How Do I Find MB Drivers for Unknown Computer?
in [Home Built PC]
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From: jim evans on 8 Dec 2009 12:11 My 75 year old aunt has a computer that's about 6 years old and has become so bollixed up I need to wipe and reload the OS. But, she doesn't have the MB drivers. She can't afford to buy a new computer. She may have gotten the computer from TigerDirect by no one is sure. How do I figure out where to get drivers for it?
From: Jan Alter on 8 Dec 2009 12:45 "jim evans" <jimsTAKEOUTnews2(a)comcast.net> wrote in message news:ip1th59j2qj8kqluqrud4c5mlksinm4lcu(a)4ax.com... > My 75 year old aunt has a computer that's about 6 years old and has > become so bollixed up I need to wipe and reload the OS. But, she > doesn't have the MB drivers. She can't afford to buy a new computer. > She may have gotten the computer from TigerDirect by no one is sure. > How do I figure out where to get drivers for it? Start with a diagnostic program such as cpu-id. It's free and downloadable. It should identify the motherboard , chipset, graphics display and RAM. Ive also heard that Belarc Adviser will do an excellent job of recovering hardware information. Additionally take a look at the programs in the Start menu to see what she's been running. http://www.cpuid.com/cpuz.php http://www.belarc.com/free_download.html You may also find the make of the motherboard by opening the computer and looking over the board. Quite often the name is imprinted on the face along with the version. Do yourself a favor and remove the drive from the computer and make an image of it onto an external drive before you begin. Your aunt may surprise you when she asks you to restore those pictures she'd put on the computer and was expecting you to recover to the new installation. Additionally you may be surprised that once you install windows again all the drivers or most of them may get installed from the Windows disk. That's happened to me several times. -- Jan Alter bearpuf(a)verizon.net
From: jim evans on 8 Dec 2009 13:38 Thanks very much. I have already made a copy of the copyable contents of her drive. She only has about 3 gig of stuff outside of Windows. She only uses it for email and Word occasionally. So the most important driver is for the Ethernet card, and next is the video driver.
From: fwibbler on 8 Dec 2009 13:57 jim evans <jimsTAKEOUTnews2(a)comcast.net> wrote: > Thanks very much. I have already made a copy of the copyable > contents of her drive. She only has about 3 gig of stuff outside of > Windows. She only uses it for email and Word occasionally. So the > most important driver is for the Ethernet card, and next is the video > driver. > Can you not get into Device manager and have a look at the hardware in the machine from there? -- Graham Website - http://www.thedeathzone.free-online.co.uk
From: Ron on 8 Dec 2009 14:51
jim evans wrote: > My 75 year old aunt has a computer that's about 6 years old and has > become so bollixed up I need to wipe and reload the OS. But, she > doesn't have the MB drivers. She can't afford to buy a new computer. > She may have gotten the computer from TigerDirect by no one is sure. > How do I figure out where to get drivers for it? SIW (System Information for Windows) will tell you the make and model of the MB, plus additional related info. It's small, portable, and free. http://www.gtopala.com/ |