62 replies to this topic

[ClissaT]

hahahaha quote: On the bottom of your laptop there should be a metal plate or a sticker with a serial number .............. that's an understatment! There are 8 stickers most with some sort of serial number all to do with the machine & it's licences plus 2 from the technician who replaced the Hard drive 2yrs ago. Anyway I hope it the serail number of the machine itself:- Y5289603K Also while hunting for that info in it's handbook I found this which I'd written in the back:- sound:- Realtek AC97 Audio drivers ALCXWDM.sys ver 5.1 5830 In the deep dark recesses of my memory I think that is a driver that has been not working since the very beginning so may not be what's needed here.

[rshaffer61]

Take a look at these two pictures and see if one of the stickers you find is close to one of these. The number you provided does not come up as a valid serial number.

[ClissaT]

take your pick 2 here & another in next post

Edited by tashi, 19 October 2011 - 11:30 PM.
Removed JPG

[ClissaT]

removed photo of serial numbers

Edited by ClissaT, 19 October 2011 - 10:59 PM.

[rshaffer61]

OK I'm not having much luck finding the drivers since there are so many different models of the M60 so I'm going to try a different way.

Download DriverMax and have it scan your system. It will open their website with all the out of date drivers you can update. With the free version you can update only 2 drivers per day so if you have a lot of them it will take a few days to get everything updated. I have been using it for about 4 months now and like it better then any other utility out there for keeping my drivers up to date.

[ClissaT]

2 per day would take about 30days!!!! I hope it's easier to use than the ones I currently have installed! I already have programs that are supposed to work silently updating those sorts of things however I can't find them (goodness knows where they ended up within the system). I am baffled by drivers & can never tell what goes where or what name is for what. There seems to be no commonsense to their names. Is there a way to reinstate processes that have been stopped/killed/deleted from the start up process list? There must be a complete list of all possible taks that could start during the startup process. That's what I was trying to lighten off (speed up start up time) when I stopped/killed/deleted the process that showed on the taskbar as a speaker icon. I was always told it was ok to stop a process if you want because you can always turn it back on!! Well how is that done?

[terry1966]

for your own benefit ClissaT delete the pic of your windows os key immediately and never share it again on the internet, it's the 2nd pic in this post :- http://forums.whatth...h...st&p=754595

[ClissaT]

OK got the DriverMax installed. But have questions that the website doesn't answer. By the way I'm glad I spent the last 40mins reading their website. It did enlighten me somewhat, however it led to yet more questions. Firstly the list it generated can't possibly be a complete list of all drivers in my PC because it hasn't listed any of the Realtek drivers like the one I mentioned in an earlier post. how do I match what this software has listed against what I already have in this PC? how do I know which updated & downloaded driver is for which old driver? how do I install it? Do I just throw it at the system via the 'install drivers' wizard & hope the wizard puts it in the right place? I think this is where my relationship with the previous driver update softwares has stalled.

[ClissaT]

for your own benefit ClissaT delete the pic of your windows os key immediately and never share it again on the internet, it's the 2nd pic in this post :- http://forums.whatth...h...st&p=754595

Thanks for the heads up Terry1966. Have I got that right now? Yeah I am a bit concerned about putting such info out in public. Anway I think rshaffer61 has already seen what was needed. I really should remove the other one too.

rshaffer61 do I need to keep that other serial number image up in my post or can I remove it now?

cheers

[terry1966]

the serial numbers don't really matter much but with that key someone else could use it to install an operating system on their pc causing you no end of problems.

