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Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsxp.general (More info?)
Need one small problem solved (pick one, any one) and would appriciate any
*helpful* replies. Mostly I've solved my own problem (or rather found an
acceptable workaround) except for the cosmetics of the situation. Here are
my issues:
* I need Windows XP Pro to quit asking me to reboot after automatically
detecting and installing new devices. Some devices windows will not ask you
to reboot, others it does --- what is the difference, and how can I modify
(assuming using the registry) it to NOT prompt me to reboot after installing
a device that it usually DOES give the reboot prompt. Example: Windows
doesn't prompt to reboot after installing a floppy disk drive, but it does
prompt you after installing a floppy disk controller. Specifically, I need
it to NOT ask when installing a new floppy disk controller.
- or -
* I need to completely disable windows from detecting new devices in a
specific category (not altogether!) -- in this case, as an alternate to the
previous question, I need windows to NOT detect new floppy disk controllers!
If I could restrict that, or even restrict the installation of a single
Hardware ID / Device Instance ID (of that floppy controller) that would be
absolutely ideal.
Why you might ask? Well rather than getting flamed for why, here's a
description of the problem and my workaround. An older system running
Windows XP Pro was installed with the standard pc HAL, and going to ACPI is
not an option (though the bios is supposedly ACPI compliant...) The BIOS
was updated and there are no chipset drivers/patches for this particular ALi
garbage. The client's reasons for the standard pc HAL are none of my
concern, and XP cannot be reinstalled on the system, also not my concern.
Something to do with some custom software. Regardless, the system works
great, except the floppy drive. There are two Floppy Disk Controllers
detected in device manager. With both detected, the machine will not detect
the Floppy Disk Drive itself. Both FDC's fight for the same resources,
which cannot be manually assigned - disabling one (either one) does no good,
as the other still complains the resources aren't available. By
uninstalling either (or both) of the problem FDC's, a rescan for new
hardware finds nothing new. I've been through numerous troubleshooting and
registry crawling in ENUM, checked for phantom devices (i.e. SET
DEVMGR_SHOW_NONPRESENT_DEVICES=1) and done many other things, all to no
avail. The simple workaround is to uninstall one ghost controller (either
one) and almost immediately the Floppy Disk Drive is detected and shows up
in My Computer. Sweet. So I through a script in the %allusersprofile%
Startup folder that runs " DEVCON REMOVE @ROOT\*PNP0700\PNPBIOS_12 " to rip
out one of the FDC's at every reboot, allowing windows to detect the actual
FDD which happens in the background with no "new hardware/reboot" prompts -
works like a charm 4/5 reboots on average. The timing is perfect on this
system that the script runs AFTER the hardware detection and BEFORE the
reboot prompt has a chance to rear it's ugly head. Sometimes though, the
timing with windows' hardware detection on startup is off, so the script
could execute WAY after the device is detected, leaving the client with a
reboot prompt for the new hardware (confusing the client, since he didn't
add new hardware, and the floppy disk is in fact working.) I added the
script to the HKLM run key instead of using the startup folder, thinking it
would execute sooner, and it does(!) but in this case, 100% of the time it
is run before the hardware detection on startup, making it pointless, and
the user is left with the reboot prompt AND the FDC screwed up. Right now,
there are multiple users of the system, and getting it through each one of
their heads to NOT restart the computer, because it *MIGHT* ask you to every
4 or 5 times you start it up, isn't an option... wouldn't be very
professional either. So that's the story. Back to helping me solve either
of the two bulleted problems, I would appriciate any help.
Thx again!
Need one small problem solved (pick one, any one) and would appriciate any
*helpful* replies. Mostly I've solved my own problem (or rather found an
acceptable workaround) except for the cosmetics of the situation. Here are
my issues:
* I need Windows XP Pro to quit asking me to reboot after automatically
detecting and installing new devices. Some devices windows will not ask you
to reboot, others it does --- what is the difference, and how can I modify
(assuming using the registry) it to NOT prompt me to reboot after installing
a device that it usually DOES give the reboot prompt. Example: Windows
doesn't prompt to reboot after installing a floppy disk drive, but it does
prompt you after installing a floppy disk controller. Specifically, I need
it to NOT ask when installing a new floppy disk controller.
- or -
* I need to completely disable windows from detecting new devices in a
specific category (not altogether!) -- in this case, as an alternate to the
previous question, I need windows to NOT detect new floppy disk controllers!
If I could restrict that, or even restrict the installation of a single
Hardware ID / Device Instance ID (of that floppy controller) that would be
absolutely ideal.
Why you might ask? Well rather than getting flamed for why, here's a
description of the problem and my workaround. An older system running
Windows XP Pro was installed with the standard pc HAL, and going to ACPI is
not an option (though the bios is supposedly ACPI compliant...) The BIOS
was updated and there are no chipset drivers/patches for this particular ALi
garbage. The client's reasons for the standard pc HAL are none of my
concern, and XP cannot be reinstalled on the system, also not my concern.
Something to do with some custom software. Regardless, the system works
great, except the floppy drive. There are two Floppy Disk Controllers
detected in device manager. With both detected, the machine will not detect
the Floppy Disk Drive itself. Both FDC's fight for the same resources,
which cannot be manually assigned - disabling one (either one) does no good,
as the other still complains the resources aren't available. By
uninstalling either (or both) of the problem FDC's, a rescan for new
hardware finds nothing new. I've been through numerous troubleshooting and
registry crawling in ENUM, checked for phantom devices (i.e. SET
DEVMGR_SHOW_NONPRESENT_DEVICES=1) and done many other things, all to no
avail. The simple workaround is to uninstall one ghost controller (either
one) and almost immediately the Floppy Disk Drive is detected and shows up
in My Computer. Sweet. So I through a script in the %allusersprofile%
Startup folder that runs " DEVCON REMOVE @ROOT\*PNP0700\PNPBIOS_12 " to rip
out one of the FDC's at every reboot, allowing windows to detect the actual
FDD which happens in the background with no "new hardware/reboot" prompts -
works like a charm 4/5 reboots on average. The timing is perfect on this
system that the script runs AFTER the hardware detection and BEFORE the
reboot prompt has a chance to rear it's ugly head. Sometimes though, the
timing with windows' hardware detection on startup is off, so the script
could execute WAY after the device is detected, leaving the client with a
reboot prompt for the new hardware (confusing the client, since he didn't
add new hardware, and the floppy disk is in fact working.) I added the
script to the HKLM run key instead of using the startup folder, thinking it
would execute sooner, and it does(!) but in this case, 100% of the time it
is run before the hardware detection on startup, making it pointless, and
the user is left with the reboot prompt AND the FDC screwed up. Right now,
there are multiple users of the system, and getting it through each one of
their heads to NOT restart the computer, because it *MIGHT* ask you to every
4 or 5 times you start it up, isn't an option... wouldn't be very
professional either. So that's the story. Back to helping me solve either
of the two bulleted problems, I would appriciate any help.
Thx again!