How to diagnose non-working HW drivers?

On my WinXP Home SP2 system (Dell Dimension 8400) I have three "Device Manager" devices that show as "exclamation mark" "not working" devices.

1. Microsoft Kernel System Audio Device (sysaudio.sys)
2. Microsoft WINMM WDM Audio Compatibility Driver (wdmaud.sys)
3. USB Mass Storage Device (USBSTOR.SYS)

Coincidentally, a newly-installed SB X-Fi sound card and all external USB disk drives (and USB key drives too) are not working. The USB drives were recognized before a recent malware infection and cleanup (waiting for another round of responses over on Malware Removal forum, but other than these HW issues I think I'm clean now).

How can I troubleshoot and/or update these drivers so that the sound and USB systems will work again?

I'm at the end of my wits trying to figure out what to do to fix these problems.

TIA for any help, RTFM's or url's you can point me to.

dinogeek

 

you could try a couple of things. either try removing the drivers from device manager, rebooting, and see if they reload themselves, and fix the problem. and/or d/l and install the drivers from dell (link below).

when did you install the sb card (before or after the infection)? either way, i'd probably remove the software, then remove the sb card. try to get your onboard audio working 1st (if you want). then try to get your sb card working again.

http://support.dell.com/support/dow...D=DIM_PNT_P4_8400&os=WW1&osl=en&catid=&impid= <-- Dell Dimension 8400

http://support.dell.com/support/dow...-1&impid=-1&formatcnt=1&libid=3&fileid=122481 <-- Analog Devices ADI 198x Integrated Audio

as for the usb, i can't find anything right now (i don't know if they are generic drivers).

edit - you'd be surprised as to how much damage malware infections can be (random things not working). i recently just finished cleaning up my nephew's laptop, and it still wasn't right (sluggish, and windows "security center" wasn't right, some things not selectable). i wound up doing a clean install, and it's all good now. - sos

 

After the infection. The previous card (the original that came with the system, SB Audigy2 ZS) was actually causing me BSOD's on normal startup -- or at least some drivers associated with it were causing the BSOD. Removing the old card at least cured the BSOD's so I could finish the malware cleanup. I bought a new SB X-Fi card to replace the old one after trying and failing miserably to re-install the old card.

Thanks for the links, but I can't use the on-board audio because this system came with the normal audio ports not installed (no front or rear-panel ports at all) because it came with the SB Audigy2 upgrade.

Thanks for the advice. I'm trying desperately not to have to re-install because there is such a large amount of installed (and used) software on this machine. However, I'm rapidly running out of options.

I will try the uninstall of the non-working drivers and see where that gets me.

Thanks again for your advice.

dinogeek