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#1
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Windows unable to recognize new hardware
I'm working on a friend's computer -- Dell Dimension 2400, 128M RAM,
Windows XP HE. (Yeah, I'm going to recommend adding more memory, no problem). She recently bought a new HP Photosmart C4180 printer but it won't recognize it. I don't see any obvious virus or spyware problems, although I've not ruled that out yet. I took it home and it won't recognize pretty much any new hardware attached to it -- tried a standard USB mouse and monitor. The computer sees the mouse and searches for drivers, but fails to find anything it thinks will work. The monitor does work, but shows up in the device manager with a question mark. I tried updating her Intel Chipset drivers (uses the Intel 845 chipset, so 6.30.1007 is the latest driver for that series) and added the Intel Application Accelerator (2.3). After I did this, Windows "detected" her internal hard drive as a new device but cannot find drivers for it (regardless of this, her computer still works). It's like it's got something screwed up in its ability to recognize any new hardware. The system was running XP SP1 when I got to it; I've since updated it to SP2 with all the latest critical updates, but that hasn't improved things. Anybody got any suggestions on what I could look at doing, short of just nuking the hard drive and reinstalling from scratch? Thanks... CHRIS |
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#2
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Windows unable to recognize new hardware
On Thu, 24 Aug 2006 12:43:39 -0400, Chris Bailey
wrote: I'm working on a friend's computer -- Dell Dimension 2400, 128M RAM, Windows XP HE. (Yeah, I'm going to recommend adding more memory, no problem). She recently bought a new HP Photosmart C4180 printer but it won't recognize it. I don't see any obvious virus or spyware problems, although I've not ruled that out yet. I took it home and it won't recognize pretty much any new hardware attached to it -- tried a standard USB mouse and monitor. The computer sees the mouse and searches for drivers, but fails to find anything it thinks will work. The monitor does work, but shows up in the device manager with a question mark. I tried updating her Intel Chipset drivers (uses the Intel 845 chipset, so 6.30.1007 is the latest driver for that series) and added the Intel Application Accelerator (2.3). After I did this, Windows "detected" her internal hard drive as a new device but cannot find drivers for it (regardless of this, her computer still works). It's like it's got something screwed up in its ability to recognize any new hardware. The system was running XP SP1 when I got to it; I've since updated it to SP2 with all the latest critical updates, but that hasn't improved things. Anybody got any suggestions on what I could look at doing, short of just nuking the hard drive and reinstalling from scratch? Thanks... CHRIS Normally, Chris, when you purchase hardware for XP, you install the hardware driver CD/DVD which usually comes with it. Hardware won't work without drivers, my friend. XP contains a very good selection of hardware drivers on its distribution disk, but when it cannot recognise a new device, this means it has no provided driver for that device, so you need to install the manufacturer-provided drivers. Another thing to think about: The Dell Dimension 2400 sounds like an old Dell. It probably came with a drivers disk containing drivers for the Dell-provided hardware (much of older Dell hardware is pretty non-standard, especially for their laptops). == Donald L. McDaniel Please reply to the original thread. ================================================== ======== |
#3
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Windows unable to recognize new hardware
Sorry, let me clarify this. I'm a computer systems professional who's
been working with Windows XP ever since it came out. I know I have to load drivers for new hardware. But it has standard drivers to recognize standard kinds of things, such as a USB mouse or a VGA monitor. It also needs no custom drivers installed to recognize a standard IDE hard drive. Something is wrong. Can someone give me an idea of what to look for that might need to be fixed, short of erasing the system and reinstalling Windows clean (which I figure would cure the problem but is like dropping a nuke to kill an ant). On 2006-08-24 17:08:26 -0400, Donald L McDaniel said: On Thu, 24 Aug 2006 12:43:39 -0400, Chris Bailey wrote: I'm working on a friend's computer -- Dell Dimension 2400, 128M RAM, Windows XP HE. (Yeah, I'm going to recommend adding more memory, no problem). She recently bought a new HP Photosmart C4180 printer but it won't recognize it. I don't see any obvious virus or spyware problems, although I've not ruled that out yet. I took it home and it won't recognize pretty much any new hardware attached to it -- tried a standard USB mouse and monitor. The computer sees the mouse and searches for drivers, but fails to find anything it thinks will work. The monitor does work, but shows up in the device manager with a question mark. I tried updating her Intel Chipset drivers (uses the Intel 845 chipset, so 6.30.1007 is the latest driver for that series) and added the Intel Application Accelerator (2.3). After I did this, Windows "detected" her internal hard drive as a new device but cannot find drivers for it (regardless