JDPower

Funnily enough the xp(sp1) disc I was trying to use to do the repair install is an old Fujitsu recovery disc, and your right it works just like a normal xp disc. The recovery disc for this pc is a Toshiba one and when I put it in CD drive and run it, it doesn't do anything and I can't find any sign of Windows by exploring the files on the cd. The instructions for the disc say to put it in drive, turn off pc and restart whilst holding the 'c' button. This brings up a window with three options - Recovery (which reformats the disk), Expert recovery (which only seems to allow some tweaking to the reformat) and exit. Do you mean the free one they sent out to save downloading it, don't they just have the service pack 2 update on them?

Sorry, maybe didn't explain clearly. I can't do the repair install because it detects a newer version of Windows than is on the CD. And I can't remedy this by uninstalling SP2 first as I ran the hotfix cleaner (hence one of the reasons I want to do this) and sp2 is no longer listed in add/remove programs

Why is nothing ever straight forward Only got a recovery CD with this PC and can't seem to access Windows install from this. Found an old XPsp1 cd but can't use it cos this PC is sp2, and as I used the hotfix cleaner I can't uninstall sp2 to use the CD. AAAARGH!!!!

I need to do this but can someone please just confirm for me that there will be no loss of programs or (non-microsoft) files (Just want to be absolutely certain before doing it)

Is the hotfix uninstaller cleaner safe now, and is there anything those of us that ran it can do to fix whatever damage its done?

Thanks for the replies

I'm not short on disk space but this is sitting on my c drive taking up 500Mb of space. So can I delete it or would that cause problems on my system? (I'm sure I had it deleted before I recently reformatted but can't remember whether I had and why.)

Well I had reinstalled the drivers I had but according to my PC manufacturers site that was the newest driver available, I never thought to look for a newer one on the Realtek site. CV templates? Thanks again

Oh well, problems did come up big style. Not with the drivers, in the end they installed without a problem, the Driver Cleaner program killed my computer. After running the cleaner I rebooted (as it said to do) and Windows crashed as soon as it started to load, wouldn't start up normally or in safe mode. Left me no choice but to do a complete reformat. And rather stupidly I thought I must have done something wrong so tried again making sure to follow the driver cleaner instructions exactly. And it happened again . So started again, just removed the old drivers manually (using the ATI uninstall utility that was already on my comp), restarted, DIDN'T use Driver Cleaner, installed the Omega drivers and all was, and is, fine. I'm pretty gutted cos I lost some important files that I haven't got backups of but thats a lesson learned I suppose My question now is this - I'm pretty certain the ATI utility removed all traces of the actual drivers, but the Driver Cleaner instructions (and website) recommend running the 'cab cleaner' (though say its not essential). Can anyone explain why this would be needed and what problems it may cause? I understand this has something to do with driver files in Windows>I386 folders and have read that the I386 folder isn't necessarily needed so would it be safe to delete it, or maybe just rename it?

Krit, you're a star. Installed the new drivers (after a 3 hour download at only 2kb/sec ) and the direct X acceleration now stays at the level I set it at, regardless of restarts (and it also seems to have improved the crackly sound issue that started me down this road in the first place). Thats twice in the space of a few weeks you've helped me no end, THANK YOU

Realtek AC97 Audio

Ok, here it is:

Hi, I have DirectX version 9c and downloaded the Feb update that krit suggested too. I tried again clicking apply then OK and it still resets to full acceleration after restarting. I can't find any settings anywhere else to stop this happening

Exactly what I was thinking Thanks for that. I've never completely uninstalled drivers before replacing them, always just update/install over the top of the old ones, and thought it must have been more difficult than that I'll let you know how I get on (hopefully problem free). Cheers

Thanks for your help but I don't have an environmental audio section in control panel>sounds and audio (I'm on WinXP Home SP2 if that makes any difference)

Tried that, it still resets to full acceleration after restarting

Whoops Thanks for the replies. Is it just a case of uninstalling the drivers (in device manager), running the driver cleaner then installing the Omega drivers? Or is there more to it than that? (BTW It seems the Omega drivers are the only way to update my graphics drivers now anyway. Emailed ATI to ask what drivers they recommend as there didn't seem to be any on their website for my graphics card. Got a reply today saying they no longer support laptops/notebooks )

Is there anyway to keep the Direct X sound acceleration at anything other than full (in dxdiag)? I keep having to reduce the sound acceleration for a program that gives crackly sound with it set to full but every time I restart the computer the sound acceleration goes back to full again (and I have to reduce it again)

I'm considering installing the Omega drivers for my graphics card (as I do a little bit of online gaming) and wondered if anyone could tell me if it is worthwhile on a relatively low spec PC - ATI Mobility Radeon 7000 graphics card, 3Gb Pentium 4, 512Mb RAM. Also I was told I should make sure I remove all traces of the original ATI drivers but I'm not really sure what I should do, so could someone give me a basic step by step guide on how to go about installing the Omega drivers please (and what to do beforehand) Thanks.

Smart little website, might just be my new favourite speed tester. Thanks Hazelnut

Never mind, got it sorted. Didn't realise I needed to replace the uxtheme.dll to allow non MS visual styles to be used

Ok, I've got the energy blue folder in C:>Windows>Resources>Themes but it isn't listed under the appearance tab. If I click on the visual style file in the energy blue folder it brings up the appearance tab which just shows my current theme (Royale) and when I click ok nothing changes. Under the appearances tab I've only got the default Windows styles and Royale (my current, and only, other theme). I must be missing something really obvious here

Thanks for that, I've now got the file extracted but can't for the life of me get the theme to work. I put the file in the Windows>resources>themes but when I go to display properties in control panel the theme isn't listed. I'm new to the whole theme thing and don't know any other way to select a new one. I'm guessing the problem is that there isn't actually a "Windows Theme File" in the folder. Can anyone tell me how to make this theme work as I really like it and really want to use it

How do I get the above theme to work? Its a rar file and I can't work out what to do with it (probably being dense )