Driver repair resources
Selected websites for maintaining drivers
If you want to manually search for a driver, or if you need special advice from experts, have a look at the list below. Each of the items was hand-picked by the retired technicians who run Driver Pro to help you keep your drivers up-to-date.
Please remember that, while Driver Pro makes every effort to make sure these links are safe, Driver Pro can't be held responsible for the contents of other people's webpages. If you have a suggestion for a link that should go here, or if a link is broken, please contact us and let us know.
- WinDrivers.com
While WinDrivers.com requires registration, it's free, and it's definitely worth it. WinDrivers has a massive manually-searchable database of drivers, as well as information, tips, and forums on how to use them. Before there was automatic driver software, there was WinDrivers - and it's still here for a reason. - Microsoft Windows Update
Critical driver updates are often pushed to your computer through Windows Update. It's worth stopping by now and then to see if there are new Microsoft-recommended driver updates for your machine. Drivers that are pushed through Windows Update are usually tested by Microsoft themselves. (This site requires that you use Internet Explorer 6 or greater.) - SiSoftware
If you're getting PC errors that you think are related to drivers, you should benchmark your hardware just to be sure. SiSoftware provides a variety of software tools that allow you to "burn in" the components of your PC, a process that places them under real-world load conditions. If your computer crashes while you're running SiSoftware, that's a good indication of a hardware problem that no amount of driver tweaking will fix. - Omega Drivers
Omega Drivers offers custom tweaked drivers for video cards. If you're a video game enthusiast and you have an ATi or nVidia graphics card, using the Omega drivers will improve your in-game performance. Be aware that these drivers are not under warranty and are not supported by anyone (including Omega Drives themselves). - Memtest86+
Do you think you have a driver problem because of blue screens or other serious PC crashes? Try Memtest86+ first. Memtest checks your computer's RAM for deficiencies. If it finds problems, chances are your PC errors have nothing to do with drivers and everything to do with bad RAM. - Braziliantech Creative sound card drivers
The controversial Daniel_K custom drivers for Creative customers running Vista can be found at this link. These drivers unlock several features of your Creative-based sound card that are otherwise crippled under Vista. Please note that these drivers are NOT supported by Creative.
Related Articles
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Download 64-bit drivers
If you're lucky enough to own a computer with a 64-bit processor, you know that there are some driver compatibility issues that came along with your more capable CPU. Manufacturers don't always make it easy to find device drivers for 64-bit computers - but we do.
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Get the full version of Driver Robot for 50% off!
Driver Robot, the top-reviewed driver update utility, is now available at a special 50% discount.
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Update AC97 drivers
Your motherboard's onboard audio ports are attached to a special AC97 audio codec chip. This chip can be produced by several manufacturers - like Realtek, Sigmatel, VIA, and others - making finding the right driver for your motherboard's AC97 codec chip extremely frustrating. That's why we offer Driver Robot. Driver Robot automatically detects what kind of AC97 chip you have and downloads the correct official driver.
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Drivers Update Software
To automatically update your computer's drivers, please download this free driver scan.
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Download new drivers
If you're trying to find the latest drivers for your , you know how frustrating it can be: scouring badly-maintained manufacturer sites, looking for help from strangers on forums...it's way harder than it should be. We recommend you use Driver Robot for updating your drivers. Not only does Driver Robot search for your in a database of over 2,000,000 drivers, it's guaranteed to find the correct driver for your .
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Fix your Device Manager
If you're troubleshooting drivers, you're already familiar with the Device Manager. While it can't do much on its own to help you, the Device Manager is a great tool for identifying out-of-date and missing drivers on your system. Just look for those obnoxious yellow question or exclamation marks!
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Download: Driver Update Tool
Are you looking for a free download of ? Well, we have bad news and good news. The bad news is that these "free" downloads aren't usually fully functional - they typically just tell you if you have driver updates available for your system. Accessing the driver updates through the software often requires purchasing a license.
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Download Drivers
Get Driver Robot today to automatically download the drivers you need. Driver Robot will instantly download the correct driver for any malfunctioning device on your computer. It's fast, easy, and has a 99% success rate. Download it now to get the right drivers on your machine.
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Driver update scan: Official drivers
Driver Robot scans your computer and compares its results to a massive database of over one million official up-to-date drivers. Its fast, thorough scan and 100% accurate results make it our top pick for users looking for a reliable driver update scan. The drivers that Driver Robot installs on to your computer are always the latest official manufacturer drivers, putting your PC's hardware back in top form.
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Update DVD drivers
Even though DVD drives are a standard feature for most PCs now, most versions of Windows still need special software to use a DVD drive properly. If your DVD drive is missing its driver, or if its driver is old and out-of-date, it can give you really annoying errors. The best way to get your DVD drive working properly again is to use an automatic driver update tool. We recommend Driver Robot - it has drivers for every single DVD drive ever made.
