It never ceases to amaze me how easy it is to get Windows into a state where only voodoo will rescue it, for values of voodoo meaning "go into the Device Manager and start deleting things at random until Windows agrees to redetect stuff again". Yeesh. And who ever came up with "System Restore" disks that won't allow you to reinstall without flushing your entire disk should be subject to the same nailfiled-to-death torture mentioned previously.