[ClissaT]

OK now I'm REALLY confused I worked out how to use the software & chose a driver to update & was given a choice of 14 to pick from all with the same name!!!!! far out brussel sprout Is it just hit & miss as to whether the one I choose is the right one? Also the one I really need is not listed anywhere that I have discovered yet. I have read the whole operation log so far created by DriverMax & it doesn't list the driver my PC wants to reinstall. More thought & investigation required there me thinks. (by the way is this software yet another thing running fulltime bleeding the finite resources of my already over burdened & very slow PC?) I apologize for having this little rant but I'm getting a bit deflated at this point. I've been working fulltime on this PC for almost 3wks already (apart from going to work at odd hours & getting very little sleep inbetween) so that a small item of malware can be cleaned off & then to try to free up some volume & speed up the old beast a bit. I'm racking my brains trying to think laterally because I understand that the generous person helping me only has limited info to work with & I'll bet pretty much every computer in the world is a bit different. The DriverMax is a nice piece of kit that no doubt I will be able to benefit from but it doesn't seem to be solving the most pressing problem of getting sound back. I REALLY need my voip phone to work & it does, except that I can't hear the words because the speakers aren't working! So apart from anything else I will try to update some drivers every day until they are all renewed.

[ClissaT]

the serial numbers don't really matter much but with that key someone else could use it to install an operating system on their pc causing you no end of problems.

Good point there Terry1966. I'll certainly be a lot more carefull with my new PC (when I finally get it in about 6mths time)

But I wonder if anyone would *really* want a copy of an almost 8yo OS that's about to go completely defunct & for which there are no updates available anymore if you haven't already installed SP2.

[paws]

Hi ClissaT
I dont want to muddy the waters, or detract from the good advice that you are receiving here..... however you said:

Good point there Terry1966. I'll certainly be a lot more carefull with my new PC (when I finally get it in about 6mths time)

But I wonder if anyone would *really* want a copy of an almost 8yo OS that's about to go completely defunct & for which there are no updates available anymore if you haven't already installed SP2.

Actually ClissaT there are lots of folks who would be happy to steal your Windows XP operating system Product key...... because that might enable them to install Win XP on a computer .......and then update it by installing latest service packs..... once they have SP 3 installed they can update the operating system using Windows update and Microsoft have indicated that they will support Win XP with Security updates until 2014....... so Win XP is far from defunct....

This could create difficculties for you as its possible your machine could fail a Windows validation check (performed by Microsoft) due to the key being used on another machine......and this could show up as a message on your machine, indicating your Windows was not correctly licenced but offering to rectify the matter for you in return for a large (relatively)sum of money! ) it could also prevent you installing some updates and this could increase your machine's vulnerability to attack or infections... If the key had been stolen and used by a thief, then this could also make it difficult to reinstall Windows, and update it, (as its sometimes necessary to do to deal with certain types of problems.....
so all in all it was good advice and very helpful of the good folks here on WTT forums for you to keep your Windows product key out of sight, so to speak.
Regards
paws

[ClissaT]

thanks paws for explaining that. I've taken those photos down now anyway. Still not sure about the drivermax. I tried t oinstall 2 drivers today but they don't seem to have ended up installed. I just did a check again & all still have quite old dates & most out of date. None I installed are listed. Also drivermax has 3-4 different ways of checking the drivers & each produces a differnt list. Then there is the problem of some lists calling them by their names whilst other lists call them by a numerical name with no way to cross reference. They do seem to be grouped into types but still hit & miss to cross reference. However the one my computer wants to reinstall is not listed anywhere. I did a search for it online via drivermax & got a partial match list of 50+ drivers! none had a name that I could say was anywhere near what I needed. I still have blue tooth sound so I think I will buy some free standing blue tooth speakers & install them. It's all too hard. I think I will leave it for now then. Each time I restart this machine it gets slower. Something is soaking up the space or data. I'll try again in a week or so with a new thread. I think I know why the slowness is happening but no idea if it can be fixed. I have spent far too much time on this problem to the detriment of the rest of my life. Things around the house have got way out of control & I have not prepared for certain important things happening this coming weekend. I have to let it go for now. Thanks to all who have helped or thought about a solution. cheers & ciao for now.

[rshaffer61]

You describe symptoms that may point to a possible infection. Drivermax should scan your system and then open a new tab in your browser with a list of drivers that are both up to date and those that need updating. Anything with a red X needs to be updated.