How to Source and Install Drivers For A Clean Install?

macman

I need to do a clean install of XP Home. following a hard drive failure that has corrupted the OS beyond a repair routine.
Once I have the new drive fitted and XP installed, how do I go about collecting the necessary drivers? And what are the main drivers required that Windows does not supply?
There is no utility/drivers CD with the PC, as it appears to have been home built, with various parts replaced over the years. The motherboard is a Gigabyte 'All In' model , for which I do have the driver CD, and the processor is an AMD Sempron.
I'm not clear about which other components will require dedicated drivers, and what the install sequence should be?

Knarf44

Go to the Gigabyte Support website - you should get a list of available drivers download from there:

http://www.gigabyte.com/support-downloads/support-downloads.aspx

Windows Update also includes updated drivers for some components.

Once you have reinstalled XP, install an anti virus program so you can connect to the internet safely. Then check the Device drivers under Control Panel, Any with yellow exclamation marks will need to be installed.

http://www.ehow.com/how_4592175_install-drivers-windows-xp.html

macman

Thanks. So with the correct motherboard drivers installed, after installing XP, will I will get basic functioning and connectivity, or do I need to use another PC to collect the necessary drivers?
PS: mobo is a GA-MA74GM-S2H.

spakkker

Yes, good to go , but the driver disc may be out of date , you really need to know what m/board you have -gigabyte board model no's start with G. It will be printed on the board. Cpuz will tell you.
If you run the full tests at pcpitstop it will tell you which drivers are out of date amongst a lot of other stuff.

macman

I have edited above to give the mobo model, but on going to the Gigabyte site and searching, there are 6 versions (different revisions numbers) listed. How do I ID the correct one to use?
Edit: OK, I think I've found it, top left corner of the mobo is marked 'Rev 3.0', which I assume corresponds to this version?
http://www.gigabyte.com/products/product-page.aspx?pid=3152&dl=1#ov

GunJack

I've often found it handy to have a usb wifi adapter with driver disk for the odd occasion that one of the drivers missing after a clean install is the flamin' ethernet port :mad:

if you're still struggling, driver max can be handy for the odd one you don't find easliy elsewhere

macman

The plot thickens somewhat...
I tried to install the replacement hard drive today and I need some more advice, as I now think I may be barking up the wrong tree...
New drive was formatted and partitioned on another machine, all OK and can be seen and read from. Installed it in the non-booting PC and ran the clean install of XP from the CD. Every time it gets to 'starting to load Windows', it BSOD's with a stop error code 0X000007E. Googling this gives a possible hardware/driver error, which now seems the only possibility.
Motherboard, processor and RAM were all new in 9/10.
I've swapped the RAM to the other slot (unfortunately I don't have any other DDR2 RAM to test if it's faulty RAM), changed the SATA channel, changed the SATA data and power cables (the hard drive is definitely spinning up), and reloaded the BIOS defaults (tried both 'failsafe' and 'optimised'). When trying to boot with the original drive installed, I do get a single POST 'beep', which indicates to me that there is no serious hardware error?
I'm leaning towards faulty motherboard or processor now, because there's not much else left. The mobo has on-board graphics and there are no expansion cards of any kind installed.
Will try and borrow some DDR2 RAM tomorrow to check, that but has anyone got any suggestions as to what else I might do/check? Thank you!

spakkker

Maybe - http://en.kioskea.net/forum/affich-118712-blue-screen-while-trying-to-install-xp

macman

Thanks, I'll give that a try shortly.

macman

I've now had a look in the BIOS and it's already set to IDE Mode, not AHCI.
Any more suggestions please (I'm off to borrow some DDR2 RAM tomorrow)?

Toxteth_OGrady

Try Hiren's boot CD and boot from that into XP PE and run a chkdsk on your newly installed windows disk.