[RESOLVED] xp's auto reinstall of drivers

[techallenged]

Hi Everyone,

Gonna try and keep this short

A recent build for a friend has started to show some issues with sound, in the sense it has lost it!

OS is XP Pro (all service pack and latest updates) using an ASUS M2N4-SLI mobo with onboard audio device (nVidia?) using AC'97 Audio Controller drivers.

So, the day I delivered it (2 days after build) the sound disappeared within an hour of setting it up. I removed the drivers using device manager, reinstalled from mobo CD, rebooted and hey presto the sound was back (this was after trying all sort of other fixes inc reboot for reboot sakes, various settings options, roll back etc).

Anyway 3 months or so down the line the sound has dropped out again, no reason for it... it just stopped (not my words)... no new hardware or software installs.

I tried the trick from the first time it happened but to no avail.

I suspect driver corruption but I'm at a loss in the sense that i'm not convinced that an uninstall of the drivers via device manager (and subsequent reinstall via mobo CD) is actually a clean uninstall & reinstall takes place, ie it will reinstall regardless of whether mober driver disk is present or not.

I want to be able to totally remove any remnants of the drivers after an uninstall and also remove any possibility of an auto install from cab files. I want to make sure that an install from cd or downloaded file from asus is 100% clean. I hope you know what I mean

And then maybe it's not a driver issue and so any ideas on what may be causing the problem will be appreciated. BTW the speakers themselves work fine on another pc so we can rule them out

Many thanks in advance

Phil

[photolady]

Drivers for motherboards are listed in Add/Remove not in Device Manager. Mine is, and all other motherboards I had were the same. Try removing the AC'97 audio driver from there then reinstall newest from download at motherboard's website.

[techallenged]

Hi photolady,

Thank you for the advice, I have to say that in my experience all mobos have had the drivers listed in DM and only sometimes in add/remove. I should add that on the board in question they are listed in both DM and A/R and both entires disappear regardless of which method is used!

Anyway, I have d/loaded and installed the latest drivers and all seems fine again, so until next time