[Ayato Kamina]

I'm not sure what the problem is, but I blame Microsoft for being sucky. My grandmother bought a crappy old gateway laptop with XP on it (for 3 times what it was worth) from some guy she met. The whole thing was screwed up and practically unusable when she got it so she asked me to fix it. I already set up a working admin account and made it so it can do basic functions and everything last week. I've spent a lot of time on the microsoft websites help section trying different methods to fix different problem, finally got it to work with internet. But, assuming there are two versions, I think they installed the desktop version of WinXP on it.. It doesn't have any of the normal differences an XP laptop has vs an xp desktop, like it has no battery reading, and refuses to acknowledge it's a laptop and has a battery thus refuses to charge the battery, so it must be plugged in to work. I don't know the first thing to how to fix that. Also, I'm pretty sure these things come with wifi, it's not that old, it's a M405 like this one. It has no indication of capability to connect to wireless internet, so I have to keep the ethernet cable in at all times too. I'm primarily a Mac user as you might have guessed, topped with the fact that I haven't been sleeping much the past week or so, this is appearing to be a challenge. IE fails and as soon as I got it connected to the net 1000 popups started coming up, and it kept freezing going to websites and I kept having to ctrl+alt+del it, so I got safari and it's working a lot more smoothly. But every time I turned on the com or connected the net IE would turn itself on and put out 1000 popups. It has no uninstall so I tried to do it manually but it wouldn't let me, and trying to get around it deleting the files separately they just kept magically reappearing, so I found a way to cripple it and I deleted all the short cuts. Outlook also fails and I couldn't get it to work and I didn't know why so I downloaded thunderbird and it works great, except I can't send emails, I have Verizon FIOS, I'm using outgoing.verizon.net for the smtp but it's not working. Another problem is the sound, I don't hear anything, I'm not sure why, it has built in speakers doesn't it? I've already checked all the volume and sound settings, it all appears to be working fine. All the default devices are set to SigmaTel Audio, whatever that is, there is no other option. I looked in the device manager, and I saw it in there, SigmaTel C-Major Audio, with 6 other things, I'm assuming the others, or at least 5 of the others, are basic stuff that comes when you install the OS. The only thing aside from SigmaTel that has the capability of being enabled and disabled is "Unimodem Half-Duplex Audio Device" they were both already enabled. Also, forgot to mention, I tried headphones, external comp speakers, a guitar amp, and a TV (built in speaker) and still no sound. I use to use Windows before Mac and I remembered back in the day at least for anything you had to install a driver to make it work, I don't think that still applies on WinXP, the speakers I was using are Klipsch ProMedia GMX A-2.1 2 Speakers. I checked their website and around the net and there doesn't appear to be a driver, I read the manual too, there's nothing about having software to install. What should I try next? And is there a way to tell it it's a laptop so it'll charge the battery and all? (I have no OS disc, obviously, so if I have to reinstall it like I'm thinking I might, I can't, so let me know if there's an alternative to that) And if you happen to know what I should do about the smtp server thing let me know, I'm thinking I'll just call verizon. Thanks for any help you can give.

[pishbloom2]

first of all the versions of windows xp are xp home and xp pro. there is no destop version of xp.u need to go to the gateway website and look under support drivers and downloads for your model of computer. u dont have any sound because u are missing a driver.the 4 drivers people usually need are chipset, audio, video , and internet.to recharge the battery u have to plug it in for it to recharge.also check under my computer system information hardware and device mgr. any yellow question marks u see hit the thing that says update drivers.u also need to set it to block pop ups on the internet settings and if hasnt been used in a while u need to go to microsoft update and put in whatever updates u need and also a good antivirus to protect the computer.hope this helps u.

[pishbloom2]

go to support.gateway.com. look under all downloads type in the model number and it will show u all of the drivers available.heres the important ones i found for your model.i found 4 network drivers. download all and then install them. one should be the correct one.i found 1 sound and 1 display driver for your model of computer.hope this helps u.

[DoubleHelix]

I started to read your post, but I gave up half way through. Some paragraphs would help.

It's always best to format and reinstall Windows on a used computer. You just inherit the problems of the previous user. You'll spend way more time trying to "fix" the computer than it would take to just reload it.

[pishbloom2]

from what im reading he doesnt have a windows xp cd because he doesnt know what version is in the computer.yes he should start all over again and look for which version of windows he has and try to borrow the correct version and use the coa sticker thats on the computer. but burn the drivers to a cd before u do that so u will have them.

[flavallee]

A K:

You're beating your head against the wall with trying to fix a used laptop that's likely full of malware and spyware and viruses and outdated and useless programs and files.

Your best option is to obtain and burn off to a CD-R the current drviers for that laptop's devices, then format the hard drive and do a fresh install of XP.

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