Want to switch to XP? Need drivers? Read this first

[DrRJP]

There is a free program called, UnknownDeviceIdentifier.exe (http://www.download3k.com/Unknown-Device-Identifier/Download-Free-UnknownDeviceIdentifier.exe.html) that will list all of the devices in your system. Then, by clicking on a device, the program will do a Google search on where to find them.

[DrRJP]

Another very useful program (that is also free) is Belarc Advisor (click here) (http://www.belarc.com/free_download.html). Advisor displays a detailed profile of your installed software, hardware and vulnerabilities in your Web browser. More importantly, Advisor identifies all of the software Product ID's, or keys, including Windows Product ID's, on your computer. This is extremely useful if you've ever had to reinstall software and lost the box or CD that had the Product ID on it.

NOTE: The Internet Security Rating that Advisor produces is for WIN 9x, 2k, and XP. It is not available for Vista. Every other feature, however, will work with Vista.

[DrRJP]

I installed XP on my Toshiba, but because I have an OEM version, I cannot use it for Product Activation.

So, either I will need to get another copy of XP, or get into XP via Safe Mode and get the driver info that way.

I should have them posted here by Sunday, Jan 6th

[dannyboy27]

Something I would add which may be helpful if you have a new-ish Vista laptop with ATi graphics hardware, and decide to replace Vista with XP - you may struggle to find XP-compatible graphics drivers.

If so, try the Omega (http://www.omegadrivers.net/) drivers, you should find they work perfectly. :)

[remtulla]

hi,

infact i manage to get the drivers and replaced my A135-S4407 Toshiba from Vista to XP, all softwares installed, including Office 2007, windows update just works fine,

its not as much of the hassle as it seems, except when starting it.

riz

[Shinma]

To identify by PCI ID number,
Instructions at the following link,
How To Find Unknown Device Drivers By Their Vendor & Device ID (http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/how-to-find-unknown-device-drivers-by-their-vendor-device-id/)

[The CandyMan]

The same can be true when upgrading to a newer os like Windows 7. Found a nice little progam called Windows 7 Manager which amoung other things will name all your hardware in your system. It helped me recognize the chipset on one of my older systems in order to download the correct drivers that work in Windows 7. Get the free trial here: http://yamicsoft.com/windows7manager/index.html Not sure if this works in vista but I'm gonna go out on a limb it say the device recognition program most likely will.