The PC functions through a set of complex interactions between hardware and software. It may be surprising to learn that the operating system is often incapable of controlling the computer’s hardware by itself. In a sense, the operating system needs an interpreter to talk to the hardware. The interpreter that the operating system uses to talk to a specific piece of hardware is called a driver. Manufacturers often release newer versions of drivers in order to leverage their hardware more efficiently, fix bugs, or to improve performance.

This guide will examine how to obtain new device drivers for components in your PC in the event of failure or reformatting. While the advice may be applicable to any modern version of Windows, this article does deal specifically with Windows XP.

Gathering Driver Information

The first step toward finding the latest device drivers for the computer is gathering information about the current configuration. The hardware in the machine will determine which drivers are needed to operate the computer efficiently. Luckily, Windows contains a handy set of tools to discover information about the hardware. One such tool is the DirectX Diagnostic Tool, also known as DXDiag, which provides a great deal of information about the input and output devices on the PC. DXDiag can be accessed by pressing the Windows Key and ‘R’ at the same time to bring up the ‘Run’ dialog box in Windows. Into this box, type dxdiag and press the ‘OK’ button.

DXDiag will appear and take a few seconds to gather the hardware information. The first screen that appears is the ‘System’ tab, which contains basic information about the computer: machine name, operating system version, manufacturer model number, etc.

Information about devices in the PC is found in subsequent tabs in the program. For the purposes of gathering all of the available information in one place, DXDiag includes the handy “Save All Information…” button on the System tab. Clicking this button prompts to save a file called DXDiag.txt to a location on the hard drive. Now that we’ve gathered the information about the hardware, it’s time to track down the device drivers to support it.

Third Party Drivers

There are several sources from which drivers can be downloaded. If the PC is a pre-assembled machine from a major brand, the manufacturer may offer one-stop shopping for all of the drivers for that model of computer. Links to driver downloads can usually be found on the “Help and Support” links from the PC manufacturer’s website.

Once at the driver download page, there are several ways in which the manufacturer might gather information about the PC in order to provide the proper drivers. Some manufacturer support sites offer an automatic scan of the PC that launches through a browser. Other manufacturers search for drivers based on the service tag, which is usually a bar-coded sticker affixed to the PC’s case. This option is not always offered, however.

The method we usually choose to find drivers on manufacturer websites is both simple and offered on almost all manufacturer websites: search by model number. The model number of the PC can sometimes be found printed on the case, but is also displayed in the DXDiag results.

After locating the PC on the manufacturer’s Drivers and Support section, the site will often display a list of options. The options are either a list of individual drivers to download or a list of operating systems for which to download drivers.

If only a list of drivers appears on the download page, it means that the manufacturer only offered the PC configuration with a specific operating system or the drivers are compatible with multiple operating systems. Make sure that the download is for the operating system that is currently used. Otherwise, select the operating system from the list; this will yield a package containing all the drivers, or drivers that must be downloaded individually..

First Party Drivers

Alternatively, drivers can be procured from the first-party manufacturer of the specific components in the machine. Examples of some first-party providers of drivers are: Intel, AMD, NVIDIA, and Creative.

DXDiag’s information file contains information about the main components of the PC that often don’t receive driver support from a fresh Windows install: chipset, video card, sound card, and some network cards. Manufacturer download sites for most hardware components have a set of steps to select the product type, specific series or model, and operating system to locate the correct device driver to download.

The first component for which a driver may be needed is the chipset. If the processor could be considered the brain of the PC, the chipset is the spinal column. All the information being processed by each of the PC’s components passes through the chipset on its way to being used. While a PC can often limp along with the basic support provided in a bare Windows installation, the driver specific to a computer’s chipset will provide much better performance to the entire machine. DXDiag’s output file contains information about the PC’s chipset under the “System Devices” section.

Currently, the main manufacturers of computer chipsets are Intel, NVIDIA, and AMD. Each manufacturer provides drivers via their website through Driver and Support links, similar to the third-party PC manufacturers. Intel provides a tool that automatically can detect the chipset as a download that runs from the desktop. NVIDIA has a similar tool in development, but as we recommended above, we prefer to download directly by model number.

Another major PC component that does not receive full support via a basic Windows XP install is the graphics card. DXDiag provides information about the graphics card model under the “Display Devices” section in the output file.

The same major players in the chipset arena again show their faces as the most common graphics driver providers. All three company sites should give the option to select downloads for graphics cards.

Other major components for which DXDiag provides information are the sound and network cards. These drivers are often included in the chipset driver package in cases where these devices are part of the same chipset platform, but if the PC is configured with a third-party device such as a Creative sound card or a WiFi network card, the drivers will have to be located directly on the manufacturer sites. Hardware listings for sound and network cards can be found in the beginning of the “Sound Devices” and near the end of the “System Devices” sections of DXDiag’s output file, respectively.

Transfer The Drivers

If planning to install the operating system from scratch on the PC, a handy tool exists for saving all the existing drivers in order to bring them over to the new installation. This tool is a free program called DriverMax. Like to the File Settings and Transfer Wizard in Windows, DriverMax operates in a similar way, but instead of archiving account files to transfer, it archives drivers.

DriverMax must be installed on the system both before and after the OS installation in order to transfer the drivers. After the installation, DriverMax first inventories the drivers present on the machine.

The program presents a menu containing both Export Drivers and Import Drivers wizards. On the existing installation, choose the “Export Drivers” wizard and walk through the steps. Remember to check off the drivers that must be backed up, check the “Select All” option, or else nothing will be saved. The drivers can be saved to a folder or a zip file, which must then be archived to a location separate from the operating system drive. When the new OS is installed, simply follow the Import Drivers wizard to restore the drivers from the folder or file to they are saved.

If you register for a free account, DriverMax also provides the option to update old drivers on the PC. This feature is clever, but not necessary for a driver transfer during the reinstallation of Windows.

Winding Down

The PC is a complex tool that relies on the relationship of hardware, device drivers, and operating system to operate. Making sure that the PC is running the newest version of the correct driver is the best way to guarantee that the PC is running at its best.

As always, Icrontic’s helpful community is just a click away.

Tags: AMD, drivers, Intel, NVIDIA, updates, Windows