XP Drivers

1. Check the device manufacturer’s web site for the most current drivers available for your hardware. Note: Many drivers come packaged with software that automatically installs the driver. The manufacturer’s website will tell you if the driver download is packaged this way and if so, the steps below aren’t usually necessary.
2. Open Device Manager
3. Locate the hardware device you wish to update drivers for.Click on the [+] icon to expand the categories.
4. After finding the hardware you’re updating drivers for, right click on the hardware’s name or icon and choose Properties. In this Properties window, click the Driver tab.

5. Click the Update Driver… button. The Hardware Update Wizard will begin.

6. Click the No, not this time button and then click the Next > button. When asked “Can Windows connect to Windows Update to search for software?”
7. Choose the Install from a list or specific location (Advanced) button and then click the Next > button. When asked What do you want the wizard to do?” The next window that appears will be the Please choose your search and installation options. window containing several buttons and checkboxes.
8. Choose the Don’t search. I will choose the driver to install button and then click the Next > button.
9. Click the Have Disk… button on the Select the device driver you want to install for this hardware. window.
10. Click the Browse… button on the Install From Disk dialog box that appeared.
11. Click the INF file that displays in the file list and click the Open button.
12. Click the OK button back on the Install From Disk dialog box.
13. Choose the newly added hardware back on the Select the device driver you want to install for this hardware. window and then click the Next > button.

    If you’re prompted with a message warning you about the software for the hardware device not passing the Windows Logo testing, click the Continue Anyway button. Many drivers are not Windows certified but are still perfectly safe to install. (If you’re installing a driver obtained from anywhere other than the manufacturer of the hardware, click the STOP Installation button instead and obtain drivers from the manufacturer directly.)

14. The Hardware Update Wizard will now use the instructions provided in the INF file from Step 11 to install the updated drivers for your hardware. Follow any additional instructions on screen to complete the driver update.
15. After the driver update is complete, click Yes to the “Do you want to restart your computer now?” question on System Settings Change and other important areas of your computer. Restarting your machine is a good way to confirm that updating drivers hasn’t negatively impacted some other area of Windows. dialog box. Not all driver updates require a restart of your computer. Even if you’re not prompted, I always recommend restarting anyway. The driver update process involves changes to the Windows Registry (If a driver update causes an issue, you can always roll back the driver)
    

NVIDIA has released it’s newest driver revision for GeForce 100, 200, 6000, 7000, 8000, 9000 GPUs. The download is approx. 100MB, this beta Windows XP/Vista/7 driver delivers the following changes:

• Adds support for OpenGL 3.2 for ION, GeForce 100, 200, 8000 and 9000-series GPUs.
• Big anti-aliasing or SLI performance improvements for a handful of titles.
• For graphics cards supporting multiple clock states, 3D clocks correctly return to 2D clocks after exiting a 3D application. This will have big power savings for impacted users.
• Adds support for DirectX 11’s DirectCompute (Compute Shaders) API on GeForce 8000, 9000, 100 and 200 GPUs.
• Added support for 3D Vision Discover, a feature to enable stereoscopic 3D for games.

This is a fairly important release, particularly due to the inclusion of the DirectCompute API. Note that this does not mean the compatible GPUs are DX11-ready; DirectCompute merely requires stream processors, and all recent GPUs have them. It can be expected that ATI will do the same thing with their next driver release.

Download

Windows Vista & 7 x86-32: Here
Windows Vista & 7 x86-64: Here
Windows XP x86-32: Here
Windows XP x86-64: Here

Need drivers for your digital camera? (If you want to download the pictures from your digital camera to save, print or email, you first need to install the drivers onto your  computer.) The drivers that you need usually come in the original camera box on a CD. You can also download them from your camera manufacturer’s web site.

To get the pictures off your camera, either take the memory card out of your camera and plug it into a card reader, or plug your camera into your computer using a USB cable. Most of the CDs that are included in your camera package also include an editing software and also a digital photo album.

Click Here for a list of popular digital camera manufacturers and the links to their driver download pages.

If you’re having problems with the sound quality of your computer, before you buy a new set of speakers, first try to download the latest drivers for your sound card. The problem might be on the drivers and not on the speakers. (Why not try this first…drivers are a lot easier and less expensive to replace than the hardware.)

To enjoy a great sound coming out of your speakers, you need to have the latest audio drivers for your computer.  Some drivers are built-in into your computer system, especially in the case of notebooks. The first step is to check what type of sound card you have. You can find the driver information for most devices through the Control Panel. Click the Start button, Settings, and Control Panel. Locate the type of device you want to check. Click to select the desired device from the Devices list and click the Properties button. In the resulting dialog box, click the Driver tab and look for the Driver Date and Driver Version. You can download updated drivers from the manufacturer’s site. Or, look for the drivers CD that came with your system. Run the CD and look for the audio drivers. You can use the files there to reinstall the drivers in your computer. While that won’t update your driver, it usually solves most of the problems that users encounter with their sound system.

The Device Manager is an integrated part of Microsoft Windows. It gives you an organized view of all recognized devices installed on your computer. The Device Manager is used to change options, manage your drivers, enabling and disabling your devices, such as your hard disk drives, USB devices, keyboards, sound cards and more.

Here are several ways on how to access the Device Manager in Windows XP:

1. From the Control Panel:
   • Click the Performance and Maintenance link. (If you are viewing the “Classic View” of the Control Panel, you won’t see this link. Double click on the System icon.)
   • Click on the System icon
   • Click on the Hardware tab
   • Click on the Device Manager button
2. From the Computer Management utility:
   • Click the Performance and Maintenance link. (If you are viewing the “Classic View” of the Control Panel, you won’t see this link. Double click on the System icon.)
   • Double-click the Computer Management icon
   • Click on Device Manager on the left side of the window, located toward the bottom of the list under “System Tools” (If you don’t see Device Manager Device Manager listed, you may need to click on the [+] next to System Tools.)
3. From the Command Prompt:
   • Click on Start and then Run.
   • Type “devmgmt.msc” into the text box, and click the OK button.

