Can't get system information to fix driver problem

[computerdoc]

I am working on 2 Dell laptops, a Dell D600 and a Dell D610. They both are using XP sp 2

The motherboard died on the d610 and the hard drive died on the d600. I took the hard drive from the d610 and put it into the D600 and got it to work using an XP repair.

However, some of the devices have errors in device manager. They are listed under the category other. When I tried to run system information under accessories to see the problem components, it starts and dies and doesn't display anything. I tried an sfc /scannow and it didn't help.

How can I display the problem components so that I can get the drivers and fix the problem?

 

[dgiles79]

Can you look up the hardware IDs, by going to device manager, and looking at the unknown devices properties. Then you can enter that info at pcidatabase.com and it should tell you the vendor and device info.

Once you know what device it is, you should be able to download them from Dell without any problems.

 

[Kitten Kong]

Or if you know what drivers are missing, ie wireless, graphics sound etc, then go to the dell website, input the service tag, and download them.

Or, you could do the above, and download all the drivers for those machines, and keep them in your driver database.

 

[dgiles79]

Or if you know what drivers are missing, ie wireless, graphics sound etc, then go to the dell website, input the service tag, and download them.

Good advice, and even if you don't know which drivers are missing, do the same thing but in reverse. Enter the service tag to get a list of drivers, see which ones you already have installed, then download anything not already installed on that laptop.

 

[FoolishTech]

I am working on 2 Dell laptops, a Dell D600 and a Dell D610. They both are using XP sp 2

The motherboard died on the d610 and the hard drive died on the d600. I took the hard drive from the d610 and put it into the D600 and got it to work using an XP repair.

However, some of the devices have errors in device manager. They are listed under the category other. When I tried to run system information under accessories to see the problem components, it starts and dies and doesn't display anything. I tried an sfc /scannow and it didn't help.

How can I display the problem components so that I can get the drivers and fix the problem?

What they said, use the service tag. If it doesn't appear on the bottom bezel, it's in the BIOS.

If you use D7, fire it up and look on the Info tab where it says Dell and it will display the service tag. Simply click on it and it will copy the service tag to the Windows clipboard and open the Dell support website for you, where you can paste in the service tag.

 

[computerdoc]

I went to the Dell website with the service tag and downloaded a bunch of drivers and cleared up most of the unknown devices.

However, system information still doesn't work.

The details on the current device in device manager provide the information that I need for the pcidatabase lookup which I will do now.

 

[computerdoc]

Dgiles79,

When I looked at the devices before, they didn't provide the detail but this last device (the video) did.

 

[computerdoc]

The combination of using the service tag and using the hardware ids worked everything is clean now.

Thanks to all.

 

[scott00049]

If you use D7, fire it up and look on the Info tab where it says Dell and it will display the service tag. Simply click on it and it will copy the service tag to the Windows clipboard and open the Dell support website for you, where you can paste in the service tag.

That is just unreasonable and way too hard.....can't you make it easier????


j/k...that is an awesome feature Foolish.
Scott