Tips & Tricks

To indentify Drivers manually.

  1. Click Start and type msinfo32 into Start Search box and hit Enter (Or click Run, type msinfo32, and then click OK in Windows XP).
  2. Expand Components, and then go to Problem Devices branch.
  3. A list of the devices that are installed on your computer that may have a problem is displayed in the details pane, as follows:
    • The Device column lists the common name for the device, or the name of the device driver associated with it.
    • The PNP Device ID column lists device IDs, such as Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI) ID, ISA ID, an ID for some other bus type, or an unknown type.
    • The Error Code column lists the error code associated with this specific problem. Frequently, the Device Manager error code helps determine what created the unknown device. For example, if your computer generates a “Bad or missing device driver” error message, three types of entries may be listed under Problem Devices, depending on the device type:

      PCI PnP Device ID:
      Device Name | PCI\VEN_00000&DEV_0000&SUBSYS_00000000&REV_00\0&0000 | Error code

      ISA PnP ID:
      Device Name | ?\PNP0000\0

      Bad or Incompatible Device Driver:
      Device Name | ROOT\UNKNOWN\0000

  4. Depending on device, the unique hardware identifier can be shown in PNP Device ID or in Error Code, and should look similar to the alphanumeric string below:

    PCI\VEN_1180&DEV_0832&SUBSYS_30CC103C&REV_05

  5. From the device identification marker for the device above, VEN prefix is the Vendor ID, and DEV prefix is the Device ID, which means Device ID is 1180 and Device ID is 0832, as an example.
  6. Visit the PCI Database website at https://www.pcidatabase.com/, an user-supported centralized database of PCI device IDs.

       7.  Search vendor name, chip number and chip description with either Vendor ID or Device ID.