Unknown PCI Card - Device Manager

[imported_denny]

Scenario:
Lets say I have a PC which is formatted and Win XP installed.

I am trying to install the drivers for all the PCI cards in the computer. I donno who is the manufacturer of the card and i am not able to install the drivers.

Is there a possibility of me identifying a PCI card and its manufacturer without installing the drivers ?

Somewhere in the registry ... vendor ID and decode the same ?

{Note: I did post this message in Technical Support, but no response yet, thought you all geeks can help}

 

[Peter]

Sure, PCI devices have an ID, and if the card's designers have done their job properly, also a "subsystem ID" that identifies the card.

Use a 3rd party utility like "PCIScope" or SiSoft Sandra to read those IDs.

 

[imported_denny]

Thanks Peter. I'll surely try the PCIScope and SiSoft Sandra.

Can these subsystem ID be identified in the registry without using these third-party softwares ?
If yes, can that also be decoded. I am just trying to skip using these 3rd party softwares. Because I am working for DELL. I have my techs say that customers are not comfortable opening the PCs. That too after a tiring OS reinstall, opening the tower to figure out the PCI would be by last resort. I'm just figuring if there is really someother way of figuring out the manufacturer's info so that i can install the drivers from the CD supplied from DELL.

I found infos for Windows 9x, Me and 2000.
Identifying a unknown PCI card

Need your comments on the same.

 

[FrankSchwab]

Right-click the offending device in Device Manager, choose "Properties", "Details", and either "Device Instance ID" or "Hardware ID".

General hardware might have been a better place to post this.

/frank

 

[FrankSchwab]

NM.