Looking for PCI Windows Device Drivers...

[Key_Master]

I ran across a friend of mine today who recently purchased a computer from a pawn shop. The computer came with no documentation and unfortunately no restore cd. When he told me that many of his system files were corrupt I gave him my old Windows 95 CDROM to replace the Windows 98 operating system he was having problems with. I didn't even stop to think that there might be a problem locating the driver files for some of his hardware. He has a Cyrix (300 MHz) M II/IBM 6x86MX processor (circa 1998) with an Award Modular BIOS v4.51PG. Win 95 recognizes the PCI USB (on motherboard), PCI modem (Maxtech) card, and PCI sound card (on motherboard) but I am unable to locate any of the driver files for them. Because the computer is very generic, I can't find a name brand on the motherboard (although the logo on the computer housing is ProTek). I'm assuming this computer was a Wal-Mart special. Anyone ever had one of these computers and if so could you let me know who the manufacturers of these PCI components are. Better yet point me in the direction of the driver files. Cyrix is of no help- their site seems to be in the dot com morgue. Thanks in advance.

[Drastic]

You may have already tried this, but you can get some hardware info by going to control panel - sytem - device manager tab. Check the properties of each component.

If the PC is able to "talk to" the modem, you can get the info from control panel-modems-diagnostics tab, select the com port the modem is on and click "more info."

For drivers, check out drivershq.com.

[Josk]

it sounds quite simmilar to my home pc, so the sound card on the motherboard may be a cmi8338 sound chip.

[Marcia]

There's a lot to be found with a search for "legacy device drivers." Some sites and forums around that deal specifically with them.

[DaveAtIFG]

SiSoft Sandra is a hardware benchmarking program that will reach deeply into the BIOS on your motherboard AND peripherals and let you see most of what it finds. This should help you identify your hardware so you can find the right drivers. The freely available demo version of Sandra is at [sisoftware.demon.co.uk...]