image of current drivers

[crane]

i dont really know what drivers i installed, nor can find my cd. is there anyway to copy every single driver that is installed right now on my current hardware setup and make the unattended windows xp cd install those same exact drivers again?

cheers

mike

[trainee]

Okay someone has to field this just to stop any new rumors before they start...

is there anyway to copy every single driver that is installed right now on my current hardware setup and make the unattended windows xp cd install those same exact drivers again?

Ummmm...No. Okay for those of you saying it could be done, then maybe, but really this is a bad idea and you should not persue it. Don't worry I'm not leaving it at that...

Why this is a bad idea:

• Just copying the drivers may not allow for complete installation of related registry & programs
  
• Any...lets call it 'Bad Mojo'...that may have found its way into your old driver files...will be carried right into your fresh install
  
• If the drivers have been updated since last installed (which is highly probable), you won't be taking advantage of the newest releases
  
• It's quite possible that you will run out of space on your XPCD if you copy all of your currently installed drivers. Remember that windows installs and uses a number of default drivers, for example: Intel Pentium Processor Driver
  
• It is much easier to just take 15-minutes to figure out what hardware you have in your computer. If you can make an unattended XPCD, then this shouldn't be a problem.
  

I really don't recommend spending any time on this.

i dont really know what drivers i installed, nor can find my cd

This sounds like fishing for a CD to me...You MUST have an XPCD to install Windows XP.

[crane]

i have an xp cd but sometimes i need to use to cd drivers because alot of my hardware is intergraded.

[trainee]

Okay, well what exactly do you have integrated? In general Windows can install generic drivers fine and then you can add appropriate drivers for network/audio/video etc. later. The only time this doesnt hold true is for IDE RAID/SATA drivers which will have to be loaded during textmode setup so that the hard drives are visible to the OS. If you provide some more information about your hardware I'm sure that we can help.

[crane]

my sound, video, and modem are all intergraded (sis650? mobo)

cheers

mike

[trainee]

@Crane/Mike: More detailed information would be helpful. sis650? There are 2 variants of SiS chipsets that match that Northbridge designation closely: the SiS650 and the SiSM650. The latter appears to have extended memory support. However, SiS has other similar northbridge designations such as SiS651 and SiS655. While most of SiS's driver packages are unified, you should really find out what motherboard you have so you know exactly what you are dealing with. Identifying the brand and the model will give us an exact understanding of what drivers to install and what is integrated on the motherboard. Even though the 961 Southbridge (which mates to the 650 northbridge) doesn't have native Raid support it is not unheard of for a motherboard manufacturer to add an additional chip to support Raid. Finding the manufacturer and model is not very difficult (you should have some sort of documentation to that effect), but in a worst case scenario you can pop open you case, and just read it off of the board.

If you are inexperienced at working on the inside of a computer *THIS* is not a difficult task and holds very little danger: just take it slow and be careful (general instructions follow). Unplug the power cord from the back of the computer first. By doing this you will be grounded at the same time (grounded = stripped of static electricity which could be harmful to your computer). If you computer is easily accesible and this can be accomplished without unplugging the remaining cords, simply remove the cover from the case. Most modern cases will have removable doors/panels. If yours does, removing the leftmost panel (when looking at the front of the case) will reveal the top of the motherboard. If you cannot easily do this with the cords attached; then detach them! You won't break anything, just plug them back in the same way they came off when you are done. Older cases, and desktop cases will usually have a single three-sided metal cover that is removed all at once.

There is no standard placement but you should be able to look around your motherboard and see some larger writing indicating the manufacturer (ASUS, GIGABYTE, SHUTTLE, for example). And in smaller writing there should be a motherboard model number. A flash light may be useful when reading etched writing from your motherboard. You will also probably have a sticker for your serial number, which *may* contain some useful information (sometimes boards differ from after a certain serial number). Copy down anything that looks pertinent becuase it is easier to go crazy writing stuff down once then having to open your computer up again. Now look around at anything else inserted into the slots of the motherboard. Is there any video/audio/network/raid or other cards plugged into the slots? If there is, then carefully remove the card or cards, one at at a time and write down any pertinent information about them. Then replace the card into the slot where you removed it from. There is no need to unplug any internal wires and/or memory from the motherboard when you do this. Since you said that everything is integrated on your motherboard I doubt you will have any additional cards anyway. When you are done, button your computer back up, plug any cables that were removed back in, replug the power cord and restart the machine.

Now go to yahoo/google and lookup the manufacturer. SiS actually helps you by publishing a list of Motherboard partners and their respective websites here. You will probably need to do a little basic searching to find the right 'match' to your motherboard but once you do you will be able to find out everything about it! SiS has a full driver download page here which will help you get the appropriate Chipset, IGP, Audio, and network drivers. If you have onboard video and don't have an additional video card you will not need any GPU drivers, the IGP drivers are your video drivers. If you have an additional video card that is from SiS you will need the appropriate GPU drivers instead. If you have a non-SiS video card you will need drivers from the appropriate source.

Okay, I hope this is helpful to you. This is a good place to stop until you have any more questions or difficulties. I really don't know much about your level of experience with computer hardware becuase you have told me very little about your machine. I tried to quickly cover some basic concepts in-case you were anxious about opening your computer to find this information. Please understand that you will need to put in some effort in examining your computer and writing posts for the MSFN community to be able to help you. Your last post simply didn't have enough information for anyone to give you a good, sure answer. I think I speak for all of us when I say that the MSFN community is here to help and support users of ALL levels of experience, but we can't and won't do the work for you. We are here to help you become as knowlegeable and skilled with your computer as you *want* to be. Best of luck.