Forum problem? / "New" Hardware issue

[Rui 'Trovatore' Pires]

Arrighty - two threads in one, so as not to waste the forum's bandwidth too much. They're both small things, anyway.

THREAD 1 - Forum problem?
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I often chose to be notified of replies on certain threads - namely threads I reply to, threads I start and threads I bookmark. Plus I'm marked for notification on new topics on boards 2, 3 and 5. So far so good... but I don't always get e-mail notification. I really don't know why. Some threads I get notified about, others I just get no e-mail. I was just wondering, has anyone else had this (admiteddly small) problem? Is it my fault? Or something that can be fixed?

THREAD 2 - "New" Hardware Issue
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Simply put, since a couple of days back (no idea why), everytime my computer boots up it shows a window of those Windows XP Wizards that go "New Hardware Found", and wants to begin installing it. I have no idea what this hardware is, but am hoping it's the CD drive that it mysteriously stopped recognizing some weeks ago. Well, basically I just wanted to know - is there any way to know what "new hardware" is the thing talking about?

[BOYD1981]

opening up control panel and going into System, Hardware and then Device Manager (or atleast that's how you do it in 2k) might shed some light on the hardware problem, there should be a device with a yellow triangle next to it.

[Rui 'Trovatore' Pires]

Hmmm... how odd. It says "Unknown device", filed under "Other devices". Properties say "The device is not properly installed" and prompts me to reinstall the device's "controllers" (sorry, my PC is Portuguese and I'm translating on the fly)... and when I say I want to, I get treated to the same screen I see when my peecy boots.

[BOYD1981]

ah, the dreaded "Other" devices, you could either let it carry on with the install and see if it asks for a certain file then check for it on a site like www.driversguide.com, or if you still suspect it may be the cd drive (although if the cd drive is listed in device manager then it probably isn't), take it out of the pc and see if you get the same install wizard when XP boots.

also, i found this through google http://support.microsoft.com/kb/298837/en-us it's entitled "How to use Registry Editor to identify an unknown PCI device"

[Rui 'Trovatore' Pires]

Hmmm, no, the drive is still listed in the manager, it probably isn't... shucks. And when I try and let it install, it simply tells it couldn't do it because it couldn't find the necessary software... hmm, I may just go to the store on this one. Eventually. When my remaining CD drive threatens to go, too.