Example of Unknown Device Driver Download (.exe and .zip) – Part 1

There are various times when you will notice that one of your hardware devices is not working properly and after checking your Device Manager, it is marked by warning symbols. After checking the properties, you will notice the message “The drivers for this device are not installed.”

After clicking button Reinstall drivers, you are not able to locate the device drivers. Now you know that you have to undergo Unknown Device Driver Download (.exe or .zip) .

Vendor and manufacturers provide .exe and .zip file downloads, but before that can be done, the identity of the unknown device must be determined. Downloading from the official website is very important to have the proper device drivers, so you need the IDs of your hardware device to determine the Vendor, device description and model.

Follow these steps:

             
1.  Go back to your Device Manager
2. Right click the hardware device
3. Click Properties
4. Choose Details tab
5. Browse the provided drop-down menu and locate:

a.        For Windows 7/Vista: Device Instance Path

b.      For Windows XP: Device Instance ID

An alphanumeric data will be provided same with our example below:

                       

Note: The hardware Device used in this post is used in a Windows 7 32-bit OS.

We need to list down VEN_1002 which stands for Vendor ID = 1002, and DEV_4390 which stands for Device ID = 4390.

One useful online tool is PCIdatabase, which also provides PC users additional information such as manufacturers’ website address, device description and model. It is equipped with Vendor and Device Search, where Vendor and Device IDs are required to do searches.

Vendor Search:

1.       Enter the Vendor ID (in our example: 1002)

2.       Click “Search” to view Vendor Search Results

3.       Click the provided Vendor Name

*The Vendor Details include information regarding the Manufacturer of the hardware device including the official website and a list of devices associated with the Vendor.

4.       You can either match the Device ID you have in list of Devices for assurance or you can undergo the Device Search option.

Device Search:

1.       Enter the Device ID (in our example: 4390)

2.       Click “Search” and the “Device Search Results” will provide the chip description and Vendor Name.

3.       Look for the results having both the Device and Vendor ID of the Device.

4.       Click the provided Vendor Name and you will be redirected to a page having the Vendor Details.

For our example, we got the same Device Search Results which is Integrated Sata II Controller, vendor which is ATI Technologies / AMD Inc., and we are now also certain with the provided website address (amd.com).

Being able to gather vital information such as Vendor name, device description and model, we are now ready for the next part of our discussion which is the steps for searching and downloading in the manufacturer's website.