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Ethernet Drivers
Even though almost half of all computers have a wireless connection, a wired Ethernet connection still offers the fastest and most reliable network connection for your PC. Without the right drivers, however, your Ethernet connection will be unreliable or completely non-functional. Download Driver Robot now - it automatically installs the latest official drivers for your Ethernet card on to your machine, and doesn't require any technical information about your computer.
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Download Drivers
Recommended: For updating all devices, use Driver Robot. Driver Robot has a database of over 1.5 million drivers, and it can identify every device made after 1994. We highly recommend Driver Robot to all Windows 2000, Windows XP, and Windows Vista users. Driver Robot is the recommended solution for updating drivers.
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Enable for your
Are you trying to enable on your ? Your comes with many advanced features, such as , that can only be unlocked with the correct drivers. Finding the latest official drivers for your that include functionality can be difficult - so why not let an expert do it for you? Driver Robot will automatically find the latest official driver for your that includes functionality - guaranteed.
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Download Driver Robot™ to update drivers
Whether you use a laptop or a desktop, your video card requires the latest drivers to do things like use high-resolution displays, play videos, and run games. Because manufactures so many different types of video cards - internal video cards for laptops, onboard video cards for low-end desktops, and beefy offboard cards for gaming rigs - it's difficult for you to manually find the right driver. We always recommend Driver Robot - it's a great program that automatically scans your computer's hardware and downloads the latest drivers right from the vendor.
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Official Drivers
Finding the right drivers for your PC can be extraordinarily difficult - especially if you don't have access to the disc that came with the computer. Some manufacturers require you to hunt down every single driver for your PC from different parts of their website! We recommend that you use Driver Robot - it automatically detects your PC's exact model number and installs the latest official drivers.
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Download: Monitor Drivers
Even though your monitor isn't part of your computer's internals, it still needs its own driver. A monitor's driver describes the monitor's capabilities to your operating system and graphics card, letting you take full example of the display's features. Without the correct monitor driver, you may not be able to use your screen's optimal resolution or refresh rate, and you might have bugs like a blank, discolored, or flickering display.
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Motherboard Drivers
Installing the right chipset drivers for your motherboard can be a pain - but without them, your onboard sound, video, RAID, and USB won't work. Rather than navigating through a foreign-language website to find the right driver package for your motherboard, use Driver Robot to automatically get them for you. Driver Robot scans your computer and determines the exact model number of your motherboard before downloading and installing the official drivers, right from the manufacturer.
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driver update
If you're trying to connect computer peripherals like printers, webcams, or MP3 players, and your computer isn't recognizing the device when you plug it in, chances are you need a driver update for your interface. Even though it's built in to your computer, Windows still needs drivers to communicate properly with your ports. Without these drivers, Windows will often crash, freeze, or just ignore data coming from the ports. You can use Driver Robot to automatically update your interface driver.
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Scanner Drivers
Recommended: For updating drivers for all USB, Parallel, SCSI, and FireWire scanners by , use Driver Robot. Driver Robot has a huge database of drivers for all scanners made since 1994. We highly recommend Driver Robot to all Windows users who need a driver for their scanner. Driver Robot is the recommended solution for updating scanner drivers.
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printer drivers
The latest printer driver - including special features like advanced control panel software, photo editing software, and other bonuses - is critical to the proper operation of your printer. Don't take the risk of installing an incorrect or out-of-date driver. Download Driver Robot and let it automatically find and install the latest official printer driver from .
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Official sound drivers
Slogging through websites - or, worse yet, the CDs that came with your computer - to find the right driver for your sound card is a nightmare. Is your sound card onboard or offboard? Which version do you have? Does it have special features like a 24-bit DAC or optical output? Don't worry if you don't know the answers to these questions - Driver Robot does, and it automatically updates your computer's sound card driver to the latest official driver from .
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Update Video Drivers
Whether you use a laptop or a desktop, your video card requires the latest drivers to do things like use high-resolution displays, play videos, and run games. Because manufactures so many different types of video cards - internal video cards for laptops, onboard video cards for low-end desktops, and beefy offboard cards for gaming rigs - it's difficult for you to manually find the right driver. We always recommend Driver Robot - it's a great program that automatically scans your computer's hardware and downloads the latest drivers right from the vendor.
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wireless drivers
Manual installation of a wireless driver can be tedious - it requires that you know the model number and revision number of your product, as well as some other technical information about your PC. Put Driver Robot's massive database of official drivers to work for you. Driver Robot automatically installs the correct driver for your wireless card.
