Driver Installer -Snappy Driver Installer

http://snappy-driver-installer.sourceforge.net/en/index.php

I just tried Snappy Driver Installer and am impressed. I let it download the entire driver pack of 12GB. It allows for updating itself and will reside on a flash drive with my Win7 installer.

I had to reinstall Win7 on and old OCZ SSD on and older Gateway P7811FX. Chipset drivers for Intel are suddenly becoming more cryptic to find for older systems.

Here is the best I could get on the SSD with Chipset and AHCI drivers from Intel.

This is what I got after installing the driver updates Snappy suggested from the driver pack.

The mobo interface is only 3GB so the drive could do better but the new drivers helped and Snappy chose the right ones. Impressive.

AS-SSD results were also more positive:

Oki Printer Drivers

Our trusty B6100 Oki does not have a driver for Windows 7-64. We use the network function of the printer with IP set to 192.168.20.184 (for my reference).

Choose the Oki C7100 (PS). Works fine.

Edit: the B4545 drivers did not work properly. The spooler world not clear completed job and would hang after one print job.
We tried the Oki B4545 (PCL) driver and it worked. (PCL = printer control language)

Installing Win7 Driver In Vista Compatibility

Windows 7 deserves applause for getting a computer up and running with a fresh install. Occasionally a stray driver gets missed because the Vista driver has never been brought up to Win7 recognition. I just had this happen with an Intel board on a Gateway Desktop. I right clicked on the setup.exe file and chose Vista compatibility. (After tearing my hair out finding the driver in the first place.) Then when I ran the setup file, it worked. Good thing too because the system had noticeable benefit. It was MgmtEngine driver in case you are interested. The error was "PCI Simple Communications Controller".

NF4 and Windows7 (Yikes)

I tried installing Windows 7 on an old NF4 machine (again). I forgot it doesn't work. Well, it does work but you need to grab SATA drivers and nothing from DFI worked for me. I finally found them on this web site. For 32 bit here is a download link.

I had split 2 Raptors on RAID 0 and Win7 would not see it. I installed XP first and then installed Win7. So I didn't use the driver but maybe it would have worked without installing XP first.

Driver Backup with Double Driver

Double Driver Give it a shot for backing up your drivers before you reinstall a system.

SlimDrivers [Automated Driver Updates] - Coming Soon

SlimDrivers [Automated Driver Updates] - Coming Soon

This driver finder works and is free for now in BETA. One irritation is the insistence on reboot after a driver install. The first time it found only Windows updates (which I have no need of) but the recent update did find 3 new hardware drivers. I don't know if it keeps the driver somewhere (have not found them yet) but even if you select several drivers and download all, it downloads them one at a time, installs and forces a reboot. Be sure to set options to handle reboot, update, etc.

I would use this for driver finding first before trying others.

I have not tried it on XP yet and maybe the Windows update could be useful there.

Driver Finding

Finding a driver can be a project.

Try Slim Drivers or any of the similar programs.

DriverAgent can help to identify the driver name or what driver is out of date (it can also be useless YMMV). I would not pay for DriverAgent but only use it for identification.

Intel's driver search page can be good for Intel drivers.

Other free programs can give you ideas as to the driver names i.e. SIW.

Good old Windows Device Manager would be my first stop.

Belarc makes a nice report. Bottom line you will do some hunting.

Once you know the driver name then Google for it. It has become difficult using Google to search for drivers because of all the for pay sites hawking their wears.

If your system is working great now, after months of driver updates, you should make a backup of your drivers. Try DriverBackup.

Disable Driver Signing in Windows 7

Disable Driver Signing in Windows 7 Using Group Policy Editor

If you want to turn off device driver signing in Windows 7 completely, do the following.

Disable Driver Signing in Windows 7
(Win7 not listed as workable)

I hope this works but not holding my breath. I think I tried it before. This driver signing crapola has been most irritating.

If it doesn't work try this. And yes, I tried that before also. How tough can it be to crack this stupidity!

Tried ReadyDriverPlus but could not boot so reverted.

Overrider may work, found here. Panda Cloud thinks it is a trojan and "neutralizes" it ... crikey. Turned Panda off and ran Overrider and selected "test mode". Now for reboot. A small
"Test Mode" script will appear on the lower right of the screen.

Now I need an unsigned driver to try ... looking ...

Windows 7 Drivers For Gateway P-7811FX

Here is the link for Win 7 drivers for a Gateway P-7811FX (my favorite notbook).

Appears the 7811 drivers no longer on the Gateway site.

Force Load Unsigned Drivers In Test Mode Easily in Windows 7 or Vista with Driver Signature Enforcement Overrider » My Digital Life

 

The manual process to sign a driver with test certificate is not simple. But there is a tool, by ngohq.com, named Driver Signature Enforcement Overrider (DSEO) that can automate the process to digitally sign a unsigned driver with a test certificate.

Force Load Unsigned Drivers In Test Mode Easily in Windows 7 or Vista with Driver Signature Enforcement Overrider » My Digital Life

Comments:

We hate the signed driver protection racket Microsoft foisted upon he public in the 64 bit OS. This is no secret. The standard options mentioned in the article have not worked for me. I have yet to try DSEO but plan to the next time I have the two goons show up asking for money.

Intel® Driver Update Utility for graphics drivers - Check for the latest driver

 

The Intel® Driver Update Utility keeps your Intel graphics driver up-to-date. It detects which graphics updates are relevant to your computer, and then helps you install them quickly and easily.

Intel® Driver Update Utility for graphics drivers - Check for the latest driver

Comments:

If you have an Intel video chip, chances are you are not setting the world on video fire. But even with embedded video, using the latest driver can improve performance. Finding drivers for embedded chips can be daunting. Intel’s automated utility may be just the thing.