Lewis,
I had a similar problem of double entries in Device Manager. Even if I
removed both entries, they would both be redetected and installed, causing
conflicts, e.g., 2 floppy drives, sound cards, controllers, etc. What it
turned out to be in my case, was a corrupt registry. If you have a recent
backup registry when the system worked properly, use it. Since mine was a
new installation, I used the "System.1st" backup, located in the root
directory. This is the original registry when windows was first installed.
I replaced the "System.dat" file, located in the windows directory(after
changing current System.dat as Bkup.dat)with a copy of System.1st (chanaged
its name to System.dat), rebooted, and this solved the problem. This will
probably require reinstallation of some of your software, and maybe some
drivers, as this puts your system back to where it was when you first
installed Windows. (You can always return to previous condition, by
renaming Bkup.dat to System.dat.) Note, you will have to "unhide system
files" to see these. Alternatively, you could also reinstall Windows.
HTH, Edna Sloan
Date: Tue, 19 Sep 2000 16:19:34 -0400
From: Lewis C Emerson <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: An unsolved (unsolvable?) problem
I have muddled along for some time with a computer problem that has
recently become very, very severe. The machine locks up in the middle of
doing something, usually reading e-mail, and requires rebooting to get
functioning again. It seems to always happen when I'm just scrolling
down to see portions of the e-mail below the bottom border. About half
the time a Cntrl-Alt-Del will reboot, but also, half the time requires
turning the machine completely, pause for ten seconds or so, then turning
back on. In both cases I see the error message that the machine was not
shut down properly and requires that I run SCAN DISK - which always find
a bunch of unused bytes that I just delete. The number of bytes are
usually 98,304, but not always. (For what that's worth that number is
exactly 3 times 2 raised to the 15th power)
Someone has suggested that I look at the devices connected to my system
(A Pentium 166/MMX, processor running W-95, 32 MB RAM, one 3-1/2" floppy,
one HD with two partitions, a ZIP drive, scanner, etc.) When I looked at
SETTINGS-CONTROL PANEL-SYSTEM-DEVICE MANAGER I see an unusual entry.
Under Hard Disk Controller when I click on the "Plus Sign" in the box I
see the following:
Intel 82371AB PCI Bus Master Controllers
Primary Bus Master IDE Controller
Secondary Bus Master IDE Controller
Standard IDE/ESDI Hard Disk Controller
Standard IDE?ESDI Hard Disk Controller
I don't understand why I have two entries for the Standard IDE/ESDI
Controller. By the way, at times I have seen two of many other devices,
like the modem, the floppy, etc.
I have run the standard things - ie. SCAN DISK, DEFRAG, etc. (Many
times, in fact) Zilch.
Have also run SAFE MODE (many times) and have installed W95VXD.EXE.
Again zilch.
One other thing that may possible bear on this - because it's something
relatively new. When I click on the mail server icon (Juno on the
desktop) a window-like shade drops over the icon - and just after that
another one drops over the "My Computer" icon. Interesting, what?
One final clue - if I can call it that - the machine now is running at
about one tenth the speed at which it used to run.
Comments, suggestions, ideas, etc.
Lewis Emerson
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