all drivers have disappeared!

[billybee]

Just did an install of 98SE on a new HDD, after installing the drivers, (graphics, sound, network card) rebooted several times all was good. Now the customer has called back saying when she booted up the colors were "messed up". Had her go into Dev Mgr and every driver I installed is now missing! Every device installed has a bang beside it. Has anyone ever heard of this? Thanks. Bill B
A+, Network+, MCP

 

[smah]

I once saw something similar - but not quite the same. I don't remember the particular item in DM that caused it and don't have a 9x system to look at at the moment, but this is what I remember:

The user removed something from Device Manager that no one would ever normally touch - one of the main windows system devices. Upon reboot, Windows found every single piece of hardware again (rebooting 2 or 3 times as needed) just like during the initial install. In this case everything ended up normally.

Now I suppose that if for some reason the hardware wasn't detected (like if hardware detection was corrupted), that the system I saw would have ended up with the bang on every device. What happens if you run the 'add new hardware wizard' manually?

 

[johnodq]

This sounds like the sort of thing that happens when the "PLUG AND PLAY BIOS" is removed.

A reboot into safe mode and then a shutdown will usually fix this part, which should then enable windows to find the other hardware. ---------------
Johnodq
---------------
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[smah]

That sounds like what I remember.

 

[BuckeyeComputers]

Or the system encountered a registry flaw and set back to the first registry before you installed the drivers....

 

[billybee]

Thanks for the replies. Still haven't sorted this out yet, but did a complete reinstall again, computer will boot up fine in the shop over and over again. Took it to the client's office, and at first the BIOS didn't see the HDD, then restarted, booted to Windows and it reported a registry error and restored back to an earlier time. Customer now tells me this happened previously when she first got it back from the shop. By the way this is a new HDD. This computer may have been water damaged. I suspect there are some mobo issues. Bill B
A+, Network+, MCP

 

[wolluf]

Sounds like you have a 'hardware' problem of some sort - memory would be my favourite start point, but could be any hardware device in the PC.

 

[billybee]

It seems very unlikely memory or expansion cards would cause this particular problem. In my experience bad memory will either cause blue screens when the bad chip is accessed or a failure to post. A bad expansion card simply fails to work, but doesn't cause Windows registry corruption. It does seem that if the basic mobo components- CMOS chip, north/south bridge, etc. were damaged it could cause Windows to see critical differences in base components- like if you take a HDD from one machine and put it into another, all the base components have to reinstall.
Bill B
A+, Network+, MCP

 

[wolluf]

Sorry - but have to disagree. Any hardware fault can cause an apparent software fault (in 98, this often appears as a registry error - and bad memory is a prime cause, but other components are culprits too) - which is one reason they are so difficult to troubleshoot (elimination method - removing/replacing hardware components - being commonly used, though it can be time consuming).

Its usually when the component isn't bad enough to cause an outright failure (and it may also be 2 or more incompatible hardware elements which will work fine elsewhere - the fault just corrupts windows processing).

In your position, I'd now be trying the elimination approach (but that may be entirely wrong - just what I would do).

 

[BuckeyeComputers]

Sounds like to me that you have a power problem in her place that may be causeing the problem or one of her periphials... if the system works fine in your shop and on first boot at her place it fails then i cannot see how it is a fault in the system.... check the power at her place for proper voltage and proper grounding and even suggest a good battery back up system