25 replies to this topic

[8210GUY]

As you can't get the system online, and the obvious age of the system, what I suggest is download Everest (great software, but only for older systems, newer systems can use newer alternates for the same thing), and transfer it via thumb drive or similar, install and run it on the problem system, then save a report, and copy that back over to the working system, then you can click the links within it to be taken to the drivers pages for the items that have links, then you can download them and transfer back over via thumb drive to install on the troubled system.

Note that given the age of the system, and this software, some links may not be current anymore, and many of the links may only take you to the general drivers page for an item, when this happens you will need to navigate to the specific driver using the info supplied by the report, as it will name the actual device that requires a driver, nvidia is an example, it tells me what my device is, but can't take me directly to that page, I would need to navigate to the driver manually using the details from the report to actually get the required driver.

Should you have problems finding any of the drivers for your devices using this report, you can upload the report here as an attachment (it's to big to copy and paste) should you need, and we can help find the drivers you require.

[yaniz]

Hello again, guys! Now, this is weird. Made a fresh xp installation (without installing chipset, video, audio and LAN drivers) on partition c: and everything worked like a charm. Even the internet connection was established. Network adapter is visible in Device manager. No question marks in Device manager. Hidden devices are "Non-plug and Play Drivers" and "Storage volumes" only. Visible icons "Local Area Connection in Control Panel > Network Connections. I did not install chipset, video, audio and LAN drivers since everything worked fine but I am quite certain that it is just a matter of time before I lose the internet connection again. Everything works fine for now but I doubt it will last for long. Last time when it was lost the cursor and xp froze and the internet connection was lost as were the internet/connection icons. Obviously all drivers are initaially installed but for some reason later lost or not recognized by xp. Do you have any ideas? Thank you for your kind assistance. Kind regards!

[8210GUY]

That sounds like xp is able to use default generic drivers for that system then, this is often the case to get systems firing up, but it's range of drivers is far less then the newer OS's, this doesn't mean you should accept those drivers, because windows update will only update them anyway, and my guess is that is when things start to go wrong, and is why I hate using windows update for getting drivers, I would personally still use the software, and method(s) described previous to get the proper drivers from the makers sites, and install those before windows update gets these for you. I would download ALL the drivers first, then you may want to create a system restore point before starting, so you have a chance to roll back if problems start to arise, then install as per the order suggested, with any luck it will be plain sailing, but it's your call, but odds on windows update will install any newer ones it finds otherwise, and you may be back to this position again, but it's completely up to you, hope all goes well for you.

[yaniz]

Okay 8210GUY, thanks. I'll follow your instructions and I'll return to this forum after having run the pc a couple of days in order to see what happens. Thanks again for your kind help. Best regards!

[yaniz]

Hello again! My pc has been running a couple of days now without any problems. You suggested I should install manufacturers' drivers anyway. This question may sound stupid but what is the disadvantage/ advantages with keeping the drivers that are installed now? What will I achieve by installing manufacturer' drivers?

[paws]

Hi yaniz,
I don't want to tread on 8210GUY's toes but a lot of folks take the view that:
"if it aint broke don't try and fix it!"

if the drivers that you have are doing the job and there is no functionality missing, that you are likely to want to use (that's likely to be fixed by updated drivers) then a lot of folks would say:
"be content, and leave things alone, as it's working OK"

However other folks might take the view that the most up to date drivers from the manufacturer's web site might improve performance.......
so as always, its your call...
if this was my machine I would rejoice that its working well and would leave things as they are... however I would take a disc image now using Acronis or Paragon or Symantec/Ghost or similar or one of the free disc imaging applications Macrium and Drive Image XML are good.....further details available here:
http://www.thefreeco...pandimage.shtml

With a good disc image kept safe on removable media (an external USB hard drive is ideal) and a bootable CD capable of accessing the disc image you can face the future with confidence!
Regards
paws

[8210GUY]

Hi yaniz,
I don't want to tread on 8210GUY's toes but a lot of folks take the view that:
"if it aint broke don't try and fix it!"

My toes are fine lol, and given the current info I would say exactly the same, I was advising installing the drivers from the makers due to the system not being able to remain stable, but if all is well currently then Yes definitely leave it be.

Glad to hear it's behaving now yaniz, hopefully you will be fine now.

[yaniz]

Thank you very much 8210GUY and paws for your help. I will definitely take a partition image. Great to have handy when the system doesn't want to cooperate. One last and final question. How do I install manufacturers' drivers? From Device Manager > Update Driver? Do I have to uninstall the installed driver from Device Manager > Uninstall before an updated new one is to be installed? Hope I'll never have to do this but I'm just curious. Once again, thank you very much both for your efforts and help. Kindest regards!

[8210GUY]

Yes that is one way to do it, but is mainly used when the device in question doesn't have an installer that can be run, you should run such installers when they are available, installing via the control panel won't work on a .exe (installer) file, it needs the files within it. Now as to an older driver being uninstalled first, for the most part I just install the new driver on top of it, and never had a problem, BUT, there are 2 times when you should uninstall the old one first, 1 is when the makers instruct you to do that (or when there are known issues), or 2 when you are trying to sort an issue that may be helped by doing this, similar to the situation you were facing here, otherwise it's personal choice, some may well take the uninstall route to avoid issues, more so if they have been bitten previously, and it won't hurt doing this, but the choice in such cases is up to personal choice, hope this clears it up a bit for you.

[yaniz]

Dear 8210GUY, Thank you very much for all your help. All the best!

[iphonex]

I think you have to reinstall your device.