Hello -
I guess I am looking for a quick answer, as to why I suddenly lost all my audio devices, printer, and sound - It was following a series of events as I attempted to clear out spyware. The most recent thing was I took some inappropriate advice, and disabled system restore. (Win XP - SP2)
I did not know that would wipe out all previous restore points...anyway, I proceeded to use ewido anti-spy tool, in safe mode, and quarantined all results. Reboot, and everything works great, very fast - but no audio or printer after that! I have changed my start up to load all devices - still no change. I tried to get information with the system tool - It says Cannot Collect Information - some Windows management files moved or changed...So I am sure that there is something that can be fixed here to find my installed devices, such as printer and DVD burner, etc. BTW I did turn on system restore, and it had wiped out all previous points, so I am stuck with the current configuration I suppose.
- Any advice for me?


LiL

The first thing I would do is go to the system device manger. There, you can see that maybe the devices are simply disabled, if not, scan for new hardware, I'm sure windows will find it if it's physically there. If last resort, turn off the computer, clear the CMOS (JP1) on your motherboard, then restart and THEN scan for new hardware.
Try that, let me know how it worked out for you.

Well there were NO devices, hidden or otherwise, in the device manager...none.
Anyway, I shut down completely and waited 5 minutes - when it
rebooted, the sound was back, the printers there, etc.!
Shocked me because I had shut down twice before...with no luck.

Thanks, I did learn something in my research, and will know where
to look next time something like this occurs.
:o

LiL