20th August 2002

Not that long ago, I answered a question from someone who installed a new motherboard in Windows XP that wasn't detected properly. Although we answered the question, Lockergnomie Ian Richardson came up with another way to fix such a hardware issue. Ian says, "(1) In the System Control Panel, go to Hardware Profiles. (2) If "Original Configuration" is listed, rename it to "First One." (3) If there are any others (hardware profiles) listed, rename those to "Second One," "Third One," etc... (Make a note as you go!) (4) If there was only one configuration listed, copy the one now called "First One" and call it "Second One." (5) Shut down and restart the computer. (6) When asked which hardware configuration to use, select the last one - "None of the above." (7) When Windows finishes its messing about, you'll end up with a new hardware configuration entry called "Original Configuration." (8) If you need to go back to the old setup, you still can. (9) Once you're happy with the new setup, delete the old hardware configurations." Great alternative, Ian. For anyone that wants to get to their hardware profiles in Windows XP, you can get there two different ways. One way is to click the Start button, right- click the My Computer icon, and choose Properties. Go to the Hardware tab and click the "Hardware Profiles" button. The other way is to go to the Control Panel, and if you are in Classic View, then just double-click System. Now just go to the Hardware tab and click the "Hardware Profiles" button. Essentially, what this tip does is help force your operating system to redetect its hardware... much in the same way that technicians used to delete almost all of the devices in the Device Manager and reboot in Windows 9x. The major difference between doing it the Windows XP way or the Windows 9x way is that you can always go back to the original configuration (where it didn't always work) in Windows 9x. With the Windows XP way, at least as far as I know of, there is NO going back.