Driver Troubleshooting

While fixing BSOD finding latest drivers is an important step. I agree is not very easy to find the right drivers. But get the rite drivers with the rite version can fix BSOD that caused by rouge drivers. Here I’ll give you few tips to find the rite drivers and also how to remove existing driver and so do’s and don’ts

Do’s and Don’ts:

1, Always before removing the Driver find the drivers and download it and keep it ready.

2, Disconnect from Internet once you download the driver so Windows won’t try to download the drivers for you.

3, Please don’t use Windows Update to download the drivers because Windows also won’t find the latest and greatest drivers so that can even crash your System or the root cause might be the drivers from Windows Update.

4, As I mentioned in nVidia Driver cleanup turn off Automatic Driver installation on Window 7 check this link for instructions Drivers – Turn Off Automatic Driver Installation

5, Never ever never use third party application to find Drivers for you I don’t see any point in using them just that you need to do a little extra work find the drivers and download it from trusted location. Well it’s my opinion

Finding Drivers:

Now I’ll show you how to find Drivers.

First we have to find the manufacture of the Driver. It’s not at all a difficult job in my opinion. The best resource to find driver is to Google them just Google the name of the Driver it will take you to few websites that will give you information about the vendor of that particular drivers.  Or

Go to http://www.faultwire.com/search/index.php or http://www.file.net/process/index.html

There type in the Driver name that your looking for

The click on <File name> Analysis Report

The Report will look something like this

Here it’s giving you information on almost whatever you want to know about to find the Driver. So once you found the information then you have to go to the vendors website. Around 90% of manufacture’s website. You will go there and download the appropriate driver according to the Model number or version number.

Note: The driver download area could be called by any of several different names including "Downloads", "Software Downloads", "Driver Downloads", "Drivers", "Drivers and Firmware", "Drivers and Software", etc. If you visit a website’s home page first, look for a "Support" area first. Any driver download options will probably be located within that area of the website.

You can also find you current version

1, Go to C:\Windows\System32\Drivers

2, Located the Driver

3, Right Click on the Driver go to Properties

4, Go to the version Tab

Here you can find the File version or Product version

Compare the version with the version that your going to download make sure your download the updated one.

If you didn’t find a Driver that was created for Windows 7 then you could find the one for XP or Vista then install them under Compatibility Mode.

If the Hardware device is unknown the there is a article which would help you finding the vendor

Device Manager – Finding Unknown Devices

Download the drivers to your computer. Save the downloaded file to your desktop or to another familiar location.

Important: Many drivers available today are configured for automatic installation. This means that all you have to do is run the downloaded file and the drivers will be updated automatically. The instructions given on the manufacturer’s website should tell you if the drivers you’re downloading are configured this way. If so, there’s no reason to continue with these steps.

Also you could go to this website http://www.carrona.org/dvrref.html to find few old driver vendors and the download links.

Removing and Installing Drivers:

Now I’ll show you how to remove Drivers.

As I mentioned before disable Automatic Driver installation. Then disconnect from the Internet.

Then follow the below steps:

1, Click Start |  CMD | Then Right Click and Run as administrator

2, Type in SET DEVMGR_SHOW_NONPRESENT_DEVICES=1

3, Then type in devmgmt.msc

We are doing this is because we are enabling it will allow you to see non-present devices, and then launch device manager. You’ll then see the old devices in the list, and can uninstall the drivers for them.

4, Then Right Click on the Device and go to Properties

5, Then go to the Driver Tab and Click on Uninstall

6, It will Conform the Device Uninstall push OK then it will uninstall the Device.

Once it’s uninstalled then reboot the System then install the Driver that you have downloaded.

Install Unsigned Drivers on Windows 7 & Vista with Driver Signature Enforcement Overrider

Windows Vista SP 1 and Windows 7 Microsoft has introduced very restricted module of driver signature enforcement which doesn’t allow us to install any incompatible unsigned drivers.

If you want to bypass or disable Unsigned Driver warning message then Here is small freeware utility Driver Signature Enforcement Overrider which allows you to install and load unsigned drivers dynamically on your Windows 7 and Vista.

Download Drive Signature Enforcement Overrider 1.3b

Please Note: User Account Control (UAC) must be disabled in-order to use this tool.

Source

Installation of Driver:

Run the installation setup and follow the prompts as if you would any other time. If you are presented with any errors due to compatibility, cancel the installation, right click the on the install package’s .exe and choose Troubleshoot Compatibility.

This will present you with a “Program Compatibility” wizard of sorts, which is a bit more friendly than on previous version of Windows.

The wizard will show a few common issues to select from and ask which apply to your situation. It won’t allow you to proceed without selecting something, so if it’s not already, just check the box next to “The program worked in earlier versions of Windows but won’t install or run now” and click next.

We’ll want to choose Windows Vista as the last known OS to support the drivers. Once the installation is complete go back to Device Manager and make sure it’s installed correctly.