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Determining Hardware on a Laptop

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Grandcheapskate

Veteran Member
Joined
Oct 9, 2014
Messages
822
Location
New Jersey, USA
Hi Guys,
I just picked up an HP Pavilion G7 laptop and had to completely wipe out the hard drive without ever getting it to boot up with the existing OS. I tried loading the laptop with Win XP but apparently XP does not run on this machine, so I went with Win 7 x64.

I have Win 7 loaded and booted but my problem is a lot of the hardware needs drivers. In looking at the HP site there are many drivers for this model for things such as network and graphics and I have no idea what hardware is inside this machine and therefore which driver to use. So how do I decide the proper driver or is it a crap shoot - try each one until one does the trick?

Thanks...Joe
 
www.bleepingcomputer.com

Download Hardware Identify

Hardware Identify is a program that lists all installed hardware devices on your computer and displays information about each device. Using this information you can quickly determine if your driver is old and needs to be updated. This program is also useful when you are upgrading various...
www.bleepingcomputer.com www.bleepingcomputer.com

Use this tool to find the hardware id's of devices stored without drivers. Sure you can do it manually, but this makes it so much easier. It also checks if you have the newest drivers as well as help you find them.
 
It is possible to get Windows XP running on a G7, but it's a royal pain to do, I don't recommend it. I have a G7-1338DX and had to briefly run XP for some old software. I have 11 on it now.

As for drivers, look at the bottom of your laptop for your specific G7 model and smash it into google, you should end up in the HP driver pages and have all of the drivers available.
 
Hi Guys,
Thanks for the replys.
I downloaded the Hardware Identify Utility but it just shows "unknown" for the manufacturer of all the devices which have no drivers.
I found the model (C2M31UA#ABA) and serial numbers (there are no stickers on the machine but I did find them via the BIOS). Of course HP says the machine is "retired" so HP removed all the drivers. Pathetic.
The machine came loaded with Win 8 so there may not even be drivers for Win 7.
My knowledge basically stopped at Win XP so when I have to venture beyond that point I feel like a novice and get frustrated. And I think that is where I am with this machine.
At this point it may well just be a doorstop if I can't get it fully loaded.

Joe
 
Last edited:
Just use the device manager and get the hardware string from the hardware tab and paste that in Google, it'll tell you what the device is most of the time.
 
Thanks for the tip. I used the hardware IDs and was able to get most of the drivers. Still cannot get a working driver for the graphics card (the message says I do not meet the minimum hardware requirements??) but at least it is no longer just a brick.

Thanks...Joe
 
In addition to being unable to find the drivers for the graphics chip, there are two other devices for which I cannot find the drivers. Here are the three hardware IDs:

Graphics:
PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_0116&SUBSYS_1845103C&REV_09

PCI Simple Communication Controller (Win 8 only?):
PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_1E3A&SUBSYS_1845103C&REV_04

USB Controller:
PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_1E31&SUBSYS_1845103C&REV_04

There are three USB ports but only one will read my flash drive. I understand the prior owner never got a wireless mouse to work even using the one "working" port.

And the first thing I will have to do once this machine is fully working is to disable the function which causes the internal mouse pad to perform a "left mouse click" whenever I press on it...I hate that.

Thanks...Joe
 
Maikudou said:
You probably already checked there, but it seems they do have drivers as old as 2011 for win7, is it the wrong model? https://support.hp.com/ca-en/drivers/hp-pavilion-g7-1100-notebook-pc-series/5082232
Click to expand...
Yeah, that was the first place I looked. The problem is the HP site will not give me any info on the specifications for this particular machine (based on serial number). So I have no idea what hardware is inside and therefore which drivers are needed. If you look at that list of drivers, it is for all sorts of hardware which is why I wondered in the OP if it was a crap shoot - try each one and hope one works.

In fact, I don't even know what model it is because there are no external markings on the laptop. Using the HP site based on product number still does not give me the model number.

I seem to be close to finding all the drivers, at least for the hardware which will work with Win 7. The one that really gets me is why I cannot find a video driver.

