Finding the Correct Drivers for Windows XP Devices
You reinstalled Windows XP on your computer and you lost your drivers. Worse, you do not know the name of the hardware/device name, and naturally, you don't have the installation CD. Are you stuck? No. Keep reading for some help.
Contributed by Codex-M Rating: / 4 October 06, 2009
Instead of opening up your computer or even your laptop, you can find ways to detect and locate the appropriate drivers for your Windows XP devices. This is an accurate procedure, and you do not need to purchase any third party software to solve your problem.
However, there are two things that are required and important:
An Internet connection. This means that you can browse the Internet without restrictions, or at least you can access Google.
A fully-working Windows XP installation with updates. Of course there is no point to installing drivers in a problematic Windows XP installation; fix the installation problem first before finding drivers for your devices.
Also, Windows updates are important; there is no redundancy in finding drivers which may be covered by a Windows update.
Do you meet the above requirements? Okay then, let’s get started.
Before diving very deeply into this problem, check to see if the problem can be solved in the easiest and most traditional way. A key to understanding this problem is to intimately know Windows XP's “Device Manager.” Not understanding this function can seriously affect your efforts to find and detect appropriate drivers.
Device manager can be accessed by going to Start -> Run -> devmgmt.msc, and then pressing enter. Basically, it lists all the hardware and devices found in your computer, and their status. By default, it lists the devices but shows a drop down of devices with issues -- for example, in the screen shot below:
It says that there are currently two major issues in the device manager:
The first is that the ADMtek AN983 10/100 PCI Adapter is not functional or disabled (marked by an “X”).
Second, another device, called “Multimedia Audio Controller,” is missing, as shown by the question mark.
A precise way to “EXACTLY” understanding the status of each problematic device, aside from interpreting their symbols, is to right click on the device, click on “Properties,” and then read what is shown under “Device Status.”
For example, the real issue behind the ADMtek AN983 10/100 PCI Adapter, according to properties, is:
The device is disabled (Code 22). Code 22 is an error code, NOT a driver related problem. This is according to: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/310123
This means that the drivers has been installed or found by Windows, but the device is simply disabled.
The resolution is equally simple: click “ENABLE THE DEVICE.” There are times when enabling the device still won’t make the device operate properly. If this is the case, keep reading for the recommended solution, detailed below.
First, check for conflicting issues. The screen shot provided above shows that there are two network cards; the first one is the built-in motherboard network adapter, while the other one is a PCI network card. The PCI card has the issue. This means either:
The PCI card is not properly seated in the PCI slot. Try opening your computer and resetting the card.
The drivers of the PCI card are corrupted. This is where the steps provided in this tutorial will help.
Second, try to disable the motherboard network card (in most cases this can be disabled in the motherboard BIOS). Does this solve the problem? If the problem persists, then it is most likely due to corrupt drivers, which you need to detect and replace.
The above example illustrates a problematic network card, but the steps above could be applied to any device in the computer -- for example, an audio device, printer, video card, etc.
The question mark symbol is a sign of a more serious problem: the driver for the device is NOT installed. If you do install it, by clicking “Reinstall Driver,” Windows will find the driver if it is stored in your computer, or even ask you for the driver location. Most of the time, though, you just don’t have any idea where to find it.
The error “The drivers for this device are not installed. (Code 28)” most likely means, in short, “The drivers are missing.” This is because, although it says it is not installed, when you do install it, you and Windows cannot find the drivers.
So what are we going to do? Let’s solve the problem shown above. The driver for “Multimedia Audio Controller” is missing and we need to find it. The sad thing is that device manager won’t give the brand or device name; for example, is it a “Creative audio device,” “Soundmax,” “Realtek” or “Analog devices”?
This is where things can get pretty confusing. Luckily, the trick is to dissect the clues given in the Details tab for device properties. The details tab can be found by right clicking “Multimedia Audio Controller," and then you can click the Details tab. You should see a long string name like:
This is the device instance ID. It is not a device name, but the exact driver can be found on the Internet (using Google, Yahoo or Bing) by using the information provided in the Device instance ID.
In my personal experience, I have reinstalled Windows XP on a certain laptop where almost 20 percentof all the device drivers were missing after installation, and I had no idea of the device name. The worst part of it was that I couldn't find even a single installation CD for any of those drivers.
I did some research on device instance IDs; they provides some information to help me find the device name, which led to the correct driver.
However, in the Device Instance ID information, the most useful piece of information is this part:
PCIVEN_8086&DEV_24D5&SUBSYS_810D1043
On the Internet, one of the biggest computer driver databases are http://www.drivershq.com/ and http://www.driverguide.com/ (see below for the complete list). it might be that some of their services are not absolutely free; however, you can avail yourself of their service for a reasonable fee. The benefit is that it cuts the time you'll spend searching for the correct drivers.
But this is not a strict requirement; you can still find drivers on other websites (especially the vendor websites). It's just that this latter approach is considered to be tricky and time-consuming. My recommendation is that, if you find it hard to find the correct drivers (you are not a techie), then avail yourself of the services of the above driver databases to solve your problem more quickly.
To use a search engine and a reputable driver database website to find the associated device name/brand or drivers in Google, go to Google, and in the search box, type:
The above device ID can be replaced by any of the devices for which you need to locate drivers on the Internet, once you know the device instance ID. Once you have the actual name of the device, you can use any computer driver database to find the appropriate driver. Here is a list:
drivershq.com
driveragent.com
drivers.softpedia.com
driverzone.com
mrdriver.com
hp.com
brothersoft.com
driverfiles.net
driverguide.com
drivers.com
driversearch.com
drivershq.com
driver-soft.com
helpdrivers.com
innovative-sol.com
nodevice.com
softpedia.com
windrivers.com
winfiles.com
Finally, you need to confirm the compatibility of the drivers. To do this, try opening a sample of relevant search results and comparing the specs with your existing system. Use a little logic behind the specs given.
For example, I have a Windows XP 32-bit system powered by ASUS. The possible correct drivers are as follow:
Windows Security 
Microsoft Patch Update for July
