System Restore Windows XP

[Mike]

Hi all

I recently lost all sound on my PC. I know that the speaker work because I can hear a slight noise when I switch them on ! Will a system restore on windows XP (home) possibly correct things. I was hit by a virus yesterday lunch time and the sound has not worked since then !!!

Any ideas.

Thanks

Mike

[Gareth]

It seems a bit drastic just to try and get your speakers working again.

If it was me, I would start by looking at the obvious stuff like, has the volume been set to minimum or are the speakers muted in Windows. Only takes a couple of seconds to check (Start -> Control Panel -> Sounds) and could save you from having one of those moments.

Next, check that the sound card is showing as working in your device manager, and that there isn't a yellow exclamation mark indicating a problem. You could also check that the drivers weren't affected by the virus (if that is what has caused the problem)... you could even just try uninstalling and re-installing the drivers in any case. Again, it's a lot less hassle than doing a system restore.

Just my

[Mike]

Originally Posted by Gareth

It seems a bit drastic just to try and get your speakers working again.

If it was me, I would start by looking at the obvious stuff like, has the volume been set to minimum or are the speakers muted in Windows. Only takes a couple of seconds to check (Start -> Control Panel -> Sounds) and could save you from having one of those moments.

Next, check that the sound card is showing as working in your device manager, and that there isn't a yellow exclamation mark indicating a problem. You could also check that the drivers weren't affected by the virus (if that is what has caused the problem)... you could even just try uninstalling and re-installing the drivers in any case. Again, it's a lot less hassle than doing a system restore.

Just my

I thought the sytem restore was just clicking a few button..... to change the system to a previous time / date and looked simple

http://support.microsoft.com/default...23120121120120

Mike

[Gareth]

I'm sure it is easy to do, but I don't see the point of messing around with changes that are going to potentially affect the whole OS when it could be something as simple as a driver

But, it's your PC, so ultimately it's your call. Go with the restore option if you prefer

[nffc]

I agree with Gareth - check drivers, connections, volume controls etc. If you're still getting problems strip drivers, restart and reinstall.

System Restore is just a panic button, it only backs up the registry and a few other things (this is from MS)

What is restored on my machine when I use System Restore and what is not?

Answer: The following are restored when you use System Restore to restore your system to a previous time using a restore point:
•Registry
•Profiles (local only�roaming user profiles not impacted by restore)
•COM+ DB
•WFP.dll cache
•WMI DB
•IIS Metabase
•Files type which are monitored by System Restore as specified in the SDK available from http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/en...extensions.asp.
The following are not restored by System Restore:
•DRM settings
•Passwords in the SAM hive.
•WPA settings (Windows authentication information is not restored)
•Specific directories/files listed in the Monitored File Extensions list in the System Restore section of the Platform SDK e.g. 'My Documents' folder.
•Any file types not monitored by System Restore like personal data files e.g. .doc, .jpg, .txt etc.
•Items listed in both Filesnottobackup and KeysnottoRestore (hklm->system->controlset001->control->backuprestore->filesnottobackup and keysnottorestore) in the registry.
•User-created data stored in the user profile
•Contents of redirected folders

From personal experience I don't even think it's a good idea, when it is used it just masks over the existing problem, and can be used to back up malware / viruses if it's infected one of the files that's backed up in the process (and your AV can't access "System Volume Information" to clean.

Also I consider it to be basically a "black hole" for hard disk space, it can take 10% of HD capacity on default settings, on a 250 GB drive that's up to 25 GB and is that really needed?

I always turn it off on my machines because I just don't see the point, we lived perfectly well in 95/98 without it, it's just not worth the extra hassle it causes.

There will be another way to fix your problem and you may well learn the cause of it, and how to fix it again, if you do it manually.

[Mike]

Thanks for the advice..........I will check the drivers and late you know how I get on

Mike

[nffc]

Which PC is it? Might be a "known issue" or something.