Thread: Trouble shooting drivers in Windows

When reinstalling Windows, it can be really annoying to find that the driver disc for one or more components is damaged or misplaced.

At best, you could create a couple of backup DVDs or CDs of all the drivers for your system. However, when it comes to re-installing Windows, you want the drivers to be at hand, not hunt for them, or worse, swap driver discs. So what's the solution? Thought you'd never ask!

Well there are utilities available on the Internet, which scan the computer for hardware devices (on board and discrete). They can create backups of the existing drivers onto the drive for future usage Whenever you reinstall Windows, all you have to do is backup your data, format the root partition, install Windows and restore the backed up drivers. Isn't that much more convenient? Let's see how it's done.
DriverMax This application backs up drivers from your computer for quick retrieval and also offers other features. As you can see in the screenshots, the user interface is neat and simple to use. Let's proceed.

STEP 1: Install DriverMax by double clicking on the installation file and keep following the simple on-screen instructions.

STEP 2: At the main screen, select the first option 'Driver operations'. Now click on 'Export drivers' and follow the instructions given by the 'Wizard', and select the drivers that need to be backed up.

STEP 3: This screen-'Drivers'-shows a list of installed drivers in the system. Each entry is explained in brief. If you need details of a particular driver, click
on 'Details'. You'll see the driver files and the device that is using them. Here, you need to select the drivers for backup, by checking the relevant boxes. Instead of running through the entire list, opt to directly choose a particular driver for backup, say 'Display'. Use the drop-down menu at the bottom-right corner of the screen, to do so Once selected, click 'Next'.

STEP 4: On this screen, enter the path, where you want to save the drivers and click 'Next'. Choose any drive, except the system partition. Drivers for the chosen devices are now saved. Click on 'Close' at the bottom right your screen.
NOTE: You can also select all the drivers, even if they're not third-party hardware. STEP 5: Restoration of drivers is done ideally, when you've finished installing Windows. After installation completes, repeat Step 1 and on the main screen of DriverMax, select the option 'Import drivers'. Click on 'Next' in the following screen. Now, the next screen asks you for the path where the backup is saved. Enter the path and click 'Next'. The drivers will be stored in the specified path and display the result in the following screen. Now, select the drivers for recovery, click' Next' and when asked to confirm, click 'Next' again. Wait for the installation to complete. The next screen will give you a report and will ask you to restart the computer. Ensure that, you reboot your system after the drivers are installed.

Now your computer should be up and running just the way it was before. DriverMax offers other features such as updating drivers, identifying unknown devices, and so on. However, in order to use them, you need to create an user account with DriverMax. Nonetheless, the basic backup and recovery is possible without creating an account.

Driver magician
This program also backs up device drivers and restores them just like the DriverMax. However, the evaluation copy of Driver Magician allows the user to only
restore the display and network adapters. Nonetheless, let's see how it works.

The installation is simple. Double-click on the installation file, it takes only about five minutes to complete the installation. STEP 1: Once you reach the main application window, create a back up of all the device drivers (on board and discrete). Windows generically supports some of these devices. So you have an option to choose to back up only third-party hardware drivers or make a backup of ALL the drivers.

STEP 2: When using an evaluation version of the application, the software prompts you with a message regarding its restricted utility. On proceeding, another message pops up saying 'Driver restoration process will start, during the restoration process the computer may seem to have no response, please don't interrupt it. Do you wish to continue?' Click 'Yes' to continue.

The application scans the system and shows you which drivers need to be updated. However, updating the drivers with the evaluation version is disabled. TIP: You can also use Driver Magician to uninstall drivers from your system.

Driver Update Information Realtek AC'97 Audio Driver VIA KN_KM400 Display Driver Cleative Mass S tor age Driver VIA Hyperion Pro Driver Package ViewSonic LCDs and CRT s Monitor Driver
VIA LAN 0 river VIA PCI to USB Universal Host Controller Driver
I Class Audio Display Adapter Hard 0 isk Controllers Mainboard Monitor Network Adapter USB

he above is driver update information for your computer in Windows XP. For mOle information of each new driver. please click it and the detailed information will show in this textbox. You can also select other opel ating systems and find driver updates for them.

Dire situation
Let's look at another situation now. What if you have already reinstalled Windows without backing up the drivers? Only to realize later, that your driver disc is corrupt or you cannot find it. You might say that you would obviously check the driver disc before reinstalling Windows. What if Windows crashes and the drivers aren't with you? The situation is not as bad as it sounds.

There are ways to get device drivers from the Internet and the good news is, most of them are available for free. But what if you've already installed Windows, and there is no sound or the display is not proper or there's no Internet connection and so on?

Downloading drivers in this case is out of the question because the drivers for the network card aren't installed. No problem, ask your hardware engineer if he has the drivers for the motherboard. If you have an old computer and it's out of warranty, ask a friend to download the drivers and give it to you on a CD. A CD will definitely work because an optical drive picks up
the drivers from Windows. If your friend agrees to help, how would he/she know which chipset (motherboard) you are using?

It's the chipset that needs the drivers because that's what drives a motherboard. The simplest way to find out is by referring to the model number of the board. Search for it on Google with specific search¬strings such as the name of the chipset followed by the word 'drivers' as in 'Intel 965 drivers'. The best place to find the drivers is at the chipset manufacturer's website. So if you know which chipset it is, that's half the battle won. This brings us to the next question.



Which chipset is used on the board? Good question! It's simple; refer to the user-manual. The technical name for a chipset is 'northbridge' (NBl, so if you come across the term, you're on the right track. If you don't have the manual, try looking for it on the board. But, do not open the cabinet if you don't know what you're doing; ask a professional to help you. The NB has the chipset's name written on it. NB is the biggest chip embedded on the board and it sits closest to the processor, it isn't hard to find.

Actually, the northbridge doesn't control everything on the board, the southbridge too shares the workload, but once you search for the northbridge. You will mostly find a driver bundle for the board or drivers for individual onboard devices.
Use discrete components?

If you use discrete components Osuch as a discrete graphics card or sound card), then they must have been bundled with a manual. If not, search for the model number on the component itself. You can follow the same search pattern, described earlier with the motherboard, for these components.

Thanks to the I nternet, access to data has become extremely convenient.
By using search engines, you can locate drivers for practically all the core components and peripheral devices available today, except for ones that are long obsolete. In any case, if you have a question regarding this workshop, or any other computer-related query, do drop us an e-mail. Remember that drivers are important, and should be updated often .