Vista problem, constantly reinstalling drivers

[Shorty]

Hey guys, I'm having a bit of a problem with Vista. It's only a small problem but it's starting to annoy me and I was wondering if there's a quick fix.

 

Basically every time I start up my PC, it installs all my drivers, audio, video, network card, etc.. It's getting a bit annoying because it slows down startup. It also seems to mess up Windows Media Center by forcing me to scan for my TV card each time. On top of that it has to make a new internet connection each time it reinstalls my network card drivers, meaning I have to reenter my security key etc. and am not online straight away.

 

As I said it's just a small thing, just waiting about 30-60 seconds sorts it out, but ideally I'd like to have the drivers stay installed.

 

Any help would be appreciated, cheers -

[Guest Jordan]

Thats a weird one. I know this sounds obvious, but have you googled this?

[Shorty]

Yeah I tried, its one of those things I've found quite hard to google, as in it gives a lot of stuff about installing drivers etc but not much about my specific issue. It's strange, it doesn't happen every time anymore, but it still happens quite regularly. It's irritating because it slows down the boot process a fair bit.

[Ant-Shimmin]

Run Virus Scanner

 

Check System Settings

 

Run Registry File Checks (However DO NOT ALTER THE SYSTEM PROCESSES ON START UP WHAT EVER YOU DO)

 

If all else fails re-install Vista after backing up files, What I did last night and it worked a treat Takes about 45 Minutes...

[Shorty]

Well I don't really feel like reinstalling vista... I already ran ccleaner and defragged. I still get everything reinstalled almost every time I boot. It's ridiculous, I must have installed my network adapter about 40 times since Windows pops up with an "installing device driver software" message every time I start up. I know what to turn off and not turn off in msconfig's startup window, so I don't think it's anything there. Can't imagine a virus being a problem, or that I have one....

 

Argh! And for some reason my product key doesn't qualify me for free support from M$.

 

I don't have enough spare HDD space to backup for a clean reinstallation

 

Nobody else seen this problem?

[Guest Jordan]

After searching on google for a good 2 hours (I shit you not) my search is utterly fruitless Shorty.

 

It seems like a really dodgy thing, one file must have messed up on install. You can just do a repair install instead of a format, it takes far less time and should sort the issue.

[Ant-Shimmin]

I did what Jordan did, it's the dogs bollocks.....

[Shorty]

I appreciate the effort Jordan. I tried a repair already, even the repair for startup problems. It even found an error, and fixed it. But still it occasionally happens. :/

[Ant-Shimmin]

I appreciate the effort Jordan. I tried a repair already, even the repair for startup problems. It even found an error, and fixed it. But still it occasionally happens. :/

 

If this problem persists I implore you to do install a clean copy of Windows on your PC...

 

It takes less than an hour but is brilliant and well worth it, It replaces the system files and keeps everything from your old installation of Vista including Music and Videos.

 

Just transfer what you want and delete the rest, I did this and PC has never functioned any better, Drivers and Updates install quicker than you can say "Whoever hates Vista is a mac Fan"

[Shorty]

Yeah I know you're right and that would work it's just... well I only just installed Vista on this machine a month or so ago anyway I had to back up a lot of stuff onto my 2nd and external HDDs then. I also recently set up my g/f's new laptop and formatted her old one. I'm just fed up with freshly installing Windows And you always lose something, one folder, one game, something you forgot about :P

 

But I know it makes sense so if I want to fix this little issue, that may be my only option.

[Shino]

Have you seen the Event Log? Look in it for something weird.

 

Unfortunately, this page is one of the first on Google about this problems.

[McPhee]

Best solution - Reinstall Windows and create a second partition. Install all you're programs to c:/, create a system back-up and then use the second partition for everything else. Then just use the back-up if you're system goes tits-up again, saves a good couple of hours

[Ant-Shimmin]

Yeah I know you're right and that would work it's just... well I only just installed Vista on this machine a month or so ago anyway I had to back up a lot of stuff onto my 2nd and external HDDs then. I also recently set up my g/f's new laptop and formatted her old one. I'm just fed up with freshly installing Windows And you always lose something, one folder, one game, something you forgot about :P

 

But I know it makes sense so if I want to fix this little issue, that may be my only option.

 

Well you know what to do buddy

 

Won't take you too long

[Ryan]

I get this problem when I switch on my printer.

[Jimbob]

Only ever had a driver issue once and it was solved, was a sound card and network error i had. Just re-installed them and everything was ok and have had no problems since.

 

In your case, just re-install a clean version of Windows or take it to a PC expert to look at, should be ok after that.

[Shorty]

On Windows XP you used to be able to reinstall Windows over the current installation. It basically installed all the Windows files anew, but without getting rid of any of your files. Can you still do that on Vista?

[Guest Jordan]

Thats a repair install, but the reason might be within your registery or anything. A repair install wouldn't solve the issue.

[rowee]

I have the exact same problem and thought it was just a "feature" of Vista at first, and then a bug that will be fixed. I searched google high and low for an answer but couldn't find anything.

 

Almost everytime I reboot it reinstalls the tv tuner card and sound card drivers. So annoying as sometimes I have to restart the computer after the sound driver is installed to get sound.

 

It's got to the stage where I simply keep it in hibernation when I turn it off. It's so much easier! It's been like this for 6+ months now.

 

Anyhow I'm just reinstalling now to see if it changes anything, will keep you posted!

[rowee]

Just an update, and it still keeps reinstalling every few times after a reboot.

[Shorty]

Irritating, isn't it? I haven't resorted to reinstalling yet. It seems to happen less often now, but still occasionally. Perhaps it's due to having a TV Tuner card? That's something we have in common and one of the things that keeps reinstalling.

[rowee]

I was thinking the same thing. What type of tuner do you have? The tuner card is a 2-3 year old DVICO Fusion card. The sound drivers are onboard realtek hi-definition drivers on a ASUS motherboard.

 

I was thinking the problem maybe related to the motherboard - something is obviously telling vista the configuration has been changed so Vista decides to reinstall the drivers. I installed the latest BIOS but it didn't help.

 

This is so frustrating!