How do I find out what an unknown device is?

[ddeder]

I just did a clean install of Windows 95 on an old Compaq Armada 4131T laptop. There is an unknown device under "Other" in the device manager and I have no idea what it is. Is there a way to identfy this device?

 

[jcmoran]

You might try to uninstall (remove) the unknown device, and see if it finds it again. If it does then it may identify it as well.

 

[SaigonK]

usually it is a chipset that doesnt have the driver it wants.
if it is an Intel based machine, go download the Intel Chipset Utility and install the latest drivers and see if it goes away.

 

[mattyrug]

Here. Link to a DOS based utility that will give u the Vendor ID# and Hardware ID# of all the Hardware u got. You'll have to print out the reference chart for easiest usage. These are DOS based Utilities that I used to use (and sometimes still do) they haven't been updated in about 2 years, so if you're hardware's older, u may not find what u need.

 

[altonb1]

I'm not real familiar with the Compaq line anymore, but I know that about half of the Unknown devices I have ever encountered have all been related to USB in some form or another. If the Armada has USB, make sure the drivers have been installed and try to get the latest version available. Not a lot of help, but somehtng you can try.

-al-

 

[copyfixer]

I just installed a new hard drive to my compaq desktop. I couldn't get into bios.

Apparently compaq has stuff preloaded on the hard drives before they put on OS

Probably same thing with your new device. Here is a link

http://www.compaq.com/support/files/index.html