DRIVER UPDATING

[keakar]

since when did old mb driver updating become like the underground drug trade?

you cant find a free driver download anywhere unless you buy a utility or download one that fills your system with viruses and spyware that takes days to purge from your system and even then you often get the wrong drivers.

so what are you supposed to do and where do you go that is safe "and free" to get downloads for old motherboards?

im looking for win xp drivers for an old socket 478 dell motherboard so you can imagine finding the hardware driver numbers i need is not easy to begin with.

it gets worse because I cant use dell website to find my drivers because it wont connect to internet because the lan driver is corrupted and it wont work with just a number, the computer must physically be connected so it can be scanned

through the device manager I know I have

Intel(R) 82801DB Ultra ATA Storage Controller - 24CB
intel pro/1000 mt network adapter LAN
pci bridge 8201-244e

anybody out there have any of these drivers because dell sure doesn't have them even though they sold this POS computer?

 

[Kursah]

The vendor/mfg site in most cases should still have drivers available...or driver disc/iso of ya can dig it up. Some older hardware doesn't need as many drivers on 8 or 10...some are more of a pain. Using driver update software is generally a bad idea...same with the free download sites as you're finding out.

How old of main board do you have?? Is it some old DFI or Abit board? It'd help if you were more specific about the hardware and OS you're struggling with. Hopefully we can get ya sorted!

 

[keakar]

The vendor/mfg site in most cases should still have drivers available...or driver disc/iso of ya can dig it up. Some older hardware doesn't need as many drivers on 8 or 10...some are more of a pain. Using driver update software is generally a bad idea...same with the free download sites as you're finding out.

How old of main board do you have?? Is it some old DFI or Abit board? It'd help if you were more specific about the hardware and OS you're struggling with. Hopefully we can get ya sorted!

its a dell OptiPlex gx260, not sure of the year but win xp 32 bit system with Pentium 533mhz cpu

the lan is either doa or the driver is corrupted but it wont connect to internet so I cant use dells utility to give me the drivers. I cant even download the damn thing to use it offline because it doesn't work like that.

I have some lan cards in the closet I need to dig out and try those to see if it will connect that way.

never seen one that refused to connect at all before, even without drivers.

just had to vent how frustrating this is and hope there was still a place to go for drivers out there.

 

[flmatter]

if it is a dell they should have it readily available or you can open a service ticket to get those drivers. You always want to go back to the vendor/manufacturer for drivers and not some third party anyways.

-Edit-
real quick hit on dells site http://www.dell.com/support/home/us/en/19/product-support/product/optiplex-gx260/drivers driver galore


download drivers to a usb stick and install from there

 

[keakar]

if it is a dell they should have it readily available or you can open a service ticket to get those drivers. You always want to go back to the vendor/manufacturer for drivers and not some third party anyways.

-Edit-
real quick hit on dells site http://www.dell.com/support/home/us/en/19/product-support/product/optiplex-gx260/drivers driver galore


download drivers to a usb stick and install from there

been all over that for hours, no driver available as you can see.

http://www.dell.com/support/home/us/en/dhs/product-support/servicetag/88GNP21/configuration?s=BSD

choice of 3 video drivers and 2 network drivers only and the full list has all BS and nothing for the main board functions, its all cd/dvd or floppy disk drivers and accessary stuff

I downloaded the drivers they did show for it (i know, I was stupid to download and install all 5 of them but I did) and no I didn't back up the drivers i did have installed first because I was tired and stupid. but I admit its my fault and moving on, that mistake completely disabled my computer and turned video into something looking like win 98.

can you even open service tickets for stuff that old and out of warranty?

 

[flmatter]

sorry maybe time for reformat or put the old horse down
I feel your frustration with older hardware, had almost the same issue with wifes laptop recently. I was lucky and had made a back up of the drivers I had downloaded and installed.

 

[Scatler]

http://www.driveridentifier.com/blog/?p=149
When it asks to register to download just input some throwaway mail and download what you need.
If that doesnt help. you are out of luck then.

 

[keakar]

would system restore fix drivers? im going to give it a shot and see (told you I was tired) should have tried that first before panicking

I never ran into this driver situation before because im usually more careful to make backups before doing things

 

[keakar]

http://www.driveridentifier.com/blog/?p=149
When it asks to register to download just input some throwaway mail and download what you need.
If that doesnt help. you are out of luck then.

you missed the point, the registering isn't the problem, the problem is, the tool works as a remote connection to "read" your system and report back to fdell servers and get the driver downloads list for you, so not having a direct connection means it cant read your hardware to detect the drivers you need. I wish it were a simple utility to list your drivers so you know what you need but its set up to be fully automated for accuracy and depends on you being connected to it online

 

[keakar]

ok, great news, restore was able to get things working again, and a backup of dell drivers folder has been saved.