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What's the best order to load laptop drivers?

B

bluemax

Diamond Member
Background info: Dell business-class laptop. Installing Windows 2000 Professional. All goes well with installation and Win2K boots. Start loading specific Dell device drivers for stuff like onboard wireless NIC, audio, video, etc. Get to a certain point (not sure which driver the first time, the second time was with me at the helm and I got the error loading the touchpad driver.)

The BSOD was on Windows 2K bootup, critical fault kinda' thing with a bunch of hexadecimal codes (written down at work, I'm at home now.) Could NOT be repaired from that point.... nothing could be done except reformat and try again. With a new hard drive no less!

So this time, fresh 2K installation ready to go.... what order should I load the drivers for best stability to the system?

eg. Intel chipset,
NIC,
xxx(whatever)
video,
sound,

I have to be finished by tomorrow (the tech guys just dropped this on my lap... initiation to the new office, I guess - or they're sick of trying to figure it out and want the new guy to be the fall guy.) 🙁

Win2K has been on this machine before.... don't know why it'd be an issue now... even with a brand new blank hard drive all nicely formatted between attempts. 😕


As usual, your advice is greatly appreciated! :beer:
 
Usually BSOD's on laptops seem to be from video drivers. What specific model of laptop is it? Laptop video drivers usually have to be obtained from the laptop manufacturer since some are written specifically to support the panel used, and sometimes companies like ATI don't even provide generic drivers. Even if the `book works with default drivers, do get the specific ones for better 3D support and faster operation. I could barely scroll a window on my HP laptop until I upgraded the drivers, but it still ran at 1280x768@32bps. That just goes to show you. Anyway, I would suggest
Video, Sound, NIC, Modem, specific keyboard/trackpad drivers.

And why have you not had an issue before? The old 2k was OEM'd and had default drivers for the hardware. BTW, I doubt new chipset drivers would be necessary.
 
i have this problem on a HP laptop, problem seems if the TWO NICs are activated. (One wireless, other wired). I had to disable (in XP) the unused wired NIC otherwise i would get BSODs at boot. I am pretty comp savvy....but i remember when i had this issue (on a basically brandnew laptop and fresh install) it almost drove me insane since i just dont expect such things w/ a new install.

I think problems started once i updated drivers with win update.

can you boot into safe mode (press f8 before boot) ? If yes the ngo into safe mode and disable devices you dont need.....still...is very likely a driver problem.
 
Originally posted by: flexy
i have this problem on a HP laptop, problem seems if the TWO NICs are activated. (One wireless, other wired). I had to disable (in XP) the unused wired NIC otherwise i would get BSODs at boot. I am pretty comp savvy....but i remember when i had this issue (on a basically brandnew laptop and fresh install) it almost drove me insane since i just dont expect such things w/ a new install.

I think problems started once i updated drivers with win update.

can you boot into safe mode (press f8 before boot) ? If yes the ngo into safe mode and disable devices you dont need.....still...is very likely a driver problem.
Click to expand...

If it gets to the point of BSOD, NOTHING will revive it. No safe mode (won't get that far) and no amount of "fixing/repairing" will revive it. It's DEAD.

I've seen the same issue before when I took a Win2K hard drive to another machine with a different disk controller and it really didn't like it.

In this one way only, it's a step backward from ol' Win98SE.
 
I dont have an exact answer to your question...

but I would make a Win2k cd with nlite, integrate the latest service pack, and rip out all video, NIC, and sound drivers

also make sure the laptop has the latest bios version

install windows 2k at this point, but dont load any drivers yet

then make a ghost image (or whatever kind you want) of the drive... this way you can just restore from the image rather than keep reinstalling windows over and over while you troubleshoot

I've never had to install chipset drivers on laptops Ive worked on

i first install the NIC drivers... there might be newer drivers available than whats on dell's site.... if you can get the NIC running... you might be able to get online and download drivers with the laptop... sometimes windows update might even find newer drivers for your hardware than what you could find on your own

hope something there helped
 
Originally posted by: camara120
install windows 2k at this point, but dont load any drivers yet

then make a ghost image (or whatever kind you want) of the drive... this way you can just restore from the image rather than keep reinstalling windows over and over while you troubleshoot

I've never had to install chipset drivers on laptops Ive worked on

i first install the NIC drivers... there might be newer drivers available than whats on dell's site.... if you can get the NIC running... you might be able to get online and download drivers with the laptop... sometimes windows update might even find newer drivers for your hardware than what you could find on your own

hope something there helped
Click to expand...

