no driver

A buddy of mine recently purchased a used PC. (HP
Pavillion, running Win XP Pro) and managed to get a hold
of some nasty virus that was causing him some problems.
He gave me a call to try and fix it, and I came over,
downloaded a couple of Anti-Virus programs, ran them, and
he has a virus that had infected quite a number of files.
the anti-virus program would not let me do anything but
delete a number of the affected files (one of which I am
assuming was an audio driver) and would jam up if i tried
to do anything BUT delete them, so delete them I did, and
now the PC says that the audio devices are running
properly, but there are no drivers installed. So I
figured, no problem, I'd just go back to an earlier
restore date and un-do whatever I did by resetting the PC
to an earlier date, but when I tried this, the system
restore utility refuses to go back any further than the
date I did all the work, and if you ask it to restore
from an earlier point, it says" detected virus such and
such" and says it cannot use that restore point(I tried
all the restore points all the way back to before he
bought the PC). Ok, I give up. What in the world do I do
now? **Note** He does not have the discs that should have
been with the computer, and when I called the shop that
sold him the computer, all they would say is "Oh well,
tough luck, isn't it?" So I came to the microsoft site,
hoping that Microsoft itself would be better sports, and
take pity on someone not able to afford a new PC and had
to buy a used one.

So your trying to restore soundcard drivers???

If that's the case, go to the soundcard manufacturer's website and download
the latest drivers for the card.

2 Points here:
First, all drivers are the responsibility of and supplied by the device
manufacturers including those drivers that ship with Windows.

Second, this is not a question of pity. If your friend is using a computer,
he should have not only the disks for his applications but also for the
operating system. New systems are required to come with either the
operating system on CD or a means of recovery, either from a CD or from a
partition on the hard drive. However, used systems are not covered by such
a requirement and it's a case of let the buyer beware.

At some point, your friend is going to need the operating system, his hard
drive will crash or his hard drive will fail and he'll need to reinstall.
He should be prepared for that now. His next move should be to purchase the
operating system. He's just spent several hundred dollars on a computer,
it's penny wise and pound foolish for him not to have a means of recovery.

Assuming you resolve the problem with the driver, if that was the problem,
his best insurance against finding himself with a computer and no operating
system, no means of reinstalling or repairing the setup is for him to go to
the store and purchase the OS.

--
Michael Solomon MS-MVP
Windows Shell/User
Backup is a PC User's Best Friend
DTS-L.Org: http://www.dts-l.org/

"ManiacalCrank" <anonymous@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:7dca01c4316e$60cf79f0$a301280a@phx.gbl...

>A buddy of mine recently purchased a used PC. (HP
> Pavillion, running Win XP Pro) and managed to get a hold
> of some nasty virus that was causing him some problems.
> He gave me a call to try and fix it, and I came over,
> downloaded a couple of Anti-Virus programs, ran them, and
> he has a virus that had infected quite a number of files.
> the anti-virus program would not let me do anything but
> delete a number of the affected files (one of which I am
> assuming was an audio driver) and would jam up if i tried
> to do anything BUT delete them, so delete them I did, and
> now the PC says that the audio devices are running
> properly, but there are no drivers installed. So I
> figured, no problem, I'd just go back to an earlier
> restore date and un-do whatever I did by resetting the PC
> to an earlier date, but when I tried this, the system
> restore utility refuses to go back any further than the
> date I did all the work, and if you ask it to restore
> from an earlier point, it says" detected virus such and
> such" and says it cannot use that restore point(I tried
> all the restore points all the way back to before he
> bought the PC). Ok, I give up. What in the world do I do
> now? **Note** He does not have the discs that should have
> been with the computer, and when I called the shop that
> sold him the computer, all they would say is "Oh well,
> tough luck, isn't it?" So I came to the microsoft site,
> hoping that Microsoft itself would be better sports, and
> take pity on someone not able to afford a new PC and had
> to buy a used one.

OUCH.

Points taken Mr. Solomon, and I have advised my friend to
do as you have said. Thank you for your time in answering
my post, it is greatly appreciated.

MC

You're welcome.

Sorry to have been so blunt. Nonetheless, I'm glad you advised your friend,
you did your friend a big favor.

Just one point I want to clear up. In your initial post you said you came
to the Microsoft site hoping you would have better luck with them. This
server is a Microsoft server on which newsgroups relating to Microsoft
products and services reside. While Microsoft employees do participate from
time to time, these are essentially peer to peer support groups.

Also, no one who participates on these boards would be able to resolve the
issue had it been a situation of needing to replace the operating system.
For something such as that you would need to go to Microsoft support, in the
case of replacement, (800) 360-7561. However, that only covers product
purchased at retail.

While I understand the situation with which you were faced, it was,
nonetheless an OEM situation meaning it must be resolved with the seller and
given your friend did buy this used computer from this shop, perhaps they
would give him a price break on the operating system.

Nonetheless, you and others should understand, Microsoft or any software
company could not start replacing such software our of pity or the goodness
of their heart. There's no way for them to know the claim is legitimate.
Under that scenario, anyone could call with such a claim in the hopes of
getting free software. I'm not saying that's the case here but there's
simply no way such a claim could be validated and sellers, especially shops
know they are obligated under the terms of their OEM agreements.

While your friend purchased a used machine, it was not a private party sale
and, perhaps while not technically obligated, in the mane of good business
practice and wanting to protect a customer with whom they might wish to
continue to do business in the future, I would think some relief would be in
order. Also, if the system is less than a year old, he might want to check
whatever warranty coverage the shop offered on the system as he might be
able to use that coverage as leverage to get them to supply him with a disk
or to do so at a discount.

--
Michael Solomon MS-MVP
Windows Shell/User
Backup is a PC User's Best Friend
DTS-L.Org: http://www.dts-l.org/

<anonymous@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:83ff01c431f2$37895410$a001280a@phx.gbl...

>
> OUCH.
>
> Points taken Mr. Solomon, and I have advised my friend to
> do as you have said. Thank you for your time in answering
> my post, it is greatly appreciated.
>
> MC