Okay... I was doing a little uninstall of Oblivion folders, manually like, in preparation for re-install and... well... I may just have got a bit bored, or tired, or still stupid and... I right clicked , deleted, a whole folder and... when I tried restart, as you do, ... my world had gone black except for some rather alarming and, I must say, downright rude, printing on the screen there.
But I didn't panic. Oh no. I've been at this hi-tech computer stuff for quite a while and I've done bad things to hard drives before. And besides... I had my trusty MESH recovery disk to see me to safe waters.
Well... to make a long story even longer... I called, quite a number of times, MESH India, though they don't advertise it as such, but where they have all those helpful techy types... when I say 'all', I mean just one guy in the back room of whatever the local equivalent of an Indian Takeaway is.... And he and I got to swapping techy type talk and we agreed, between ourselves, mano a mano, that it would be best for me to save whatever I could from my files and stuff and then reformat the hard drive.
When I stopped weeping... I contacted a genius acquaintance for whom this kind of stuff is meat and drink. And he agreed to do the said ...thing, for said meat and drink, all unspoken of course, and then reinstall all the wonder that was my hard drive using the MESH recovery disk. And he did. By the way... some time when you have a week or so to spare, just google MESH recovery disk. Days of fun for all the family!
Needless to say, my genius acquaintance and I are no longer on acquaintance terms. I harbour no ill will towards him at all. And I would happily visit him at the institution in which he is now residing, peacefully... except for the restraining order.
Meanwhile... I got back the offending PC and fired it up, relishing the thought of all the lovely reinstalling I was going to get to do. But very little seemed to work. On the PC. It seems that the MESH recovery disk ( ah what a sublime jest that is ! ) is a sort of barebones version of Windows extreme lite. Doesn't bother itself with unimportant things like... oh, you know... motherboard drivers and stuff.

So this is where the real story begins. This is where the technofreaks get to strut their stuff. And no more whimsy. Promise.


Motherboard: ASUS A8N-SLI; CPU - socket 939 for AMD Athlon 64FX/ Athlon 64; Chipset- NVIDIA nForce 4 SLI... and more, on demand.

On first look::

In Device Manager: Under Other Devices, bright yellow ?!'s beside Multimedia Audio Controller; Network Controller; Other PCI Bridge Device; PCI Memory Controller; SM Bus Controller; Unknown Device; Video Controller (VGA Compatible )
- right clicking on any of these gets no driver files, installed , loaded, code 28 etc.

-Audigy drivers installed alright, so have sound.

MESH India emailed me links to the Asus drivers, which I dl'd, after a couple of callbacks because of uncertainty which of the many was the right one: Chipset_WinXP64_v665.

-Ran installer, after unzip then... nothing. No change except that now I had a WLAN card showing under network adapters. And unknown device had disappeared from the above list.
-ran Hardware Update wizard on each of the missing hardware, allowing for autocomplete - nothing.

Downloaded NVIDIA 7600 drivers for graphics card but have not installed because of the above.

After reregistering Win XP and updating to SP3, which seemed a good idea at the time as I was in the neighbourhood and all... I have some queries.

Queries:
-do I actually have the full version of Win XP, now ? How to tell?
-how do I get the drivers, which I think I have dl'd and installed, to install
-do I have to use the ASUS VGA Driver, and PCI Adapter installation disks that came packaged with the pc ?

Is there any other recourse left to me other than joining the saddest club in the world : the Mesh Owners Club? Okay, dammit. I joined. I'm THAT desperate. Fellow sufferers there may be able to offer some help. But with the wealth of talent and downright skill inhabiting THIS forum...!

Any help appreciated. thankyou in advance and other sickeningly, crawly type behaviour.

Go ahead and use the generic drivers on the install CD. You may need them until you install the drivers for your graphics card.

As to if you have all of XP, Well, I think MS should be sued for NOT giving a CD with every system. If you know some one with a real XP CD you can use it to check yours - the difference will be the CD Key that is supposed to be on the case, but rarely is. There is a program that allows you to recover your CD Key for WinXP. PM me and I will fill you in on what you have to do and where to get it.(its freeware).

