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new hardware found...

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7 replies

by henk

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It's great that a window pops up when new hardware is found, but it's less when the system doesn't know which hardware it is, and it's worse when I don't know either. I killed the question marks for it in Device Manager, but with every start up it comes back. How to get rid of this?
Henk Schuthof

7 replies

by oz_media

Well I'd start by looking at what I DO know is installed correctly.

Sound, Modem, Graphics Etc.

any other cards in the system? Pull it out and see if the message comes back. If after it is put back in, you all of asudden get the New Hardware Found message again, then you know it's THAT piece of hardware. loko on it for a number or manufacturer name and start digging the net for drivers.

It's usually easiest to just pull out cards until it goes away, then replace them one by one until it is found again.

Most likely it is something like a Game controller part of your graphics card or something not installed by default drivers.

Post back with further details if you can't get it resolved, Os type etc.

by mrafrohead

You have a computer, that you built so you know EVERY piece of equipment in it.

You then install all of the drivers, and all is working great.

You eventually update the BIOS and now you have a new device "Network Controller" that is showing that needs to be installed, even though you have not installed any new pieces of hardware.

Try to reinstall the NIC drivers to know avail.

Researching the fixes in the BIOS update reflects nothing of the "new" piece of hardware. Even after a full format later in time and reinstall of everything, the damn "network controller" is still there with a ? on it...

I've run out of ideas, especially since everything works like it's supposed to...

Mrafrohead

by guruofdos

Deep Joy! They changed their numbering system a year or so ago. My workstation at the office has an elderly PC Chips M810LMR V1.7 mobo under the old numbering system, but I'm not quite sure what it's supposed to be under the new system!!

I updated the BIOS (to support a faster CPU correctly) and my on-board LAN vanished!! Not a trace...nothing in the BIOS and totally lost the network. Add New Hardware Wizard refused to find it!

I eventually found (by trial end error) the RIGHT BIOS and all was well again.

Now the M810 is available in several flavours. Under the old system, the letters LMR in the suffix stood for Lan, Modem and Riser respectively.

The 810LMR has an AMR slot for an AMR modem, and an on-board SIS900 LAN adaptor. The 810MR doesn't have the LAN and I had used that version of the BIOS, hence my LAN vanishing. The 810LR has no modem but a CNR slot to fit the LAN on a riser card.

I'm willing to bet that is what has happened in your case! You have enabled a 'non-existant' LAN by using the wrong version of the BIOS for the revision of the mobo. It's not just SiS chipset boards this applies to...I have known it to happen on VIA and Intel too! Many chipsets integrate all the functions, but the BIOS determines which registers are enabled or disabled. Does your mobo have any references to AC97 audio or modem. That's the first thing to check.

by thechas

The "common" unknown devices that I come across include:

Wave device for modem.
If the modem is a speaker phone or similar modem, you need to install a second driver for the wave device. Even if you do not plan to use it.

System devices: (motherboard)
This is more of an issue with W98 and Me than W2K and XP. Windows doesn't always recognize the devices connected to the chip-set on the motherboard.
Installing the manufactures drivers almost always takes care of this problem.

Sound Cards:
These sometimes need 3 or 4 different runs of driver installation.

Then, you have devices that have been improperly removed or changed. These leave behind remnants in the registry and legacy system files.
Check both and remove any reference to hardware that is not there.

Unless the client requires DOS mode CD-ROM access, remove the DOS CD-ROM driver from Autoexec or Config.

Basically, you need to perform a manual system inventory and determine what devices are not properly installed.

For PCI devices, here is a link to a site with a great utility for logging whats connected to the bus.

http://members.datafast.net.au/dft0802/

Chas

by lcampbell

Why not just Disable the device in it's properties? If all else is running properly and you are unconcerned of its use. You really dont need it so Disable it in the hardware profile.

by oz_media

THat would merely address the symptom and not fix the problem.

Too many people do that these days and I walk into a system that runs like crap because everything is worked around without being resolved.

In this case, it may be something as stupid as a 33.6 modem still sitting in a slot without drivers, but then again, it could be something more imperative that you MAY need but don't realize it, such as an Acrobat Distiller printer that is software based but registers as hardware to get the I/O's.

It is probably OK to disable it, but that's just ignoring a problem instead of facing it.

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