discovering hardware to determine drivers

[Asp]

I've installed Win2k on a friend's PC. Previously it was running WinMe and working, but getting difficult to use some more modern features, like WiFi.

So it all worked okay with an upgrade rather than a clean install, as I didn't have his original install media.

The video came as VGA, but I opened the box and found it was an Invidia card so downloaded and installed their drivers.

Now sound is not working. The sound is onboard. From the BIOS it appears to be AC97, which I would have expected Windows to detect, but the Device Manager has no drivers listed for the audio.

Is there an application that can probe the hardware (better than Windows) and determine what drivers I need?

Could I use Knoppix, perhaps (not to install, he's not ready for that.)

Or can I read off specs from the actual mobo?

I may not respond immediately to any suggestions as it might be a few days before I visit him to try things out. I'll try to get model numbers from the mobo then too.

[PC_LOAD_LETTER]

Unknown Devices from halfdone should allow you to see the manufacturer and sometimes model for a given piece of hardware but it wont find the drivers for you.

you can run it from within windows

If the machine is an OEM built machine, (Dell, Gateway, etc) id recommend checking their site for drivers (even if it didn't ship with win 2k)

[jaclaz]

Also, SIV and SIW could be useful:

http://siv.mysite.wanadoo-members.co.uk/

http://www.gtopala.com/index.html

jaclaz