As for installing the drivers, go to the Control panel - System - Hardware - device manager where you see all those yellow triangles. click on one and select driver, then update driver. When it wants to csan, if you tell it no and then tell it where you put the new drivers it should load them automatically.

... so many corporations to sue, so little time to sue them.

Have pm'd you, bben.

Many thanks, so far.

Queries:
-do I actually have the full version of Win XP, now ? How to tell?

you most likley have a full version of windows xp
most OEM systems that come with a windows xp reinstall cd onlyreinstall the os it self not the drivers
thats hardly microsofts fault
windows only provides generic drivers that wil enable some sort of functionality to the pc

oem systems do not need to be activated if installed on the system they were made for and disabeling the activation nag is not that hard either

-how do I get the drivers, which I think I have dl'd and installed, to install

double click them and follow their instructions on screen

-do I have to use the ASUS VGA Driver, and PCI Adapter installation disks that came packaged with the pc ?

yes !
if you ever get any installation cd's with your computer by all means use them thats what they are there for
especially the asus vga driver unless you like to see windows herky jerky around

thanks bluekatt. this is a WIP so I expect that there will be more to come...

HERE IS AN IMPORTANT UPDATE FOR ALL THOSE WHO HAVE PUT THEIR LIVES ON HOLD AWAITING FURTHER INTERESTING DEVELOPMENTS ON THIS THREAD !

Yes. I do seem to have Win XP. AND it is 32 bit. THis latter bit of numberage is quite important , it seems. For, when one goes to a site like ASUS one is offered all kinds of wonderful drivers, and in more than one category : Utilities and Drivers. As there seemed to be a lot of the number 64 in my documentation I naturally assumed that I should download and install drivers also having the number 64. Not so. As my documentation and My Comp Properties only ever spoke of my Win XP as Win XP Home, it never occured to me that there were 'options'. However, it took only a couple of emails to finally get the relevent info out of MESH that, yes, mine was 32 bit, not 64 bit. So... that's alright then.

Uninstalled all the previously installed 64 bit drivers, installed 32 bit drivers and , hey presto!: MOST of the attractive, though very bad, yellow !?'s have gone! I have only TWO left! That must be progress. They are these, under unknown device ( I'm sure Donald Rumsfeld [sp?] would have described them more aptly ):
-Mutimedia Audio Controller
-Network Controller

Following sage advice, I installed the nVidia drivers. Successfully, and with a minimum of frightening messages. AND I have attempted to install the ASUS VGA driver install disk, but it wont... install. In the 'read me' is a list of supported whatevers. My ASUS A8NSLI is not on that list. Could it be that MESH have sent me the WRONG install disk with the original delivery?

But, more importantly, does it matter now that I have dl'd and installed the drivers from ASUS, and the nVdia Graphics card ? For , after said installs, scrolling down pages on THIS site no longer 'herk and jerk', as previously.

I have one install disk left to install: ASUS PCI Adapter. Should I now install this, and risk undoing all the hard gained progress thus far? Or , will it cure My Computer of the dreaded yellow ?!'s...?

Any advice gratefully received, as usual.

Yes, install the PCI. Without it none of your PCI type boards will work. Unless your Video, Audio and all other boards are all PCI-E (PCI Express) they will not work without it. PCI is still used for many internal functions in a PC.

But then go to the ASUS site and download the latest set of drivers. (make sure you get the 32 bit drivers)

I have a similar system, ASUS A8N32-SLI Deluxe - probably the same board different revision number - with a Nvida GeForce 7600GT. I use a Turtle Beach audio board. Due to problems with an older Audigy product they are on my don't use list.

After you get it running, run DxDiag and save the results in a text file so you will have all of the info if you ever need it again. You could even print it out and put the printout in a safe place (I usually forget where I put it)

Hi bben... Do I take it , from what you've just said, that I DO NOT need to concern myself with the ASUS VGA drivers install disk any more? If so... am relieved. Will now do the PCI install, which I know works, having done it before anything else, then uninstalled.