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Update sound card drivers
Slogging through manufacturer's websites - or, worse yet, the CDs that came with your computer - to find the right driver for your sound card is a nightmare. Is your sound card onboard or offboard? Which version do you have? Does it have special features like a 24-bit DAC or optical output? Don't worry if you don't know the answers to these questions - Driver Robot does, and it automatically updates your computer's sound card driver to the latest official driver.
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Update printer drivers
Whether you're troubleshooting an inkjet, laser, all-in-one, or network printer, you know what a struggle it is to find and install the right driver. Using the latest official printer driver has all sorts of benefits, like manufacturer support and fewer printer problems. We use Driver Robot on our systems - the software quickly scans for and downloads the correct official printer driver for all of your printers.
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Update video card drivers
We don't need to tell you how badly having the wrong driver for your graphics card completely messes up your computer. If you can't use the correct resolution for your monitor, if your videos aren't playing back properly, or if your computer seems slow in graphic-intensive tasks (like video games), you probably need a video card driver update. We always recommend Driver Robot in these situations - it's guaranteed to install the latest official driver for your video card.
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Official driver updates
Whether you use a laptop or a desktop, your video card requires the latest drivers to do things like use high-resolution displays, play videos, and run games. Because manufactures so many different types of video cards - internal video cards for laptops, onboard video cards for low-end desktops, and beefy offboard cards for gaming rigs - it's difficult for you to manually find the right driver. We always recommend Driver Robot - it's a great program that automatically scans your computer's hardware and downloads the latest drivers right from the vendor.
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Update Vista drivers
Have you upgraded to Windows Vista, only to find that some of your computer's hardware no longer functions? Maybe you bought a computer with Vista preinstalled, but your old printer or webcam doesn't seem to want to work with it. Both of these problems can be traced to incorrect, outdated, or broken Vista drivers for your hardware. You need Driver Robot - it scans your Vista computer for broken or missing drivers and quickly installs the correct ones for you.
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Webcam driver update
Webcams entered the market as clunky, low-resolution peripherals. Driver support was abysmal and the picture quality was equally poor. Thankfully, the devices have improved much since then - resolutions up to 2MP are available, and Windows can often install the drivers automatically. However, many webcams have special features that require a specific driver from the manufacturer. We use Driver Robot in these instances, since it automatically finds and installs the correct driver for any webcam.
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Download Windows 7 Drivers
Windows 7 is packed with awesome new features, and it's way faster than Vista - if you have the right drivers, that is. Most manufacturers haven't even publicly released their drivers yet. To effectively update your Windows 7 drivers, you need Driver Robot. Driver Robot has a database of over 2,000,000 device drivers - including many that are compatible with Windows 7. Download Driver Robot today to automatically update your Windows 7 drivers.
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Fix Windows Media Player driver errors
Windows Media Player, like all media playback computer software, requires the latest official drivers for your sound and video devices. Without the most up-to-date manufacturer driver for these devices, Windows Media Player can have playback problems like choppy video, sound glitches, and missing audio and video.
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Update Windows XP drivers
Just because Windows XP is 7 years old doesn't mean that it's easy to find the right XP-compatible driver for your hardware. Even if you do have a functional driver for your hardware, it could still be out of date, which negatively affects the performance of your hardware. Get Driver Robot today to automatically update your Windows XP drivers to the latest official version.
- Common errors that are caused by outdated drivers Outdated hardware drivers can cause a lot of errors and even crash your computer. This can be a very serious problem and your computer might even fail to start Windows. Here are a few examples of hardware driver errors and how they manifest.
- Games don't work? Check the drivers! We all like to play games on our computers. Some people play them every day, a few hours per day, while some only play once a week or so. Regardless of how much time we spend playing them, games are fun. To play them all we need to do is install and run. However, sometimes the game will simply fail to start and throw an error. In other cases it might start but freeze or crash. This makes our gaming experience very unpleasant doesn’t it?
- Hardware drivers and how they work We have all heard of drivers. But what are these drivers and how do they work? Well, in computing, a device driver (also be called a software driver) is a computer program that allows higher-level computer programs and applications to interact with a hardware device (like your mouse, keyboard, monitor, video board, and so on).
- How to find the best driver for your hardware Finding the best driver for your hardware may seem easy. But after you have tried several drivers and you system keeps throwing errors and restarting itself, you might give it a second thought. The best drivers for your hardware are not so easy to find. Some might spend a few good hours on the internet and find the perfect drivers, while others can spend days without finding the right driver or, perhaps, without finding the driver at all.
- How to identify hardware driver problems Your computer (your operating system in fact) features support for hundreds, and even thousands of hardware accessories (also called devices). These devices include but are not limited to printers, network adapters, digital cameras, and keyboards. These hardware accessories extend what your computer can do. But how does Windows manage to provide this level of flexibility? Simple – by using software called device drivers.