Most computers have Windows XP for their platform. This operating system is regarded as the most stable and user-friendly in the market. However, Windows XP users do encounter errors with their system if their hardware drivers have gone corrupted or accidentally removed.

Drivers malfunction can damage your system. It is possible for your computer to crash while you’re in the middle of an application if the drivers become corrupt. Driver errors can also show up during start-up, causing your computer to fail booting altogether. Errors like these can paralyze your entire system.

The best solution for errors caused by drivers in Windows XP to update your drivers.Visit the support section of your manufacturer’s website to find current drivers for your device.

Sometimes you can just unistall the driver and reinstall the same driver version using the CD that came with your computer. This refreshes the files present on your computer and will overwrite everything else that may have become corrupt. The drivers have to be uninstalled first before they are reinstalled. All files (including the device itself) have to be removed from your system. If you just try to run the CD on top of the existing driver, Windows would just detect the drivers to be similar, telling you that there is no need to upgrade. Use the add/remove hardware section to remove the files first. (This technique is only advisable if there’s no valid driver update from your computer manufacturer’s site or from the website of the makers of the hardware itself.)

The drivers for your computer have to match the operating system on your machine. This means that changing your operating system would require you to change the drivers of all the computer hardware installed on your computer as well. This is the biggest drawback of updating an operating system in favor of the newly released platforms. Some hardware doesn’t even have drivers for the newer OS versions. Those devices then become unusable unless the manufacturer comes up with a driver update for your new operating system.

Here are some tips about a few popular operating systems:

• Windows Vista: Although there are many Windows Vista driver downloads available from the Internet, some older hardware proves ineffective under this operating system. If you have one of these devices, you are forced to replace it with something that is compatible with Windows Vista.

• Windows XP: This  is the most widely used operating system these days. The biggest issue users are encountering with this platform is usually related to the newer LCD monitors. To solve these issues, try visiting the manufacturer’s website and see if they have the Windows XP monitor driver that you need and download it.

• Other operating systems: You probably won’t find any driver updates for the older Windows 98 software anytime in the future. Most users of Windows 98 have shifted to other operating systems, so manufacturers rarely take time to release Windows 98 driver updates for their hardware. However, Windows 98 driver downloads are still being offered over the Internet today. (A driver download just reinstalls the driver to your computer. It will not update your driver.) The same is true for Windows NT drivers. (Which is much older than Windows 98.) The process of updating, repairing, restoring, and installing drivers under this platform is a little different from the usual steps applied to the later Windows program. If you still have this OS installed on your computer and would need to update some of the drivers for some reasons, it is advised that you read the detailed instructions on how to go about it first.

Radeon is a  graphics driver which is manufactured by ATI. This is an amazing display adapter with intensive graphic applications which is gaining popularity in the gaming industry worldwide. However, its graphic driver needs to be updated regularly. It’s a good thing that the Radeon graphics drivers are highly stable and reliable. If something seems a little slow or running different, I would highly recommend updating the driver.

The Radeon 7000 display driver is easy to install. After downloading the file from ATI’s website, run the program and your graphics adapter should be ready after reboot. All the other Radeon display drivers are easily obtainable from the website, including the Radeon 8500 drivers and the Radeon 9600 ATI drivers.

The Radeon 9000 driver downloads are available from ATI’s Radeon drivers list. While there, you will be asked what operating system your computer is running on. Make sure you tell it the accurate operating system. Aside from the regular Windows platforms, Windows Vista, Linux, and Apple Macintosh are supported as well.

You will also find helpful information contained on their website, including instructions on how to update your Radeon ATI drivers. Gamers and professional graphic designers are going to need regular Radeon ATI driver updates to ensure that the adapter are working up to par with the strict requirements of the applications they run.

While Radeon display drivers are very steadfast, a few minor updates may required from time to time to make them more functional and resilient. For the legacy systems and the legacy video adapter that doesn’t have an automatic install and upgrade feature, it is best that you perform the update manually.

To update manually, click the Start button, then open the Control Panel. Click on the System icon, then Device Manager. Once there, look for Display adapters and the Radeon graphic driver that is already installed on your system will show up. Right click on its icon and choose properties. Go to the driver tab and update the driver from there. The update button will open up a wizard, just follow the steps included to successfully install the new drivers that you have downloaded and extracted on your computer.

Radeon also has mobility drivers available from their website. The Radeon mobility driver download and installation follow the same procedure. Once you get the hang of it, you can easily manipulate any other driver or hardware on your computer system.

Click here to start downloading the current drivers from ATI’s website.

When you are trying to troubleshoot a suspected device driver problem, it can be confusing (and time consuming) to locate detailed information about your device properties. (You can go to “Device Manager”, then select your device from the list and locate the properties for that specific device. If you are just looking for information on one driver, this is not a big deal, but if you need to find detailed information on several devices, this would be take too long.)

There is a tool called Driver Query. (Driverquery.exe) Driver Query will provide you with a detailed list of all the device drivers installed on a local system. (Or on any system on a network) Here’s how to use it:

1. Open a Command Prompt window.
2. Type Driverquery on the command line.

You will see the results displayed in a table format in the Command Prompt window. If you want to perform more detailed analysis, you can direct the Driver Query to save the results in a CSV file so you can open them in a spreadsheet application. To do so, type the following on the command line:

Driverquery /v  /fo  csv  > drivers.csv

Note: This tip applies only to Windows XP Professional.