GrofLuigi

Don't forget replacement of system dll's - thats the No. 1 source of problems in Windows. Although the situation has improved, I still can't be sure that some inexperienced/overzealous author has got it right. GL

Why bother? Just use ExCtrlst.exe from Microsoft. GL

Try inside BIOS. Some laptops can calibrate from there (needs to be discharging for many hours). And, games usually drain more cpu usage = more electricity = less batery time. GL

That's a very dangerous way of doing it. System key usualy contains more entries than just this one. Better would be: Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00 [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\System] "RSoPLogging"=- GL

Same here, but you could play with ROUTE.EXE in prompt. Example: type "route print" in command box. GL

UserPreferencesMask is your key here. Search for it (it takes rather complex values). But I don't know what happens during install phase and whether it gets overwritten.GL

Maybe this or maybe this? If you want to close it try setting: Hope this helps.GL

It must be the driver. From your specs, I can't conclude definitely what is your mobo, but I had similar issues with Nforce2. I've used Realtec AC97 drivers successfuly from version 3.70 on, but on version 3.80, it stopped playing sounds! Everything was OK in device manager, sound control panel and everywhere else, but no sound came out of the speakers. You can imagine my frustration... Version 3.77 was the last one that worked, and I haven't tried newer versions ever since - went back to Nvidia's drivers. In your case, I'd try with uninstalling the driver, then installing ANOTHER version of the driver (newer or older), booting in safe mode... If all else fails, format C: and reinstall windows. GL