- How to safely install hardware drivers on you PC Drivers are a very important part of your computer. Without them, Windows will not work correctly, your hardware will not work at all, or it will work below average performance. Below, we will try to explain a few simple and safe ways to reinstall, upgrade, or roll back a driver.
- How to use Acer's driver website Card readers are very useful pieces of hardware. If you have a digital camera or a digital video camera, you probably know the advantages of directly reading the memory card on your computer. Fast and easy access to all of your photos and videos. However, card readers will not work immediately after you install them. You might ever encounter errors and crashes.
- How to use ATI's driver website In this tutorial, we will learn how to detect problems that affect our video card, find and download the correct hardware drivers for it, and install these drivers safe and easy. Although you might think that troubleshooting problems and solving them is an easy task, there are many errors that don't have an obvious cause. Further more, you could cause errors yourself by installing a wrong hardware driver or even installing the good one but in a wrong way.
- How to use Canon's driver website In this comprehensive tutorial, I will walk you through the process of finding and installing the latest working hardware driver for your Canon printer. We will visit Canon's webpage, learn how to download the driver (as well as other useful software) and how to install it.
- How to use Gateway's driver website If you are reading this, you are having a problem with your Gateway network controller and are looking for a solution to it. In his comprehensive tutorial, we will explain how to find the problem, how to find and download the latest hardware drivers and how to install them.
- How to use HP's driver website In this tutorial we will search for drivers for a HP LaserJet 4050 printer. Once we find the drivers on the manufacturer's website, we will download and install them. We will also test to see if the drivers work properly. Let's start by identifying the printer's problem.
- How to use Intel's driver website In this comprehensive tutorial we will walk you through the process of finding and installing the hardware drivers for your Intel Gigabit Ethernet Controller. This is a vital part of your operating system. If the Ethernet controller is malfunctioning, you are unable to access the Internet or the local connections.
- How to use LG's driver website You will usually find a database of drivers on the manufacturer's website. Most manufacturers include this database in the Support section, while others include it in the Downloads section. Almost all manufacturers take good care of their database and make it as accessible as possible. NOT LG! Their database of drivers is a total mess!
- How to use Logitech's driver website A webcam is great for anyone! You can see your loved ones and they can see you. You can chat with a person from the other part of the world and see each other in real time. Let's face it, webcams are great tools and it can be quite fun to have one installed. But, like with all great things, you can experience some difficult problems when it comes to installation. It's simply not as easy as it looks in the picture!
- How to use Realtek's driver website Problems with your sound card can prevent you from listening to your favorite music, watch movies, or play Windows sounds. All you will hear is an annoying beep that is coming from the speaker found inside your case. Although sound problems are usually solved in a manner of minutes, some of them can be quite persistent. Solutions to these problems might not be obvious at first glance and might require in-depth analysis. This is a time consuming process and can sometimes result in a total failure to identify the problem.
- Installing a new video card In this tutorial, we will discuss how to install a video card in a PCI Express slot, how to protect your computer and your video card from static electricity during installation, and how to find and install the perfect drivers for your new acquisition. After reading this tutorial, you will have the courage to install your video card and its drivers without the help of an IT specialist.
- Missing hardware driver errors To better understand where missing hardware drivers can lead to, let’s see what a driver really is. In computing, a device driver or software driver is a computer program allowing higher-level computer programs to interact with a hardware device. A driver typically communicates with the device through the computer bus or communications subsystem to which the hardware is connected. When a calling program invokes a routine in the driver, the driver issues commands to the device. Once the device sends data back to the driver, the driver may invoke routines in the original calling program. Drivers are hardware-dependent and operating-system-specific. They usually provide the interrupt handling required for any necessary asynchronous time-dependent hardware interface.
- Missing motherboard drivers Let’s start by learning what a motherboard really is and what it does. According to Wikipedia, a motherboard is the central printed circuit board (PCB) in a complex electronic system, such as a modern computer or laptop. It is also known as a mainboard, system board, and, on Apple computers, a logic board.
- The consequences of installing the wrong driver As you already know, hardware drivers are a very important part of Windows (regardless of its version). If drivers are installed correctly and frequently updated, your hardware device will work at its full capacity. Windows will run smoothly and no errors should occur. However, things change when you install a wrong hardware driver. There were situations when Windows itself installed wrong drivers.
- Why should you have the latest hardware drivers installed Many of us have encountered errors and problems while installing new hardware or peripherals on our computer. Even if our hardware is correctly installed and working, we sometimes get the feeling that something does not work as expected. Maybe the hardware is working slowly, or it is not as responsive as you would expect it to be. It may even crash your system from time to time. Why is our hardware behaving like this? The answer is right under our noses – hardware drivers. These little pieces of software make link our hardware to our software, applications, or operating system.
