Another day, another XP reinstall

I broke a record yesterday, I reinstalled XP 4 times in one day. Now if Microsoft had done their job properly, I wouldn't have had to. A certain person who shall remain unnamed (see previous comments for yesterday) needed to reinstall XP because the sound wasn't working. After much reassurance that the existing files wouldn't be wiped, I got them to agree to reinstall.
Now, reinstallation is normally a simple affair. First, and most importantly, can the PC get back online after the reinstall? This is normally just a case of checking dial up modem drivers, network card, or USB device. Then after the reinstall, all other drivers can be downloaded one by one.
"What device do you have to get online?" I asked.
"It's just a modem," came the reply.
"How does it plug in? Is it a network cable or USB?" I enquired further.
"It's USB."
"Are you sure?" (can you see where this is going?)
"I'm sure it's USB."
"In which case, have you got the disk for it?"
"Yes, it must be the AOL disk."

Guess what. It wasn't. After double checking the modem is connected via Ethernet, and then sending the network driver via dial up, we got talking to the modem. It still wouldn't connect, but after plugging the phone line back in, we were online again, and reinstallation of AOL to talk to the LAN sorted it.
There, I didn't mention names, OK Dad?