Many thanks.

For anyone who doesn't know it already: Every one should have a bben46 in their lives!

Having dl'd all the drivers I thought were relevent, and some which I didn't - who knew that one needed Realtek audio drivers to make the Multimed Audio controller yellow ?!'s go away, specially as I have an Audigy sound card?- I am left with ONLY ONE yellow ?! : Network controller.

Under My Computer Info: Hardware
-Network card : WAN ( PPP/SLIP) Interface - driver: ndiswan.sys
-Network card : nVidia nForce Network Controller
packet scheduler miniport
Driver: nvenetfd.sys
Have tried Update driver on Network Controller - show all devices : unknown manufacturer:
- model 'box with green tick' SCSI/RAID Host controller
If I click on this I get a nasty message about windows cannot recommend, verify compatablility, etc.

Cannot find any other drivers to install for this device. Or am looking in wrong place. Or have yet to download them from whereever they are being secreted.

Oh yes... think my ASUS WLAN card has died. No little green light way down there at the back bottom where it lives, and will not be recognized by ASUS Utilities , which have been installed along with the PCI drivers. And ... have bought XP Pro Upgrade online. Hope that install of this when it arrives will solve ALL my problems. But for now....

Any more suggestions, please.

Chesto,

Well, I must say I agree with you about Ben.

This must have been quite a learning experience for you.

Your description of the events, sounds only too familiar.

But it makes for much better reading, than most of my tech manuals. LOL.

If you're ASUS WLAN card is a PCI slot card, and not built-in to the motherboard, you'll probably have to download the latest driver for that as well.

No lights on the card eh, well, that's one of two things. It's not sitting in the slot right. Or it's not connected to the Web.

Hard to tell from here, my eyesight isn't what it used to be.

England after all, is a little stretch from Florida. LOL


Good luck old man. From another old man.

Storm Raven

Cheers for that mate.

Am I to take it that the inoperative... or is that inoperable...WLAN card is the cause of the yellow bad marks in Dev Mgr?
Shall yank it out , again, and then do whole rigamerole again.

Chesto, before you do that. Let me see if I can get Ben chip in here

First, you commented that you got a nasty message. Did you go ahead and install it or abort the install. Those nasty Microsoft messages are just to warn you that MS has not yet looked at that driver and it hasn't been approved by them. Go ahead and install it anyway.

Then, you will probably have to reboot. watch and see if the light flashes at all during the boot up.

Then check in the BIOS to see if there is something you have to turn on to get wireless to work on that system.

'...awww...Idonwannadothaaat.'.: Pinback in Dark Star.

bben... do you mean the message attached to SCSI/RAID Host Controller? If so , I aborted. I ALWAYS listen to Windows.
Also... if so and I have to go into the BIOS how... do I get there? Tis a dark land I have ne'er before visited.

The SCUSI\RAID controller has nothing to do with your wireless, so don't worry about that one If you don't know what a SCUSI or RAID is you probably don't have either.

To access the BIOS on An ASUS motherboard, press del during the power on sequence. The only thing my manual shows is for the onboard wireless, not for a separate board.

Mine is detachable. And the WLAN card, or the drivers, IS/ARE the problem, right? Causing the yellow marks?

Cheers.

That's what it sounds like. I don't have a lot of experience with wireless though. I do know that you need a working wireless node or transmitter somewhere. What is the source of your wireless?

I have a router , courtesy of the ISP. If this is the wrong answer... I would like admit right here that I am incredibly stoopid. If that hasn't become obvious already.

We need to know the manufacturer of the wireless board in the computer. They should have given you a CD with its driver on it with the computer. If not, once we know who made it, we can go to their website and download the right drivers.

Sorry... ASUS , WL-138g PCI Adapter, has the drivers and ASUS WLAN Utilities on it. I dl'd the updated one from ASUS, but am not being allowed to update it in Dev Mgr. And there is no installer in the folder.

