I don't know where to begin. I have a gateway EV500, 63 MB or Ram, 7GB. Intel(R) 82810E Graphics controller. I am having many different problems so I went to McAfee site and did an optimize. This is what it came up with, The "unknown device" has a problem The ACPI IRQ holder has a problem The PCI system management bus has a problem the secondary IDE controller (single fifo) has a problem The communication port (com !) device driver needs to be reinstalled. 32 bit memory errors error messages that I have had so far include illegal operation and error loading SETUPAPI.DLL I have tried going to system and removing the unknown device however it comes back after rebooting. I went in and deleted the unknown devices and they were gone, until I rebooted and then they were back. The found new hardware message did come up but could not find the drivers. I pointed to the C:/WINDOWS/OPTIONS/CABS and still no driver found. I don't understand this because it recognizes my printer and scanner alright and I have nothing else hooked up. As for reinstalling the communication port driver and the PCI enumerator driver I have to be honest I don't know how. Most of these things I have never had to do, I am willing to learn. I have also followed the steps below Start > Settings > Control Panel > System > Device Manager - Click on the plus next to Ports - Select COM1 - Click "Properties" - Click the "Drivers" tab - Click "Update Drivers." Windows will search for the appropriate drivers. Same process goes for the PCI enumerator driver. Can someone PLEASE help?

"As for reinstalling the communication port driver and the PCI enumerator driver" This combo is most likely your winmodem and needs the driver package for that modem. If it worked before then there should be an .inf file in 'C:\WINDOWS\INF' or 'C:\WINDOWS\INF\OTHER', for the new hardware wizard to work from. If not there, open Windows Explorer and look for a folder with the modem's brand name or model name, point the new hardware wizard to that folder to look for drivers. Install may take a 2 stage process, one to install the "PCI Enumerator" so windows can see there is a Modem to be installed next. Weird but,,,,, that's how some WinModems are. Any Gateway techs out there know the rest of the setup probs?

I'd go with the winmodem fix that tinkerbong talked about above but obviously that can't be the reason for all of the problems you are having. Gateway is famous for major total catastrophes like this and for the COM port problem good luck. They're a bit-- to diagnose. Many times it's something that the user did unwittingly (i.e., installed a new piece of hardware that Windows doesn't have the .inf file for to load into the motherboard's chipset properly) or perhaps you may want to look inside the computer to make sure all your cables are firmly connected properly and the cards are seated properly. Or maybe you installed some software recently that went awry during the install process?? In any event if everything else fails you may want to consider just reloading windows (you didn't mention if you had Win ME but I've seen some of these errors crop up in it also.) Obviously back up your data first. It would be best to do a clean install but there's a lot involved and it's not something to discuss in a message board.

Bonnie...I have worked on some Gateway machines and in my experience, yes, Mike is correct, there seems to be failure issues of various kinds that seem to crop up and are very difficult to figgure out... I suggest you get your data off, back it up however you can, find all your program CD's that you need, wipe the HD, fdisk, reformat, etc...and reinstall everything... The problem here is getting all of the Gateway drivers back on...some of the drivers for "common items", like a soundcard which you would think you can get from the soundcard web site, you have to get from Gateway...too much proprietary stuff... If you don't have it, contact Gateway and get the repair CD for your specific serial number of machine...this CD will have all the drivers on it you need, and they should also be able to provide a CD with the OS on it also... Hope this helps Steve