i recently formated my main harddrive (c:/) partiant (sp?) and REINSTALLED windows on my hp pavilion a250n id say it went pretty well but i cannot listen to music because the sound card isnt installed or something and i cant watch dvds because there isnt a decoder. is there software i could d/l or buy to solve this problem? my other problem is my ext hd which is made by maxtor and is 120 gigs isnt acting like a hard drive as i cannot access it thru my computer any ideas on how to do this?o/s is?you MAY need to the drivers for your sound card they should be on your recovery disks under audio..does you ext hard-drive show up in the bios ...USB pnp...>http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=309000  for  dvd software player>http://www.cliprex.com/how do i look in bios? the device managed stuff all says its working i copyed the files onto another comp at formated it in ntfs or whatever its called (my main comp is ntfs) but it stil wont work. insight? thanks for the helpYou will have to install drivers for each componenent.Rre: Maxtor ext. HD.    I and two of my buddies have had the same probelm with the Maxtor HD.   This is whhat we have found.  If you are using XP and if you havea USB 2 installed and running, try this.

Turn off you ext hard drive and disconnect the USB 2 cable before you boot up.

After Windows XP has booted up, plug in the USB cable, and turn on the Maxtor and wait for XP to recognize the presence of another mass storage device.  If it does you are home free and You can use the ext HD with Windows explorere or My Computer.  When you are finished with the Maxtor, got thru the shut down proceedure  BEFORE shutting down XP.

After this, you should be able to turn on the Maxtor at any time  AFTER booting up.  

If this does notr work, you may have tore-install the maxtor drivers.    Good Luck   i downloaded the decoder and it still wont play dvds. how can i find out what i need to install to enable sound? the hd method didnt work EITHER any other suggestions?type dxdiag in the run box this will test for sound. and tell you more..and  go into the bios and see if the sound is enabled.if onboard that is..also is you pnp enabled?