Just going to go away and try something for a bit. Will be back.

Edit: suddenly thought that I hadn't tried to install the new drivers from the downloaded folder on desktop. Had tried, with no success. Again.

double post

Did you ever install that PCI driver we were talking about? That board is a PCI.

Yes... from the install disk.

I don't understand why this driver is not installing. Most wireless boxes have a wired connection also. have you tried that?

This is a WLAN card attached - plugged into - inside the machine. Just the aerial, and an LED outside at the back. Have just tried the shortcut: ASUS WLAN Utilities, desktop, and get message: unable to connect to lan card. Tray icon will be loaded once card is inserted.

Card is inserted, and reinserted.

That doesn't sound good. It sounds like it is waiting for a card, and when yours is plugged in it doesn't see it. That points to a bad board.

Think you're right. No little green light comes on, next to the aerial.

I have to go, now. Will try re attaching the card , then reinstalling again. Will post tommorrow.
Thanks again for all your efforts.

I will be gone after noon local time. I have a business trip. I should be back by Friday.

New idea, you might try the card in a different slot.

Here's another thing...
Being the aforementioned dimwit, attracted solely by pretty bright things, I have been messing around with the card with the light, when it worked, and the aerial.
Attempting to follow bben's advice, and who wouldn't, I noticed that there wasn't another slot to swap this card to. The only other slot, other than the sound card, was taken up with, what I have now learned is, the FireWire Port, with two squarish sockets, and just under the former aerial/light bearing card. This, I presume, is the main ASUS WLAN PCI Card, and not the aerial thingy. So...

... will remove both cards.

The manual says to have the card(s) afixed before installing PCI software/drivers. On the other occasions, after un-attaching the aerial card, I have uninstalled the s/w. But... kept getting a message saying that I should leave the PCI drivers and only the Utilities will be uninstalled.

Is there some way that I can uninstall the PCI Adapter drivers prior to reinstalling AFTER reattaching the card(s). Using REGEDIT, for instance? If so... which listings do I delete. Have done the whole Oblivion Regedit Delete thing, with some success, so am willing to try this. If I know which things to delete.

Thankyou for your continuing patience.

Double post ... but I thought I'd put everyone out of their suspenseful misery at my ongoing plight.
There are still a yellow ?!. But have run DxDiag, all, and there are no problems to report. Uninstalled the offending drivers, and the card and... good to go.
And I have installed a massively hungry, up to date , game and it runs! No problems. so far.( he said touching all sorts of juju items.)

Only one very last question, until something bad happens again - this is real life we're talking here and stuff happens- is it alright to install XP Pro upgrade right on top of XP home? Just if anyone has had experience of doing this....

Mega thanks to all who have helped in this task.

Chesto. ( a very happy old man ).

Final bulletin: installed XP Pro upgrade, after difficult birth, and all yellow marks are gone. Everything working as it should. So, anyone else who has been given a recovery disk by a PC company... it might just be a good thing to invest in a full windows program as well. My 2c's.

Again, many thanks for the help, here. As usual, this place rocks.

Glad to see it finally works. And I agree that you need a real copy of Windows.

The PC makes should be required to give you the FULL copy of Windows on a CD that you paid for when you purchased the PC. A so called 'system recovery' partition is useless when your hard disc crashes, and the 'system recovery' disc that some supply just reformats your HD, wipes out all of your stuff and reinstalls all of the junk programs with the 'proprietary' version of Windows.

Then to add insult to injury, Windows requires you to call in and register the 'new' system or it stops working in so many days. So if you use a friend's copy of windows to reinstall, they claim piracy. To circumvent this, you need a way to reset the key code in windows on your computer to the legal key code that came with the computer.

Another example of the software company making things difficult for the legitimate user in the name of 'preventing' piracy without inconveniencing the real pirates at all.

I have a legal copy of Windows on CD for each computer that I own.