Reinstalling Boot Camp drivers in XP?

I bought a unibody macbook (2.0 GHz, 2 GB DDR3) around October last year. I installed XP pro (SP2, later upgraded to SP3), according to the Boot Camp instructions, and installed drivers from the Leopard DVD. Most things work fine, some however, are just not good enough.

For example, I can not use Skype (get bluescreen when calling), Firefox crashes incredibly often (my guess is the trackpad-drivers), the sound cracks quite often, and I cannot use my Jamvox (guitar-gadget, that should work fine). These things work just fine in Leopard, so there shouldn't be anything wrong with the hardware. At first I was OK with this, and just rebooted to do these things. Now I've just about had enough. I need Windows because of my studies, and I would like it to function properly. Not just half-assed, like it does now.

I was thinking about reinstalling the drivers from the Leopard DVD, would this help, or do I have to completely reinstall XP? Or should I try to find the newest drivers from the hardware manufacturers?
Has anybody else had similar experiences?

Any help is greatly appreciated guys

You could try re-installing the drivers. However, I've found that windows doesn't like this very much. It conflicts with the current information it has about your devices. If it's giving you this many headaches, I would say re-install windows. Make sure everything is up to date (Microsoft updates, Boot Camp, etc,) and see if that helps. You could go directly to the manufacturer's website, but that will probably take a while and cause you a few headaches. Even then, it still may not work properly for you.

EDIT: The most important thing with windows is making sure it's up to date, completely. With windows on a mac via Boot Camp, keeping Boot Camp up to date is important too. I've found that, on occasion, the updates you receive from Microsoft will actually mess with the drivers you currently have on your system. When I had a PC, I found that after a Microsoft update, some of my devices didn't work, but it's an unfortunate risk we all take when updating windows. It's important to keep windows updated, but be wary. If, after a fresh install (if you choose to go that route) and all updates are installed, your devices give you the same problem, it may have something to do with Microsoft updates.

Hope this helps.

Hi there!

To re-install Windows drivers, go to Control Panel, All or Remove Programs, and remove all of the Windows Drivers that were installed. You will be able to tell which are drivers by what they say. Some may say the word driver, and others may say the word apple and so on.

Remove those programs (don't worry if you accidentally remove something else, just use System Restore to restore it!

Once done, insert the Mac OS X install Disk 1, and re-install everything!

Regards.

Don't do that. Ignore that last one.

From inside windows, have you installed the BootCamp 2.1 update?
This updates several drivers.
Click on the BootCamp icon in the notifications area and have it check for updates.

OK..Thanks for the quick responses ...Yes, both Windows and Boot Camp are up to date. Boot camp is 2.1, and I've also downloaded the trackpad drivers that was released some months ago. The problems mentoned have been there from the beginning, except for firefox crashing, which started after the new trackpad drivers were installed. Although it may have taken me some time to notice the Skype error, as I used Ichat for awhile.

So I guess reinstalling the drivers is the way to go. And if that doesn't work I'll reinstall Windows. I'll have to wait a couple of days though, as I have a computer-based exam coming up soon

For Skype - assume you are not using the Beta version - are you using nod32? It has a known issue with Skype and will need to be disabled prior to launching Skype. For the best help with Skype, you should check out their community - here.

It could also be the sound drivers with Skype, which could also be the issue with your JamVox and the crackling in your speakers. (I have read about issues with the audio drivers for XP that were fixed with the Vista drivers and word on the street is that they will not be fixed for XP.)

Since you've got the latest Bootcamp drivers, I'm inclined to agree with squeabs. Try installing the 2.1 drivers again - he's correct though, Windows usually doesn't like that - then a fresh install may be the way to go.

The Firefox issue becomes moot with a fresh install. If you get it working without that, give us a shout back about Firefox.

edit: there are some others here with quite a bit more experience on the Win side of the machine than I have, so you might wait a day or two and see if one of them has any better suggestions.

The Skype version I used was 4.0.-something. Not exactly sure, because I uninstalled it shortly after it gave me a couple of bluescreens. But it was not a Beta version. I don't use nod32 either (I use AVG). I did use Spybot-search and destroy for a while though, so I guess it's possible that it could have messed something up? But I can't see any good reason why it should.

Yeah, I suspect the sound drivers might be causing both the skype and Jamvox errors. Jamvox doesn't give me a bluescreen by the way, it just sounds like **** and crashes. Like it would if I was using an ancient soundcard, I guess.

Alright, then I'll try the Vista drivers if reinstalling 2.1 drivers doesn't work.
And I think you're right about that the XP drivers won't be fixed. Boot Camp doesn't exactly seem to be Apple's main concern in my experience ..Though I personally feel they should put a little more effort into it, as it actually is one of the big reasons for their enormous growth in the computer market.

Anyways, I'll wait until Monday before going wild with the drivers ..Then I'll let you know what happens.

Now I have reinstalled the 2.1 drivers numerous times, and also downloaded the sound drivers from the realtek website...Everytime I reinstall the 2.1 drivers, the sound disappers..This might be because they are ment to be installed before SP3 is installed, but I don't know. However, when I install the drivers from Realtek, the audio seems to work fine (haven't tested it thoroughly yet), but the Boot Camp Control Panel disappears, and I can´t adjust the screen brightness, sound volume and so on, from the keyboard. The trackpad and everything else seems to work though. So basically, I have found drivers that work, but installing them interfers with boot camp.

Anybody have a suggestion to getting around this? I could of course resort to reinstalling windows completely, but if the 2.1 sound drivers are bad, it doesn't seem worth it.

I have the same proble on my mbp. If i install the drivers from the dvd that came with the macbook , and from the 2.1 update, there's always something that doesn't work after installing from one of them, like the sound, ethernet and the boot camp control panel that doesn't appear and i can't change the volume and brightness. If i keep installing one way after another theres always going to be trouble.
I could successfully install the sound and ethernet drivers manually from the dvd after running 2.1 update and they are working, but i can't figure how to install the bootcamp control panel.

There's anyone that could solve this problem?
thanks in advance