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New Hardware Found

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by cdlsk

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When Win2K finds new hardware and can not find a driver it shows it as a question mark. How do you find out what the hardware is that it found so you can locate the drivers required for it to function?
An running W2K Pro. Everything works, but the computer stops for 30 seconds or so 3 or 4 times per hour. No other symptoms show up.

5 replies

by daiuto

It should give some sort of description upon the installation of the P&P device. The issue is that Win2k doesn't have the built in driver. Your job is to determine what the heck it's really trying to install. Keep your eyes open during that process.If nothing is there, check the device manager. This may give some sort of description. It's most likely going to be one of 2 things. The video or the audio. Both are know to be driver headaches for W2K. When it prompts you to search for the driver have your audio or video install CD ready. When you get the prompt insert the cd until you find the .inf file for the install. Don't get frustrated, it may take a couple of shots.

by ann777

Yup, I just ran across this myself. The computer on boot each morning would detect new hardware and proceed with attempting to locate drivers, etc. There was no "new" hardware on this computer.

Basically, I uninstalled the software that running the external device that was connected to the computer (in this instance, it was a label maker printer) and disconnected the device. I rebooted the computer and sure enough, it did not detect new hardware. I reinstalled the device (that was working fine pror to this) and tested, and printed fine. Shutdown and powered back on, and the problem was solved.

My suggestion to you is to check the external device drivers first (if any), and even if it appears the device is working... uninstall the driver, disconnect the device and reboot. See if the detect new hardware comes up again, and if not.... that's the one to work with.

Win2000 seems to be a bit sensitive with external devices. Drivers seem to get corrupt a bit more often.

by cdlsk

Thanks for the replys, but the new hardware turned out to be the driver for the hard drive. It would install the same driver on each boot. Finally I deleted ALL drivers for the complete hard drive system, rebooted and finally it loaded the one driver ( same as the first time) but this time it got it right..I guess. Thanks for the help.

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