| Author | Message | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
|  Downloading Drivers
I've started seeing a lot of topics where people can't use the map editor properly and the response is "get better drivers". So I decided to post a useful method to obtaining the correct drivers for whatever card you have installed (even if you don't know the vendor off the top of your head). First step is to actually get the information, which can be done from device manager. To open this, start a command prompt OR use the run command from the start menu and enter 'devmgmt.msc'. Then, go to the category that should say 'display adapters' or 'graphics adapters' or something. If that isn't there, look for the category with a question mark icon by it, and look for something that has to do with graphics adapter (if you have more than one driver missing and in the question mark category, you should use this method to find ALL your drivers). Now double click the device, go to the details tab, and go down to 'hardware ids' option in the drop down menu. Now the first line should have a string somewhat like this: PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_2A02&SUBSYS_FF001179&REV_0C The important bits are after the VEN_ and the DEV_ . These are your vendor ID and device ID, and should be 4 digits each (hexadecimal). In my case it is 8086 as the vendor and 2A02 as the device.
Next step is to go to http://pcidatabase.com/ and type your vendor ID in the search bar. Select the vendor on the next page, and then use the find function in your browser to search for your device ID. Now here I have had some issues - if you
can't find your device ID on this page, you are going to have to get the closest device ID and try to install the driver for it, or just give up at this point.
Once you find the entry to this on pcidatabase, it should give you some info about your hardware. If you're lucky, you will have a direct link to a download. Now with anything you find, you have to BE CAREFUL.
Here is a quick guide to not getting viruses/spyware from this. A). CHECK THE WEB LINK. If it is a third party site, you should probably avoid downloading things from it. If it says 'download driver detective!' or some other software, then DEFINITELY avoid it (this kind of virus is a pain in
the ass to get rid of). You don't want their shitty excuse for software, you can get drivers just fine by yourself.
Just don't download the first thing you find, do a little research and find the best file and the one that has the most reliable source. Usually this is the vendor's actual site, and the vendor's site has the best download speeds too.
Once you download, you should know where to go from there. It involves running the installer and restarting your computer. However, just to verify, make sure that the driver has updated in your device manager so that you know your system is actually changed. Then you can try the map editor
again!
This is actually a really simple process, and I used it ALL the time when we were imaging computers for a service project our Cisco Networking Academy does every year. More info @ http://www.nhscisco.com/Antigua2010/index.html (sorry if this is advertising in some way -.-)
Hope this helps someone. Good luck searching!
---
class EOSERV {
Programmer | Oldbie
Open source EO Client: https://github.com/ethanmoffat/EndlessClient
};
|
| Re: Downloading Drivers
Surprised no one replied, this could've helped so many people...
|
| Re: Downloading Drivers
I think it still can. This is more useful for WinXP though, and/or for internal devices where you don't necessarily know the name/model number. Its become a lot easier to find correct drivers in the past year and a half. ---
class EOSERV {
Programmer | Oldbie
Open source EO Client: https://github.com/ethanmoffat/EndlessClient
}; |