Good, sound advice - especially Ghosting right from the get-go. I don't know how long it takes to restore a Ghost image, but it must be less than an installation! Tempting to Ghost after each successful driver install, so you'd only have to go back that one step..... but that's getting to be a LOT of Ghosting! 😉
 
Hmmm...Which service packs are on the install disc? I'd slipstream one with SP4 if you don't already have it on there.
 
Originally posted by: DAPUNISHER
Hmmm...Which service packs are on the install disc? I'd slipstream one with SP4 if you don't already have it on there.
Click to expand...

Good point... I'll be honest, I don't know much about slipstreaming. I don't think this disc has SP4... though it's hard to tell - it's a specialty CD with install options for Professional, Server + something else all on the same disc. Unless that's just normal for the high-end 2000 OSes. (Eg, 2000 server allows you to install "mere" Professional.)
 
I can't say, I haven't played with the server edition. You can just download SP4 and run it as soon as the initial install finishes before installing any drivers.
 
Originally posted by: DAPUNISHER
I can't say, I haven't played with the server edition. You can just download SP4 and run it as soon as the initial install finishes before installing any drivers.
Click to expand...

so far, so good! no BSOD yet! 😀
 
Originally posted by: bluemax
Originally posted by: DAPUNISHER
I can't say, I haven't played with the server edition. You can just download SP4 and run it as soon as the initial install finishes before installing any drivers.
Click to expand...

so far, so good! no BSOD yet! 😀
Click to expand...
*keeping fingers crossed for you* 🙂

 
Originally posted by: DAPUNISHER
Originally posted by: bluemax
Originally posted by: DAPUNISHER
I can't say, I haven't played with the server edition. You can just download SP4 and run it as soon as the initial install finishes before installing any drivers.
Click to expand...

so far, so good! no BSOD yet! 😀
Click to expand...
*keeping fingers crossed for you* 🙂
Click to expand...
Thanks, but dead again. Same critical fault. Fun thing is, this was after the *last* driver was installed! Just when you think all is well, you restart the PC and *splut* BSOD.

Dell support insists I try a different CD before they send a tech out to replace the motherboard.... I'm humouring him for the next hour or two.... :|
 
do you have a windows XP CD you can try to install? if XP installs fine with no errors and all the drivers load,... then you know its probably a problem specific to win2k

you mentioned youre not familiar with slipstreaming... its really not that hard and there are utilities that do most of it for you

one utility I have used is nlite ... its worked pretty well for me

After you've made a win2k cd with sp4 slipstreamed, there is also a file you can download with all the post SP4 updates here.


What Dell model laptop is this? Have you updated to the latest BIOS revision?
 
Originally posted by: camara120
What Dell model laptop is this? Have you updated to the latest BIOS revision?
Click to expand...

Latitude 800. Dell tech is coming over to replace the motherboard today. 😉
 
Originally posted by: camara120
did replacing the motherboard fix your issue?
Click to expand...

So far, yes! Clean install, no BSOD's! I'm still edgy after the last seven installs dying, so I'll be testing it thoroughly before it goes out.

I did one thing differently this time, as well... SP4 was loaded from CD before anything else, rather than using a driver for the embedded gigabit ethernet and downloading SP4.

Whatever the case, all appears good so far!

And, going by the original thread topic - Dell recommended CHIPSET drivers first, video second, then anything else. Take that as you will..... but it did work this time - though I suspect that's due to the replacement board more than anything else. 😉
 
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