A "Phantom" device is normally displayed in Device Manager in a
diminished tone or grayed out. There are two distinct types of a
Phantom, one a Device that was at one time in the PC and is no
longer installed or present. Also, devices that may be powered off
will also be shown, but this is a normal condition and they should
not be removed. (Scanner, USB Thumb Drive...) Actually, the
non-powered or not currently inserted devices aren't truly phantoms
but more of a "Known to have existed, been installed but not present
in the current session or hardware profile. True phantoms are most
times duplicates or similar named components where you wouldn't
expect to see more than a single instance (Mice, Keyboards....)
"KenV" <kvatz@mindsnospampring.com> wrote in message
news:%23KZGRx0BGHA.3604@TK2MSFTNGP09.phx.gbl...[color=blue]
> Wow. A nealy instantaneous reply, and one that I wanted to hear.
>
> I added that variable to the System in the Registry under
> HKEY-CURRENT_USER, although after I did that I performed a Find and saw it
> under HKEY_USERS too--maybe it was added automatically. I then looked at
> the Device manager and didn't see any "Phantom" devices--although I'm not
> sure if I would recognize one. Also, haven't rebooted yet.
>
> Any modifications that should be made to what I've just done?
>
> Thanks again--huge help.
>
> Ken
>
>
> "R. McCarty" <PcEngWork-NoSpam_@mindspring.com> wrote in message
> news:ODoYXf0BGHA.2036@TK2MSFTNGP14.phx.gbl...[color=green]
>>A Repair install purges the Device enumeration table. The files skipped
>> at installation time are likely 3rd-party drivers not natively included
>> with
>> Windows XP. I doubt what the ASUS tech told you. The way XP works
>> doesn't track with what he told you. That's a major issue with almost all
>> Tech Support people - they tend to oversimplify or fall back on some of
>> the Urban Myths or misconceptions of how XP works internally. To see
>> what if any previous system devices are detected, add a System level
>> Environment Variable DevMgr_Show_NonPresent_Devices and set it's
>> value to 1. Open Device Manager, Click View, Tic/Check "Show
>> Hidden Devices" and then examine each category for "Phantoms". Just
>> ignore any in Sound Devices and Non Plug-&-Play as it's normal for
>> those two categories to have and need to retain Phantoms.
>>
>> "KenV" <kvatz@mindsnospampring.com> wrote in message
>> news:%23iFrsZ0BGHA.4012@TK2MSFTNGP10.phx.gbl...[color=darkred]
>>>I just replaced one ASUS Intel-basedmotherboard with a newer ASUS board
>>>which has a different chipset and drivers. Naturally it wouldn't boot
>>>onto XP SP2. So, I repaired Windows with my
Microsoft XP SP1 disk (not
>>>Reovery but Repair), skipping all sorts of files along the way that
>>>couldn't be found. After the repair, it did boot up into a barely
>>>functioning SP1 version. I then loaded all the new ASUS-Intel chipset
>>>drivers and rebooted successfully. I reactivated XP. I was unable to do
>>>an SP2 upgrade through the usual automatic MS update page, so I DL'ed the
>>>entire SP2 file from
Microsoft and upgraded successfully to SP2.
>>>
>>> Everything worked, and I dodged the bullet, right? Wrong.
>>>
>>> Now, 2 weeks later, things are starting to act up a bit. I got a USB
>>> voltage error message that has just gone away.Then, the bult-in LAN
>>> didn't work--it said the cable was disconnected, which it wasn't. That's
>>> working again, now.
>>>
>>> I then called the always helpful ASUS tech support people who walked me
>>> through everything. The tech, a very sympathetic fellow, said, "You are
>>> going to have problems eventually. I have never seen a Repair like this
>>> work permanently, usually not after a couple months. Windows is going to
>>> start looking for the old inf files from the old MB chipset. It is very
>>> difficult to get rid of them because both boards are Intel, but they are
>>> throughout your registry. You will either have to do a clean XP install
>>> after backing up all your data, or else call
Microsoft tech support and
>>> pay for about a 3-4 hour phone session while they walk you through the
>>> registry repair process to get rid of all the old board's registry
>>> entries."
>>>
>>> Is the ASUS guy right? Should I do a clean install? Is there anything
>>> written about how to do such a registry repair without having to call
>>>
Microsoft?
>>>
>>> Thanks very much.
>>>
>>> Ken
>>>
>>>
>>>[/color]
>>
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>
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