Ok, I'll clarify my view then
I never feel the need to HAVE to do this, my system is stable and pretty much never gives me an issues anymore. I do it to more as preventative maintenance, so that when I'm flowing and the music is happening, I don't ever have to worry about PC conflicts slowing me down. When I'm in a rut and having trouble writing music, I'll maintain the PC and do other boring studio chores. Obviously if I haven't installed any new drivers or software since the last install, then I don't need to worry about. With things like Ghost, this is a ten minute process for me, well worth the time for the piece of mind.
I think we're getting sidetracked anyway on this issue. This post really is less about routine maintenance, and more about troubleshooting immediate problems people are having with the integration of their TI's.
I'm not singling any people out here, but the people I've tried to help off the forum in private 'generally' seem to have neglected most PC related upkeeping.
- They have Bestbuy bought PC's with all the original software installed.
- They've never run a virus scan, ad-aware, spybot or the like.
- They've never checked for updated drivers or a new motherboard BIOS.
- They do not know what an IRQ is, or why it could be an issue.
I'm just trying to help people out who may or may not know about this stuff. Like I said in my first post, reinstalling the OS can seem drastic, but if it's been years since you did this, I truly believe it's worth spending the time investigating this. If it makes your system more stable and gets the TI working, then I believe it's well worth it.
The TI is not a bug ridden beast for everyone universally, so I'm trying to eliminate potential causes of bad interactions, and hopefully help people get things working as smoothly as they are for me.
I truly hope people will not bitch and bicker in this thread, I'm trying to HELP for god's sake. If people can't realize that and keep their negative comments to themselves, good luck and farewell, I've got better things to do that try and help the unappreciative.