of this, her computer still works). It's like it's got something screwed up in its ability to recognize any new hardware. The system was running XP SP1 when I got to it; I've since updated it to SP2 with all the latest critical updates, but that hasn't improved things. Anybody got any suggestions on what I could look at doing, short of just nuking the hard drive and reinstalling from scratch? Thanks... CHRIS Normally, Chris, when you purchase hardware for XP, you install the hardware driver CD/DVD which usually comes with it. Hardware won't work without drivers, my friend. XP contains a very good selection of hardware drivers on its distribution disk, but when it cannot recognise a new device, this means it has no provided driver for that device, so you need to install the manufacturer-provided drivers. Another thing to think about: The Dell Dimension 2400 sounds like an old Dell. It probably came with a drivers disk containing drivers for the Dell-provided hardware (much of older Dell hardware is pretty non-standard, especially for their laptops). == Donald L. McDaniel Please reply to the original thread. ================================================== ======== |
#4
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Windows unable to recognize new hardware
On Fri, 25 Aug 2006 09:33:11 -0400, Chris Bailey
wrote: Sorry, let me clarify this. I'm a computer systems professional who's been working with Windows XP ever since it came out. I know I have to load drivers for new hardware. But it has standard drivers to recognize standard kinds of things, such as a USB mouse or a VGA monitor. It also needs no custom drivers installed to recognize a standard IDE hard drive. Something is wrong. Can someone give me an idea of what to look for that might need to be fixed, short of erasing the system and reinstalling Windows clean (which I figure would cure the problem but is like dropping a nuke to kill an ant). Interesting--I'm not alone. I'm about to the point of reinstalling this box and this is one of the main reasons. It refuses to see any HD's that it didn't know about in the past. I've got two *IDENTICAL* flash drives, one of which was known to it, one of which wasn't. It has no problem with the known one even if I move it about but it won't see the unknown one. Other machines see both of them no problem. |
#5
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Windows unable to recognize new hardware
Well, I wouldn't say I SOLVED this problem, but I did find a viable
workaround for me. Instead of letting Windows automatically search for the best driver, tell it you'll select the driver yourself -- then instruct it to search C:\Windows\INF\ for drivers. Windows should use this folder as its master reference library, but my machine isn't looking in there automatically for some reason. When I pointed it to that folder, my mouse, monitor and hard drive were all detected and work fine now. Anyway, just thought I'd share that info in case it helps anyone else out. I'd love to figure out a way to permanently fix Windows' ability to identify basic drivers on its own, but at least I have a viable workaround for now if I don't. If anyone else has any information on how to address this issue, please reply... thanks! On Fri, 25 Aug 2006 09:33:11 -0400, Chris Bailey wrote: Sorry, let me clarify this. I'm a computer systems professional who's been working with Windows XP ever since it came out. I know I have to load drivers for new hardware. But it has standard drivers to recognize standard kinds of things, such as a USB mouse or a VGA monitor. It also needs no custom drivers installed to recognize a standard IDE hard drive. Something is wrong. Can someone give me an idea of what to look for that might need to be fixed, short of erasing the system and reinstalling Windows clean (which I figure would cure the problem but is like dropping a nuke to kill an ant). Interesting--I'm not alone. I'm about to the point of reinstalling this box and this is one of the main reasons. It refuses to see any HD's that it didn't know about in the past. I've got two *IDENTICAL* flash drives, one of which was known to it, one of which wasn't. It has no problem with the known one even if I move it about but it won't see the unknown one. Other machines see both of them no problem. |
#6
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Windows unable to recognize new hardware
On Sun, 27 Aug 2006 02:29:48 -0400, Chris Bailey
wrote: Well, I wouldn't say I SOLVED this problem, but I did find a viable workaround for me. Instead of letting Windows automatically search for the best driver, tell it you'll select the driver yourself -- then instruct it to search C:\Windows\INF\ for drivers. Windows should use this folder as its master reference library, but my machine isn't looking in there automatically for some reason. When I pointed it to that folder, my mouse, monitor and hard drive were all detected and work fine now. Anyway, just thought I'd share that info in case it helps anyone else out. I'd love to figure out a way to permanently fix Windows' ability to identify basic drivers on its own, but at least I have a viable workaround for now if I don't. If anyone else has any information on how to address this issue, please reply... thanks! What good would this do? At least in my case it's not a failure to load the driver, it's a failure to admit there's anything that needs to be installed. |
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