Useful was to identify drivers!

ally_uk

Ever had a Computer where windows doesn't recognize the PCI drivers?. I did today after spending a few hours tearing my hair out trying the usual identifying procedures and a hell of alot of time googling ( AIDA32 failed to identify aswell ) I resorted to some dirty tactics.

I booted up a linux live cd and loaded up a shell

Typed in lspci -v

It tells you all the driver names ( southbridge, Northbridge)

Useful way to identify when windows becomes a pain in the arse!

dynamik

Something else related you might want to look into is CPU-Z. I usually use it to help me identify the motherboard or type of memory when I'm too lazy to crack open the case.

Nice tip though!

xwesleyxwillisx

Unknown device identifier is a great freeware program for Windows.

Simple GUI shows you all USB, ISA, PCI, AGP, etc.... devices. Only takes a few seconds to detect.

http://www.zhangduo.com/udi.html

KGhaleon

Those are some nice utilities. Does UDI backup your drivers for free or does it just backup the list?
I usually use BackupMagician to backup installed drivers on my systems...though it's a trial version, so I generally use it before I wipe a system.