Look in Device Manager under "Computer". If it's ACPI, let's change it to "Standard PC":

1. Reinstall Windows 2000 from within Win2K (run Setup on the CD) and (on reboot) press F5 when you see "Setup is inspecting hardware..." and select the Standard PC HAL when prompted. Continue by using the Repair > Fast Repair (no Recovery Console and no Emergency Repair Disk) method. This is the technique I recommend.

2. An easier, but less sure fix is to change the driver for "Computer" in Device Manager to Standard PC and restart. Go to the Driver tab and click Update driver > Next> Display a list...> Show all...> Standard PC. Although this technique works for me, I have heard of systems that will not restart when it's used. A word to the wise...

Afterward, go to Control Panel > Power Options > APM and enable APM.

Bill

: I have a Microsoft Sidewinder Precision 2 USB joystick that sometimes works and sometimes doesn't. Currently, it is not shown in the Game Controllers dialogue box eventhough it was there yesterday. When I uninstall the device, then reinstall it, I make it to the point where is asks me to plug it in to test it, then it stops because it is not being recognized by the system. It doesn't seem to matter if I plug it into the USB ports on my mobo, or into the ports on my keyboard. What bugs me is that it worked fine before, and I've changed nothing on my computer since.

: There are no driver or IRQ conflicts shown. I'm running Win2000Pro, on a P4-1.8Gig, 512DDR, GF4Ti4400, SBLive5.1.

: Is this a driver thingy, a defective joystick, or what? What do I need to look for to troubleshoot? I've been playing around in the Computer Management console, and the Device Manager but with no success.

: Any suggestions?

: Thanks,
: Gene