[woodworks]

I have ran a scan to update my drivers.

My question is this...

Is there somewhere I can get my drivers updated free?

I have googled and see all this about free d/l, but it is for the scan only. I wold like to NOT have to buy thier software if I dont have to.

Thank you

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Hi,

All drivers can be downloaded for free either from the manufacturers website or from a free third party driver site (www.driverguide.com). All the driver scanner programs that i've seen all seem to want money for updating drivers.

If you are prepared to spend time downloading them yourself you can save yourself some money.

Edited by ZEUS_GB, 09 February 2009 - 11:21 AM.

[ZEUS_GB]

Hi,

All drivers can be downloaded for free either from the manufacturers website or from a free third party driver site (www.driverguide.com). All the driver scanner programs that i've seen all seem to want money for updating drivers.

If you are prepared to spend time downloading them yourself you can save yourself some money.

Edited by ZEUS_GB, 09 February 2009 - 11:21 AM.

[The Skeptic]

Why do you want to update your drivers. Do you have any specific problem that you are trying to solve? Updating drivers shouldn't be taken lightly. Quite often there are failures that can cause serious problems. If there are no problems then my advice is to leave it.

[woodworks]

Well one reason I wanted to update them was I did a scan and it said they needed updated.

The main reason is because I don't have any sound on my computer and I am trying to figure out why not. I thought maybe the driver was outdated or bad.

What started this was I went to device manager and there was a yellow question mark where my sound was. I updated that driver and it was successful but there is still a yellow mark there (not the question mark, a different one).

So, I am trying to figure it out. Plus as I stated earlier, the scan says they are bad or outdated.

[The Skeptic]

You did the right thing with the sound driver. The fact that a scan tells you that a driver is old doesn't mean anything if there are no problem with your computer. If you have a yellow mark near any of your drivers try to download this specific one and leave the others as they are.

Those driver downloading sites that you mentioned at the beginning can really save you sometimes but many times the drivers are old, corrupt, or the wrong ones. Your best option is to look at the computer or motherboard manufacturer site and download from there. Sometimes, if the driver is not there ,you may have to download it from the chip maker site.

What is the driver that still shows a yellow mark? You may not need the device. If you want us to help with this driver write down the brand and model of your computer or of the motherboard.

[woodworks]

Well yes I would like to have the help, but I have no idea what the computer is. It was built by someone and I bought it used on ebay.

I looked for the numbers on the motherboard one time and that is how I messed up the sound. After I put it back together, there was no more sound.

The yellow mark is somethig like an ! exclamation mark with yellow around it.

Also, I have a USB port that doesn't want to recognize a few things when I plug them in.

Edited by woodworks, 09 February 2009 - 05:49 PM.

[The Skeptic]

What device name is written near the yellow exclamation mark? If you are not sure about the morherboard use the link in my list below, download and install Everest. Run it and look in the motherboard section to Motherboard Name.

Regarding the USB port not functioning: Are the same deviced recognized when you connect them to another port on the same computer?

[woodworks]

Ok, hopefully I have everything you need.

The name is...
VIARAMA U8788

The name next to the Yellow is...
Sound Blaster 16 or AWE32 or Compatible (WDM)

I also noticed that below that there is also a yellow with a ! mark that reads...
VIA CPU to AGP Controller. I have no idea what this is or what it's about.

I did notice that after I had upgraded the driver for the sound, I now have an icon on the task bar that is some kind of mixer and my soud seems to be working. I say seems, because I don't have any speakers that want to play long enough to work properly, but I do think that the sound would work if I can find some speakers to hook up.

I am concerned about the other yellow mark though.

Next...The ports will not recognize my web cam. None of them. They all seem to accept everything else that I plugged into it, ie flash drive, external drive. So maybe it is just the wab cam, but how do I fix that? It works just fine on my other desk top and my laptop. I have the driver disk and it seemed to have installed just fine.

Thank you again for your help.

Edited by woodworks, 10 February 2009 - 01:22 PM.

[The Skeptic]

Your motherboard is made by Biostar. Here is the link to their driver downloading site. Unfortunately I can't find your exact model in the list (U8878). You don't have to worry about a driver as long as everything works satsfactorily.

Regarding your webcam: When you plug another USB device (flash drive for example), do you get ant message that tells you that "this device can work faster ......"?

[woodworks]

YES

I get that a lot but it comes back and says there is nothing faster installed or something to that affect.

[The Skeptic]

It looks like your motherboard is only capable of running USB 1.1, the older vesion of USB. The newer version is USB 2.0 which is about 50 times faster. Many USB 2.0 devices can work on 1.1. giving the user a notice that the device can work faster. Some devices, however, will not work at all on USB 1.1. Try to connect the camera to a relatively new computer and see if it works or nor. If it does, then my assumption is correct. If it doesn't then the problem is probably with the camera itself. To install a web cam you must have the correct driver.

[woodworks]

The camera is new and it works just fine on my other computer and my laptop, so I'm sure it is the computer. Is there a way to change the USB ports to 2.0, or am I stuck with them the way they are?

Also, did you find anything out about the yellow ! in the VIA CPU to AGP Controller.

Thanks again.

[The Skeptic]

If the motherboard supports only USB 1.1 then the only solution is to buy a USB card that connect to a pci slot, giving you USB 2.0 option. Other then that to have USB 2.0 working the motherboard must support this standard and USB 2.0 drivers must be installed. The drivers are standard with XP-SP1 and newer versions of XP (as far as I remember). If the operating system is older then a driver should be available at the motherboard's manufacturer site.

To see what USB standard you have in your computer go to System in control panel and see what XP version is installed on your computer. Then, In Device Manage, please go to "Universal Serial bus Controller. Click the + sign then look among the drivers to see if there is one that includes the word "enhanced" in its description.

Regarding the other driver with the yellow ! sign. This must be a driver for an AGP video card. I believe that you don't have one and your monitor is connected to a built-in video card. If this is the case then you don't need the missing driver and you can leave it as it is.

[woodworks]

Ok.

I found the one that says enhanced. It is the last one in line.
VIA USB Enhanced Host Controller.

So what does that tell us?

[The Skeptic]

It tells us that USB 2.0 is running on your computer, but not necessarilly an al ports. Try to move the camera to all other ports and see if it makes any difference.

What is your XP version. Go to System in Control panel and report, please.