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January 26, 2011 at 12:44 pm #2174421
I hate using HP’s driver sites.
Lockedby charliespencer · about 13 years, 1 month ago
I can never find what I need.
I wish HP had something similar to Dells service tag. That method retrieves the only the drivers for your exact system. HP lists drivers for every freaking option and model of component and makes you try to determine which ones you need for your system.
(Don’t even get me started on this EliteBook 8440p that came with W7 pre-installed but only a driver disk for XP.)
Anybody got any hints or tips for navigating HP’s less than friendly driver pages?
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January 26, 2011 at 12:44 pm #2849269
Clarifications
by charliespencer · about 13 years, 1 month ago
In reply to I hate using HP’s driver sites.
Clarifications
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January 26, 2011 at 12:55 pm #2849261
Dogged, bull-headed determination
by boxfiddler · about 13 years, 1 month ago
In reply to I hate using HP’s driver sites.
is the only thing that’s ever worked for me. And even then, not always. I did try tearing my hair out once, and howling like a werewolf, but my monitor just stared at me like I was some kind of weirdo. How’d it know? :0
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January 26, 2011 at 1:11 pm #2849253
Request for Clarification
by charliespencer · about 13 years, 1 month ago
In reply to Dogged, bull-headed determination
Yeah, I was afraid of that. That’s been my approach; pull them down one at a time, try it, fail, roll it back, lather, rinse, repeat. There’s got to be a better way. I’ve called HP tech support before and sometimes even they can’t tell me what to download to fix a Device Manager entry.
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January 26, 2011 at 12:56 pm #2849260
Pally I always
by hal 9000 · about 13 years, 1 month ago
In reply to I hate using HP’s driver sites.
Make a list of the hardware that I have before looking for Drivers particularly when I have to go anywhere near HP Web Pages.
I just find that it’s easier if you know what you are looking for. But with 7 there are very few drivers that you need by default if that helps any. 😉
Col
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January 26, 2011 at 1:09 pm #2849254
Request for Clarification
by charliespencer · about 13 years, 1 month ago
In reply to Pally I always
The problem is determining exactly what hardware is in there. When Device Manager says ‘Network Controller’, which of the three listed network controllers is the one I need? What about Device Manager entries that have no apparent counterpart in on the drivers page? (I’m looking at you, ‘PCI Commo Controller’ and ‘PCI Serial Port’.) What about those DM entries that just say ‘Unknown Device’?
At least with Dell I knew if I pulled down everything that I wouldn’t be getting drivers that would conflict or didn’t fit my system, even if doing so obtained drivers I already had.
W7 on this 8440p came up with eight ‘yellow question marks’ in DM, including the NIC (of course).
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January 26, 2011 at 1:14 pm #2849252
Request for Clarification
by oh smeg · about 13 years, 1 month ago
In reply to Pally I always
Well deforming the actual hardware is the easy bit
I just use Belarc Adviser
http://www.belarc.com/free_download.html
If you don’t have a fully installed OS running then the Unknown Device Identifier works a treat
http://www.zhangduo.com/udi.html
Though I was having a [b]Major Senior Moment[/b] and couldn’t think of Belarc just Belkin. 😀
Col
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January 26, 2011 at 2:22 pm #2849243
Looks like HP’s search went bad.
by seanferd · about 13 years, 1 month ago
In reply to I hate using HP’s driver sites.
I hadn’t had so many issues in the past with HP, but the support site has definitely degraded over the last ten years. Now, if I search “pavilion 6681”, it advises me to narrow the search and use a model number in the exact format I did use. (Possibly this item is so out of date that it is a problem, but the situation is not unique to legacy systems, as we know.)
And when I force the page to show matching results anyway, none of the “matches” are remotely relevant. So, I think search is just broken. Perhaps a full part number would be better, but perhaps not.
Tag method would be much better indeed, but didn’t HP have that or similar at one time? I’d swear they had.
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January 27, 2011 at 6:14 am #2849845
Request for Clarification
by charliespencer · about 13 years, 1 month ago
In reply to Looks like HP’s search went bad.
HP search has never been worth squat. Specifying the model number sometimes works, but I’ve seen HP desktops that don’t have a model number. There’s a cryptic string of characters on a label next to the MS license key, but putting that string in the search box has NEVER worked.
it’s the same complaint I have with Blackberry – there’s frequently no way to identify the model without opening the case (if then).
