Ways to make sure your PC drivers are up to date and suitable?

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ally0007

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Nov 17, 2017
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After switching to a different PC, namely a HP Compaq 8200 Elite (circa 2011), I found that the number pad at the right side of my keyboard no longer works. I also have one or two other issues, such as my USB3 PCI-e card not working. So I'm wondering what anyone can recommend, regarding ways to make sure one's drivers are up to date and suitable? Do you rely on Windows updates - or do you recommend some driver-checking program or other?

TIA for any advice...
 
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A little late to this thread but I will add in a suggestion.

Take a look at the "driverquery" (without quotes) command via Powershell.

Use "driverquery /?" for usage and parameters.

Can be very useful.
you start by going to the vendor web page and print out a list of drivers they use for your pc. the ones your looking for are chipset drivers/sound/ethernet. when there also check to see if you have the updated bios for the old beast. once you have a drivers list of the hardware then go to each of the vendor web pages or google search for the drivers download pages. try not to use 3 party driver finders as most are just virus droppers. items like onboard intel or or amd video driver most times have gone end of life do to the age of the chipset. with windows 7 it does not have the drivers for the newer mb forcing people into windows 10 os.
 

ally0007

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Nov 17, 2017
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Thank you for the link. It turns out that the keyboard issue was simply that my mumb-lock was on (or off). <blush>

As for the USB3 card, it worked fine when I first installed it and the driver supplied with it, but it stopped working as soon as I rebooted the PC, and the driver has never appeared in Device Manager since then... I wish I could find out why.

 

ally0007

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Nov 17, 2017
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Thanks. I had a hunch this was the case. I've now installed all the relevant drivers and updated my BIOS.

My USB3 PCI-e expansion card still doesn't work though. Something seems to have stopped the proprietary (Renesas) driver from loading. It worked when I first installed it, but stopped working as soon as I rebooted. I've checked that the card is seated properly and the cables seem okay.

 

ally0007

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Nov 17, 2017
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Thanks; I have tried all those things already (apart from the 3rd-party driver-update utility which that site is pushing).

 

ally0007

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Hi, thanks - Yes; on the rare occasion when the driver appeared in Device manager, I did the 'Update Driver' thing, but Windows reported that my driver was already the latest update. On another occasion, when the driver did NOT appear, I did the 'Detect New Hardware' thing, but it found nothing.

 
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