools, computer Management and discovered that somehow, every service that our computer provided (from Printer Spool on down) had mysteriously been disabled. We went through it all and changed everything to Automatic. Now it all works aok. How it got that way? Dunno.

Thanks for all the help along the way guys.
 
Good job. Just make sure that the "Messenger" service is disabled or you'll regret it.
 
Why do humans go through all of this needless torture?

If your soundcard wasn't working, here are some things to do:

1. REBOOT.
2. Uninstall your sound card in the hardware manager, then reboot.
3. REINSTALL THE SOUND CARD DRIVERS.
4. Remove the sound card, reboot into windows, uninstall drivers, install sound card back in, boot into windows, install drivers, reboot.
5. Re-install Windows (Extreme case)
6. If NOTHING works, RMA your sound card.

Foolish mortals :x
 
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