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January 26, 2011 at 4:10 pm #2849220
the search features on the support site are broken . . .
by who am i really · about 13 years, 1 month ago
In reply to I hate using HP’s driver sites.
ie. searching my Presario 6330CA only works from one search box
on the page here
http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/siteHome?lc=en&dlc=en&cc=us&lang=enif I type Presario 6330CA into any other search box on the site I get
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January 27, 2011 at 7:00 am #2849841
According to HP tech support,
by charliespencer · about 13 years, 1 month ago
In reply to I hate using HP’s driver sites.
the solution is to look in the non-functioning device’s Properties, get the Device ID, GOOGLE IT!!!!!, find the manufacturer, go back to HP’s site, and HOPE there’s only one device with that manufacturer’s name listed on the driver download page. When I specifically asked, he did not know a way with just Device Manager and the HP web site to determine what drivers are needed; some sort of third party help is required. That strikes me as a poor way to run a support web site; at least put the hardware ID string somewhere in the description on the driver download page. I didn’t bother asking how you tell what driver to use when there are multiple ‘Unknown Devices’ from the same manufacturer.
To give the tech credit, after we went through that routine for the network card, he pointed me to a web site that’s supposed to check the system and identify the missing drivers. In theory I can either install them or download them; I want them downloaded so I can put them in MS SCCM OSD, or apply them to drive images installed on systems that don’t match the image’s original hardware.
Although I haven’t tried it yet. Let me get the NIC drivers on and I’ll report back.
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January 27, 2011 at 9:05 am #2849827
Request for Clarification
by charliespencer · about 13 years, 1 month ago
In reply to According to HP tech support,
Well, that web site was pretty pointless. It identified updated drivers for those devices that already had drivers. There was a second list of devices having problems that was identical to Device Manager’s list. Clicking the ‘More Information’ link resulted in the enlightening information that these devices … didn’t have drivers. Well, no $#!+, Sherlock. It didn’t offer to download them or provide any additional guidance as to where to get them.
I may give the site another try in the future with a different model, but I’m not optimistic.
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January 27, 2011 at 7:19 pm #2849761
Request for Clarification
by seanferd · about 13 years, 1 month ago
In reply to According to HP tech support,
Good grief.
That is quite pathetic. Best I can suggest for hardware ID is to try the Unknown Device Identifier that Col mentions. It IDs hardware by polling, it doesn’t rely on the registry.
And you are likely right that HP support has always sucked. The more I think about it, the more I remember it being a problem.
My favorite: No references at all at the site for system failure messages from BIOS or the HP Diagnostic that lives in BIOS. Ran into that looking at a laptop not two weeks out of the box.
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January 27, 2011 at 8:26 am #2849831
Sounds like the run around! . . .
by who am i really · about 13 years, 1 month ago
In reply to I hate using HP’s driver sites.
“Look at device ID”
? how does that work when all you have is the UnKnown Device Yellow BANG [b]! [/b]
if I have the Device ID, I’d have the drive installed as well
the integrated Intel NIC on my Presario 6330CA doesn’t show a device ID until the correct Intel provided driver is installed
I say Intel provided, because they’re not on the HP site
though it was HP who got me the driver after about 4 support emailshope you get it working
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January 27, 2011 at 3:13 pm #2849776
I agree with you wholeheartedly.
by nexs · about 13 years, 1 month ago
In reply to I hate using HP’s driver sites.
I don’t know… perhaps they just don’t care what their customers say in feedback, or maybe they only read replies from idiots…
Either way, they’ve got the worst support site I’ve come across for such a major company.There are pages under their www[$].hp.com umbrella that either can’t be navigated to or are so meticulously hidden that it’s pointless trying to find it using any other means but google.
So my only advice is google it and take an educated guess at the correct hit.
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January 31, 2011 at 10:33 pm #2848203
And how about the HP update…
by jcitizen · about 13 years, 1 month ago
In reply to I hate using HP’s driver sites.
that never finds a new update, and when it does, it continually downloads the same one even if you installed it; of course most of the time, they don’t take hold anyway; so no wonder!
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