Any drawbacks running Windows without chipset INF drivers?

[Staples]

I have an Abit IP35 motherboard. I have had the motherboard for a few months and during that time, its performance has gone down hill. I have reinstalled Windows many times and confirm that among other problems, it is impossible to install the chipset INF drivers. This board has always had some problems but they were problems I could live with. The last 4 of my motherboards have had problems of some kind so I just figured the initial problems of this motherboard were nothing to complain about.

This problem has not always existed. The computer seems to work well regardless of not having the INF drivers but I would like to know what I am missing out on by not having the INF drivers installed. Am I suffering any performance loss? How about power consumption? I have the latest BIOS installed and am really interested if it is worth sending it in for a replacement now that this problem has cropped up.

 

[FYouFragU]

are you doing a clean install of windows or just over the top over and over again? there is no reason the drivers should be failing to install other than that.

 

[Staples]

The motherboard has always had a few problems. For instance, if I turn the internal NIC off, it will not detect my second hard drive. The post screen will say BzBzBzBz.... for that hard drive. I just installed a fresh windows (fully updated) and apparently this problem I had with S3 power state was not fixed when I thought my previous Windows was just screwed up. The fan still runs full blast when it resumes (it used to work right). Sometimes (in fact quite often) it freezes during post and must be reset multiple times until it posts.

It is amazing that I am still unmotivated enough to send this board back to newegg for a replacement. So I am asking (and this could be the final nail in the coffin which makes me order a replacement) whether running Windows without the INF drives really affect anything other than identification of the chipset. I have installed Windows SP2 minimum several times and installed two different versions of the driver at least twice each. All times I did, they froze during the install and end up with a BSOD. Windows starts normally when you restart it but the next time, you will get a file is corrupt error causing you to reinstall Windows. I now know better than to try insntalling these drivers.

 

[sheltem]

My cd burner would make bad dvd/cd's (not passing data verification), which I fault to not properly installing chipset inf's. However once I did a clean reinstallation of Windows, the problem seems to have disappeared.

 

[Staples]

Originally posted by: sheltem
My cd burner would make bad dvd/cd's (not passing data verification), which I fault to not properly installing chipset inf's. However once I did a clean reinstallation of Windows, the problem seems to have disappeared.

That is interesting. I have a similar problem (with the affected computer no less). I never thought it would have been related to the chipset drivers. Sounds more and more like I need to request an RMA.

 

[VirtualLarry]

The computer should work properly without the chipset INF drivers for the most part.