Service Pack 3 Crashes when my Dad tries to Log in, Produces No Sound

After looking through all those resources I decided to fiddle around with the sound card driver. I rolled it back, leading to the warning in following image:

[external image: Posted Image]

I continued with the process anyway, which led to this blue screen error:

A problem has been detected and Windows has been shut down to prevent damage to your computer.

If this is the first time you've seen this Stop error screen, restart your computer. If this screen appears again, follow these steps:

Check to be sure you have adequate disk space. If a driver is identified in the Stop message, disable the driver or check with the manufacturer for driver updates. Try changing video adapters.

Check with your hardware vendor for any BIOS updates. Disable BIOS memory options such as caching or shadowing. If you need to use Safe Mode to remove or disable components, restart your computer, press F8 to select Advanced Startup Options, and then select Safe Mode.

Technical information:

*** STOP: 0x0000007E (0xC0000005, 0xF565DB81, 0xF7CC6868, 0xF7CC6564)

*** ha10kx2k.sys - Address F565DB81 base at F5648000, DateStamp 3e1cd581

Beginning dump of physical memory
Physical memory dump complete.
Contact your system administrator or technical support group for further assistance.

The same error-reporting behavior took place.

After asking my sister, I can confirm that no WOW-related activity has ever taken place on this machine.

I then choose to uninstall and reinstall the driver, using the download form Sony's site. The login sound now takes place when I log into Windows, but nothing else has changed. No sound comes from browsers, Windows Media Player, VLC, nor from previewing system sounds when customizing my sound configuration (even for the said login sound).

EDIT: My sister just reported this login sound behavior prior to the driver manipulations discussed in this post. Guess I didn't change anything.

It does not appear to be a sound card or driver issue. Please read all the resources about "Where Did My Sound Go?" at Kelly's corner and try them. There are several things there to try to restore your sounds. Please tell us which ones you have tried.

I've tried everything under System Sounds are missing: except for Restore Media files.

Viewer, please perform the following procedure:

Click start -> run -> type 'cmd' and press ENTER.
At the command prompt type:

set devmgr_show_nonpresent_devices=1
start devmgmt.msc

When device manager open, click view -> show hidden devices.
Expand the Sound, video and game controllers section.
Delete everything from that section. If something tells you to restart after you delete it, do not restart yet, until all the devices have been deleted. Some of them will not disappear off the list if they require a restart.
Once you remove all those devices, restart your computer and let the sound card drivers reinstall. It should be automatic, or you may have to reinstall those drivers you downloaded. Then, see if your sound works properly.

After following your directions and rebooting, I was faced with the dialog show below:

[external image: Posted Image]

I then installed the sound driver downloaded, and all sound returned the moment the installation wizard shut down the machine. Thank you all very much!

That said, I've still got a couple of questions. In spite of the first bug resolved, would you still encourage me to give Service Pack 3 a try? If so, is there any way I could go about it that would avoid profile damage? That issue was quite similar to a previous one faced when attempting to install Service Pack 2. We gave up on SP2 until we decided to restore it to its manufactured state.

While using Sony's site, I noticed links to other drivers. Would you also encourage me to ensure the machine's drivers are up-to-date for security and stability and how would you suggest I go about that considering my experience with Windows Update? Checking W. Update, it seems to be suggesting that I install an update called "Creative Audigy Audio Processor (WDM)" which must've triggered the lack of sound as it was listed in the device manager and did not return when I deleted it to fix the bug. Sony's site only discussed a driver for "Creative Sound Blaster® Audigy". Could they possibly be two different products? W. Update also offers driver updates for "Creative Game Port" (a driver that returned after I deleted it) and the Canon iP1700 (a printer which we may or may not have been having ongoing problems with, I'll have to check), which appear to be theoretically accurate and harmless.

This is also not the only machine faced with post-malware issues. On my brother's account, our Gateway XP Media Center PC quits seconds into loading the latest versions of AIM and Windows Media Player. I have had no problems using those two programs (albeit only for troubleshooting) when in my user account on that very same machine. He's been using an older version of AIM and Winamp as a temporary work-around. What further baffles me is that on that I never touched Windows Update whilst disinfecting that machine. It's been at Service Pack 2 for as long as I could remember. Once again, thanks for your help.

You're welcome. Please open a new thread for any issues with AIM or Windows Media Player on the other computer. As for updating to SP3, there isn't a whole lot of need to do so as long as you install all your Windows updates. If you visit the Windows update website, select a "custom" scan, and if service pack 3 comes up to be installed you will have the option to ignore it and install other updates. Just install all other available critical updates and you will have everything Service Pack 3 provides. Never use Windows update to install drivers. Period. If you want to attempt Service Pack 3 again, I would suspect you won't have any further problems. Its up to you.

Viewer, I'm glad you are persistent and got this fixed. Thanks to appleoddity for coming up with the right answer

If you do decide to install SP3 again, read through this Microsoft Article first: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/950717

Also, use the Windows XP Service Pack 3 Network Installation Package for IT Professionals and Developers executable rather than Windows Update.

It would also be a good idea to Clean up your hard drive first.

Good luck, please let us know how you make out.

I think I'm gonna pass SP3 for now. Everyone just seems happy that the VAIO is running again.

Let's see, how does that go? Discretion is the greater part of valor