Hi, question about device drivers

thedramathedrama Member Posts: 291 ■□□□□□□□□□
There is something i wondered for a long time, since i have used installation
CDs for peripheral devices so far, i couldn't need to search device drivers
apart from product CDs. However, i am curious about whether i might find these
device drivers on the Internet.

Is it possible? [I mean original drivers not updates]
Monster PC specs(Packard Bell VR46) : Intel Celeron Dual-Core 1.2 GHz CPU , 4096 MB DDR3 RAM, Intel Media Graphics (R) 4 Family with IntelGMA 4500 M HD graphics. :lol:

5 year-old laptop PC specs(Toshiba Satellite A210) : AMD Athlon 64 x2 1.9 GHz CPU, ATI Radeon X1200 128 MB Video Memory graphics card, 3072 MB 667 Mhz DDR2 RAM. (1 stick 2 gigabytes and 1 stick 1 gigabytes)


Comments

  • PsoasmanPsoasman Member Posts: 2,687 ■■■■■■■■■□
    Depending on who the manufacturer is, you can generally find original drivers. Every company is different in regards to how they store and archive their drivers. Intel and Dell, for example, have drivers that are several years old.
  • thedramathedrama Member Posts: 291 ■□□□□□□□□□
    what im trying to figure out is for instance think about a dedicated graphics card. Assume you lost the main driver)installation CD
    involving controllers and software. You need to search for it on the Internet on manufacturer's website. You found for example
    280.26 whql driver update during your search.

    Does this driver update involves what main driver CD offered us or requires main driver for that update?
    Monster PC specs(Packard Bell VR46) : Intel Celeron Dual-Core 1.2 GHz CPU , 4096 MB DDR3 RAM, Intel Media Graphics (R) 4 Family with IntelGMA 4500 M HD graphics. :lol:

    5 year-old laptop PC specs(Toshiba Satellite A210) : AMD Athlon 64 x2 1.9 GHz CPU, ATI Radeon X1200 128 MB Video Memory graphics card, 3072 MB 667 Mhz DDR2 RAM. (1 stick 2 gigabytes and 1 stick 1 gigabytes)


  • elToritoelTorito Member Posts: 102
    More often than not, peripheral manufacturers will offer full driver downloads on their website, rather than updates. Otherwise, people with OEM hardware - which often do not come with driver CDs - would never be able to obtain the original drivers. For instance, I've purchased laptops for my company that didn't come with CDs, just the pre-installed OS. It's assumed that you, the owner, can obtain the required drivers yourself - via the Internet.

    Whatever the case, though, a manufacturer's website should clearly state whether a driver is a full installation or just an update, otherwise you'd have a ton of angry customers!

    Like Psoas stated, it depends entirely on the manufacturer and the age of your hardware whether the driver is still available for download. Big players like HP, Dell, Fujitsu, Asus etc. typically offer drivers for every model of every component they've got for sale, even those that are 5+ years old. I've even found video drivers for integrated Intel chipsets from 8-9 years ago.
    WIP: CISSP, MCSE Server Infrastructure
    Casual reading:
    CCNP, Windows Sysinternals Administrator's Reference, Network Warrior


  • SteveLordSteveLord Member Posts: 1,717
    thedrama wrote: »
    what im trying to figure out is for instance think about a dedicated graphics card. Assume you lost the main driver)installation CD
    involving controllers and software. You need to search for it on the Internet on manufacturer's website. You found for example
    280.26 whql driver update during your search.

    Does this driver update involves what main driver CD offered us or requires main driver for that update?

    It is newer and generally better than the old stuff. What is on those CDs is what was updated at the time. You should never have to use those for video cards. Windows Update also covers mostly everything.
    WGU B.S.IT - 9/1/2015 >>> ???
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