Missing Drivers for Notebook (help!)

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Andrew87

Limp Gawd
Joined
Oct 4, 2003
Messages
467
A friend of mine recently ordered a Time Traveller XP2600 from their site. The computer usually comes preloaded with Windows XP Home but he had Windows Professional from his old laptop which he was replacing.

As soon as he got the computer he formatted and installed Windows XP Professional. The first time the computer started there was a lot of unknown hardware so he got me to help him let Windows search his drivers CD-ROM for the missing drivers. It found display, modem, sound, chipset and infrared drivers but now there is a "?" in Device Manager and the unknown device is a Network Controller.

Does anyone know what this Network Controller could be? I could not find a driver on the drivers cd anywhere, I tried installing Wireless network drivers for Askey and MSI products but they could not find compatable hardware.

We're really stuck trying to find out what this Network Controller is, we let Windows try and search the web for a driver but no luck. What sort of hardware is a Network Controller? Is it part of the chipset, the Wi-Fi card, the onboard ethernet?

I'm not sure of the exact specifications of the laptop but I think it has a VT8372 motherboard.

Here is what Time Computers site says about the laptop:
Specification:
Processor : AMD Athlon XP-M 2600+ genuine mobile processor
Screen : 15.1" TFT screen
Memory : 512Mb DDR RAM
Hard Disk : 40Gb hard disk
Combo Drive : CD-Rw CD-Rewriter/CD-copier/DVD ROM drive
Graphics : 32Mb AGPx4 Shared Graphics
Firewire : 1394 Firewire (camcorder) port
TV-Out : TV-out port for large screen presentations
Ethernet : 10/100 Ethernet built-in for ADSL router and networking
Operating System : Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition
USB : 4x USB2.0 high speed ports
Ports : Parallel, PC slots, external SVGA and Infra-red comms
Modem : 56k V90 modem
Keyboard : Advanced keyboard
Mouse : 2 button track pad
Other Features : Wireless "Wi-Fi" adaptor fitted
Click to expand...

Thanks for any help!
 
That notebook is manufactured by Mitac. It's model 8375P. The Ethernet is a VIA 10/100

The WiFi driver may or may not be what Mitac has at their web site. As this notebook is provided with a Mini-PCI slot. So pretty much any Mini-PCI WiFi card could be in there. (Though, there aren't that many)

By clicking on "Download Center" at http://www.mitacservice.com then searching for 8375P, you can find all the drivers.
 
No driver there unfortunately :( Just some audio drivers. I installed Norton SystemWorks 2003 on my friends machine so that I could use Norton Ghost to explore the recovery disks budled with the laptop and then extract the System32 directory and make Windows find the driver that way. Only problem is the ghost image is password protected. I found a file called restoreP.exe which has the password in it (opened with notepad) but the password is encrypted so I guess my mate is screwed :(.
 
Because we're not 100% sure what the hardware is so we can't even download the driver from the official manufacturer website; I'm guessing it's the wi-fi card. Time Computers are meant to be a b!tch to deal with supportwise anyway. Their support website www.timesupport.com hasn't been updated in an age and my friends laptop isn't even listed on it. Also I don't think Time offers support once you format (they might do I'm not sure) and they have some pretty crappy rules which is another reason my friend formatted. Time computers are locked to use Supanet as an ISP, the computer will refuse to use AOL or any other ISP etc unless you format and the computer's don't come with a Windows disc (fortunately my friend already had Professional).
 
There is WiFi drivers on the Mitac support site I gave you previously. The zip contains drivers for 2 different Mini PCI Wifi devices. Did you try both?

Also if both of those do not work, look at the System Information in XP. There you will find a section called "Problem Devices" It will list any device without a driver installed. Look at the PCI signature and you can at least find out who manufactured it. It shouldn't be too hard to find the driver if you know who made the card.
 
Originally posted by Infidel
There is WiFi drivers on the Mitac support site I gave you previously. The zip contains drivers for 2 different Mini PCI Wifi devices. Did you try both?

Also if both of those do not work, look at the System Information in XP. There you will find a section called "Problem Devices" It will list any device without a driver installed. Look at the PCI signature and you can at least find out who manufactured it. It shouldn't be too hard to find the driver if you know who made the card.
Click to expand...

Thanks, I guess I wasn't using their site correctly because I had just searched for 8375P before :eek:. I will download the LAN drivers and let you know how it goes, I should be able to post back tomorrow I guess.

And thanks for the System Devices "Problem Devices" thing, I didn't know that before :).
 
If that doesn't work, just take out the MiniPCI card and take a look and see what chip is on it. You can also search by FCC ID for the manufacturere, and from there it's never too tough.
 
I downloaded all the drivers for the 8375 and 8375P from that website (took ages on 56k). I haven't tried it on my friends machine yet but that PCI\VEN ID thing doesn't seem to match up with the INF files. I searched google for the driver too but cannot find it :(.

PCI\VEN_1814&DEV_0101&SUBSYS_68271462&REV_00\3&61AAA01&0&50
 
1814 is Ralink Technology Corporation's vendor ID. They make chipsets for WiFi. You should be able to find drivers with this information. If you still can't, I would do what olaf suggested and yank the card so you can search the FCC ID.
 
Originally posted by Infidel
1814 is Ralink Technology Corporation's vendor ID. They make chipsets for WiFi. You should be able to find drivers with this information. If you still can't, I would do what olaf suggested and yank the card so you can search the FCC ID.
Click to expand...

Thank you so much for that info! I've tried searching so long for this vendor id and had no luck. If this doesn't work I'll tell my friend we'll have to open it to get the FCC ID but I was going to use that as a last resort only.
 
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