Board decided not to be regonised grrr

Av been using this board for quiet some time, then it decided not to be recognized by windows and is now a unknown device and cant install drivers or upload in the Arduino program. I get the green light though.

Am guessing something has happened to my boot loader or the chip went. Before tho I was mixing between different verisons of the arduino program versions the last time it worked... hmmm :question

I have another board on the way and an new chip as a upgrade so it should it work with the replacement or new board at least.

Am I right? I tryed it on another computer to no success.
Is there a way to confirm the boot loader isn't working or the chips gone part from checking if its really hot and about to explode.

What do you mean by "Not Recognized By Windows?"

Does it try to install new hardware when you connect the board? Does it, not do anything and doesn't have a com port or anything in the IDE?

If you can goto the Unknown Device and uninstall the drivers, then when it reinstalls, direct it to your C:\WINDOWS\INF folder, assuming you have windows.. not sure about linux. I had to do this with one of my boards, the other worked without. The INF File is just where windows stores most of it's driver files, often when I have problems automatically installing drivers, directing the software to that file generally fixes it.

But it could also be the FTDI chip, all though I don't think it would show up as a Unknown Device, or anything at all.

yeah I tryed that I unistalled the drivers then I unplugged the arduino then plugged it back in.

windows then detected new hardware when I put it back in but the usb device but failed to recognise the device again

I have a Atmega168 Duemilanove

Am not sure what could of caused this.
I took the chip out to see what reaction I would get and it displays the same messages.

When I plug it in theres a few blinks from the tx and rx

It appears the chip doesnt work am presuming for what ever reason