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Drivers/Updating

lazydave46

By lazydave46
in General Windows PC Help

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lazydave46

lazydave46

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Hello,

I am learning little by little, as i am very cautious in taking on computer problems. I did manage to update outdated drivers in the Device Manager, by allowing Windows to automatically search online and update. I did this yesterday and have ran two scans from a company who would like to sell me their product, and the scans show that they are still out of date. I did manage to remove one of them from their list, but they still tell me that i have more, which as i say are updated according to Windows. Whom should i believe? I appreciate any input from the forum, and thanks again for helping out. I know i still have past forum issues that i have not addressed, but would like to thank all who have given me advice.

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exile360

exile360

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Greetings lazydave46 ;)

Generally the best method for updating drivers is to go to either your PC manufacturer's website (ie Dell, HP, Toshiba etc) and download them from their support page for your specific model or to download them from the actual component's manufacturer, such as Intel, NVIDIA, ATI, Broadcom, Creative, Realtec etc as the drivers that you get through Windows Update from Microsoft are generally somewhat out of date though they may indeed be newer than the versions you currently have installed.

If you would like, simply post the information you have about the components that have out of date drivers and I will find the links to the download pages containing the latest driver versions for your hardware :).

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lazydave46

lazydave46

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Greetings lazydave46 ;)

Generally the best method for updating drivers is to go to either your PC manufacturer's website (ie Dell, HP, Toshiba etc) and download them from their support page for your specific model or to download them from the actual component's manufacturer, such as Intel, NVIDIA, ATI, Broadcom, Creative, Realtec etc as the drivers that you get through Windows Update from Microsoft are generally somewhat out of date though they may indeed be newer than the versions you currently have installed.

If you would like, simply post the information you have about the components that have out of date drivers and I will find the links to the download pages containing the latest driver versions for your hardware :).

Hello Exile,

I did go to the manufacturer's web site, found the drivers that they say need updating. Some of which i do not know if they are needed but others i am quite sure they do. All were dated 2008/12/11. Is there anyway that i can find out what Windows latest update dates actual dates are? Does it matter if i just update from Acer's list and not worry about whether i need the update or not? Do i need to uninstall anything. I really appreciate your help, and think that my audio problem may be due to my outdated driver. It looks like Acer shows only some of the drivers to update as opposed to Paretelogic's scan which shows others not listed on Acer's site. The following is what is shown by Acer; (Realtek, Audio Driver, version 6.0.1.5436)

(LAN, Marvell, LAN Driver, 9.11.11.3,) (Modem-Motorola, Modem Driver 6.12.05,) (SATA, NIVDIA, SATA Driver,5.10.2.600.0962,)(VGA, ATI, VGA Driver,2.5.1540.31) and (VGA NVDIA Driver 7.15.11.5816). The following is what is shown by Paretologic but shown to be okay by Windows; (Realtex 6.0.6002.18005 updated to 6.01.5880), USB Mass Storage Device, AlcorMicro, 6.0.6002.18005), (Marvell Yukon 88E8056 PCI-E Gigabit Ethernet Controller),(IDE ATA/ATAPI Serial ATA Controler and (NVIDIA nForce PCI System 6.0.6002.4.7.4)

Thanks again for your help, hope it makes sense?

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Firefox

Firefox

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I tend to only update my drivers from the manufactures web site only. I have found on some occasions when I update from the Windows Update page, that it actually messes things up at times, and I end up having to do a driver rollback to a previous version.

To find the dates on the drivers in windows update, you can expand the driver details and it should list it, you can also click on more info.

I like to use a program called Driver Genius to backup my drivers and download updated ones. Sometimes I just use it to see which drivers are outdated, and then manually go and get the updated ones.

To fix your sound, maybe you should download the latest driver and install it to see if it fixes the sound.

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exile360

exile360

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If you have the manufacturer's page or the actual component manufacturer's page then don't bother with drivers from Windows Update as they will not be newer (these companies are where Microsft gets their drivers :)).

Can I have the link to the Acer page where you found the drivers or at least the exact model number of your PC?

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lazydave46

lazydave46

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If you have the manufacturer's page or the actual component manufacturer's page then don't bother with drivers from Windows Update as they will not be newer (these companies are where Microsft gets their drivers :)).

Can I have the link to the Acer page where you found the drivers or at least the exact model number of your PC?

Acer Model AspireT180, Vista Home Premium, i just went to the search engine for Acer Driver downloads. I didn't go to the Windows updates. Did the list mean anything to you as i didn't look those up to see what everyone of them was for. Thanks again.

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exile360

exile360

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You can use the Acer drivers, but I noticed it lists both ATI and NVIDIA drivers and there's no way they both exist in your system. That means Acer offers different configurations for that particular model of computer so we need to determine what hardware you have installed first. Please do the following so we can know for sure:

Provide System Specifications:

  • Please download Speccy from here and save the installer to your desktop or another location where you can easily find it.
  • Double-click the file to begin installation and follow the onscreen steps to complete the installation and make sure that the checkbox next to Run Speccy is checked before you click on Finish at the end.
  • Once the program starts it will analyze your system, please be patient as it may take a few moments to complete.
  • Once it finishes and none of the areas say Analyzing click on the File button at the top and select Save Snapshot...
  • Save the file to your desktop and click Ok to confirm
  • Go to your desktop and right click on the file you just created and hover over Send to and select Compressed (zipped) Folder
  • Please attach the zip file you just created to your next post

Thanks :)

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