Can't install drivers... *._exe generated errors..

I’m sorry about posting a computer question here, but I wouldn’t do it if I weren’t desperate!
I formatted my computer some days ago and now I can’t install any of my drivers from CDs. **It gives me errors like “install.exe has generated errors” ** and doesn’t go further than that. I installed a driver from a floppy, and I can install programs (the few I’ve tried) from CDs. I can also install things downloaded from the internet.
Here are details about my computer that might be helpful:

The problem with *.exe crashing started to happen right after my format, before the internet was physically attached to my computer (cord wasn’t plugged in).

The drivers that didn’t work are my drawing tablet, my graphics card and my DVD burner.

The driver that did work is my network card which was installed from a floppy disk.

The downloaded programs that worked are Zonealarm and AdAware.

I installed Norton Antivirus from a CD sort of sucessfully. (meaning the install wasn’t sucessful, but I didn’t get the same type of error)

The computer is a 1.2GhZ Athlon with an ASUS motherboard. I have two hard drives (set up as master and slave) and I formatted both drives on Saturday in NTSC. I’m using Windows 2000.


Also, while we’re at it, how do I get infected by viruses so quickly? Whenever I have my firewall down for a little while Welchia crawls its way right back onto my computer (format after format after format). I have a firewall now, and there is a patch, so it’s not a problem, but I’m curious how the virus can so persistantly find me,
I appreciate your help, all of you!
Thank you!
-Jen

Why do viruses get in so quickly? Because windows su-- is badly designed. It sounds like a virus, but if every time you get the same message comes up with installing a dirver, then I don’t know. Try uninstalling the old drivers. http://www.webuser.co.uk/cgi-bin/forums/showflat.pl?Cat=&Board=PC&Number=167072&page=5&view=collapsed&sb=5&o=93&part=

Also, rather than use norton, I would recomend AVG.

I also recommend AVG. Its free and works. Also ZoneAlarm is a free firewall that also works well for me.

Contrary to popular opinion I don’t think the virus problem is inherent in Windows. I literally have never had a virus on my computer. My friends and family get them all the time and they all do the same things:

  1. They are using P2P (file sharing) software
  2. They open email messages from people they do not know
  3. They click on banner ads that are disguised as Windows message boxes (the ones you often see on the web that say your computer may be vulnerable to infection).

You should be able to download updated drivers for you graphics tablet, video card, etc from the manufacturers web site. If you don’t know the web site URL just search in Google for the name of the manufacturer and the word drivers.

Good luck…

If the drivers you have were setups that you saved to a CD, it’s possible that they were incorrectly backed up, causing the exe problem. Other than that, searching for the new drivers is a good start. Also, make sure you run Windows update to patch any other holes you might have.

Imasquare says:
[people get viruses because]

  1. They are using P2P (file sharing) software
  2. They open email messages from people they do not know
  3. They click on banner ads that are disguised as Windows message boxes (the ones you often see on the web that say your computer may be vulnerable to infection).

I’m guilty of most of those - but not this time! I’ve only gone to a couple of websites since the format (my mail, this one, MSNIM) and as for opening strange E-mails; I just wanted to know how to enlarge my member naturally! Whoops… I’ve said too much… and I don’t even have a member!

But seriously, I haven’t opened suspicious E-mails, I probably didn’t click on any banner ads and I’ve only went to a couple sites since the format. Welchia has it in for me. It finds me without fail when I’m not protected.

The drivers not installing can’t be a virus because it happened after a total format and before the internet was hooked up the the computer.

Everything worked last time I installed Windows. Installing the drivers from the internet would likely work, but this seems to indicate a bigger problem with the computer that I’d like to solve now that I have nothing to lose (I just formatted)

The drivers were bona fide originals that I got with the burner/tablet/graphics card.

Are they specifically Windows 2000 drivers? Silly question but worth asking.

If your internet connection is working, go to the manufacturer’s website and pull the latest drivers for your OS.

Actually, first thing first - throw a data CD of any kind into your DVD drive and see if you can browse the CD, open any simple .TXT files or whatnot that it contains, etc. If you have problems with that then something may be hosed with the optical drive (either hardware or the basic driver for it - given the you were able to reinstall Windows I’d guess some sort of driver issue).

Nope - the table and graphics card worked when I had Windows 98. I’ve been known to format a lot (because the computer has had lots of different problems) and the drivers have always worked except this time.

I have two DVD drives, but both gave me the same errors.
I formatted again since. I’ll talk about that in my next post.

Gah! No wonder! Windows 88 is basically Windows 3.1/dos?Xerox, with a fancy shell, and Win Y2K problem is basically WinNT (NothingThing) Of course the drivers don’t work. Take the parts, write down the numbers, and download the win200 drivers. When it asks you where they are, don’t point to the CD, point to where you downloaded and unzipped the new drivers. If you can no longer get on the intrnet, due to how windows gets infected with viruses, go to a friend with a cd burner and download the drivers.

<b>Update</b>
I formatted the computer yet again with the naive hopes of it working this time.

Now it’s even more screwed up! On the fourth floppy disk of the Windows 2000 installation I get a blue screen which says:

“Stop: c0000221 unknown hard error
\ystemroot\system32
t.dll.dll”

That’s a new one to me, but I got it twice while trying to install Windows from the floppies yesterday.

Does it sound like a motherboard problem to anyone? I’ve had an unusual amount of problems in the last 3.5 years with this computer. I’ve had RAM go bad, constant "boot disk error"s where I have to restart until it can read the boot disk, "press a key to restart"s upon bootup, lots of blue screen related to the ntoskrnl while I’ve had Windows 2000,

I appreciate the help from you all - thank you!

But the drivers have all worked in the past (both with Windows 98 and 2000) and now that they don’t, it seems to indicate a bigger problem with the computer. Now that I get this blue screen (my last post) I’m more sure that some hardware is messed up.

Okay, I’ve fixed things by doing another format. I don’t know what the problem was, but I’m not going to rock the boat.:wink:

Thanks for your help!

You are quite welcome. Valgard, OhFace, take a bow.