Chipset drivers

[bhath19]

I have a question, I was wondering why you need the chipset drivers and how can you tell if you have them installed or not?

[John Prophet]

Well you definitely need them. Saying "chipset" driver is pretty much the same as saying "motherboard" driver...so yes you need them...or else your operating system will install basic default drivers...the system might actually 'work' but it will be slow and might only have part of the features working..

If you have an old motherboard..like for instance one based on the intel 440bx chipset....then the drivers in WinXP would be new enough to give you a decent build....but, say, if you have W2k and you install it on a system with a motherboard that came out in 2002...how good do you think the drivers are going to be?? So in that last case you definitly need "chipset" drivers.

I hate to admit but I dont know the quick way to tell you if you have them, lol.....for some brands, perhaps you could look in "add/remove" programs to see if it lists the drivers...I think for nvidia vid cards it might do that.

Or you can look in your device manager under "system devices" and see how stuff is listed...if it is listed in great detail with brand names and model numbers..you are probably ok..if most of it looks very generic it may need chipset drivers. (sorry, not a very scientific method, lol)

Someone else will chime in with a better answer.

Some of the drivers are simple like the VIA 4-in-1 drivers...they cover WHATEVER via chipset you have.

What kind of motherboard do you have and someone here will be able to tell you how to tell if you have the drivers already...or you could just go to the manufacturers site and download the latest drivers and install them..that way youd be sure.

JP

[bhath19]

Can I install the chipset drivers w/o formatting the hard drive?

[John Prophet]

absolutely....usually you install them after a fresh build but better late than never.

[Bovon]

but, say, if you have W2k and you install it on a system with a motherboard that came out in 2002...how good do you think the drivers are going to be?? So in that last case you definitely need "chipset" drivers.

LOL..boy, you hit me right between the eyes with that one. I have just configured dual boot system using Win98SE and Win2K. I also use Matrox video cards, and its posted all over Matrox's website that if a Matrox card is used with a VIA chipset, the drivers are a must...well.. I have had a h*** of a time in the past with VIA drivers, but loaded them anyway. Win98 seems to be suffering thu the loading ok, but Win2K has crashed 3 times. Since uninstalling the chipset drivers, Win2K appears to be working ok..

When installing VIA drivers, always have a fairly new 4 leaf clover...2 lucky rabbits feet, and garlic breath. It won't stop a crash..but may help with the recovery... LOL...