Joe
 
Grandcheapskate said:
In addition to being unable to find the drivers for the graphics chip, there are two other devices for which I cannot find the drivers. Here are the three hardware IDs:

Graphics:
PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_0116&SUBSYS_1845103C&REV_09
Click to expand...

www.intel.com

Intel® HD Graphics Driver for Windows 7* & Windows Vista* (exe)

This download installs version 15.22.54.2622 of the Intel® HD Graphics driver for Windows* 7 and Windows Vista.
www.intel.com www.intel.com

Grandcheapskate said:
PCI Simple Communication Controller (Win 8 only?):
PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_1E3A&SUBSYS_1845103C&REV_04
Click to expand...

You can ignore this, it's the Intel Management Engine. It's only used in enterprise environments.

Grandcheapskate said:
USB Controller:
PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_1E31&SUBSYS_1845103C&REV_04

There are three USB ports but only one will read my flash drive. I understand the prior owner never got a wireless mouse to work even using the one "working" port.
Click to expand...

That's the USB 3.0 controller. One of the HP downloads on this page should work. This is why some of the USB ports aren't working.

Universal Serial Bus (USB) Controller Driver - Free Download For Windows - Hewlett-Packard - HP Pavilion G7 Notebook PC

This page contains the driver installation download for Universal Serial Bus (USB) Controller in supported models (HP Pavilion G7 Notebook PC) that are running a supported operating system.
www.driveridentifier.com
 
GiGaBITe,
Thank you. The USB 3.0 driver worked great and those ports are now working.

However, I got the same error message trying to install the graphics driver which I had gotten before:
"This computer does not meet the minimum requirements for installing the software". This error displays in a pop-up box with no other codes or warnings.

Any further thoughts? Could it be the graphics chip in this laptop requires Win 8? Doesn't seem like this would be the reason since the driver is for Win 7.

After a career spent in mainframe IT, this increasingly new technology (yeah, I know this is over a decade old) is becoming increasing difficult for me to work with. I don't see how someone without years of experience can be expected to know this stuff or keep up with it. I know I cannot figure out Win 10 whenever I have to help a buddy out.

Thanks...Joe
 
The HD2000/3000 IGP definitely supports Windows 7, I had it running for years on my G7.

Here's another download to try, make sure you get the correct version for your OS. I don't know if you're running 32 or 64 bit Windows 7
www.techspot.com

Intel HD Graphics 2000/3000 Driver 15.28.24.64.4229

Download Intel HD Graphics 2000/3000 Driver 15.28.24.64.4229. OS support: Windows 7 / 8. Category: Graphics Cards
www.techspot.com www.techspot.com

If this still doesn't work, you may have to manually extract the driver files from the executable and point Windows where to find them.
 
Thank you...the last graphics driver worked. Just an FYI, this is Windows 7 Ultimate 64 bit.

Now that I have everything I can initialize the machine again and do clean installs of all the drivers. The only two things left for me to do is (1) find out why the wireless mouse isn't working and (2) see if I can turn off the touch pad so it is just a mouse.

I am amazed anyone can keep up their knowledge when everything keeps changing.

Thanks...Joe
 
Grandcheapskate said:
The only two things left for me to do is (1) find out why the wireless mouse isn't working
Click to expand...

What brand is the mouse? Also make sure that the power button is on if it has one.

If you have a Logitech mouse that you bought from a 3rd party source, or it was one you had around the house that you don't remember where it came from, you'll probably need to pair it to the dongle you have, if any. Logitech has two different pairing utilities depending on what version you have. The older micro dongle uses the older pairing software, while the newer unifying dongle with the red star requires the unifying software.

If it's a Microsoft mouse, they probably have a similar pairing thing. If it's a Bluetooth mouse, you'll have to make sure your bluetooth dongle is working and use whatever software that came with it.

Grandcheapskate said:
and (2) see if I can turn off the touch pad so it is just a mouse.
Click to expand...

Unfortunately, the G7 laptops don't have a way to disable the track pad that I'm aware of. I double checked in the BIOS and in the Synaptic control panel, there was no option to turn it off.

Grandcheapskate said:
I am amazed anyone can keep up their knowledge when everything keeps changing.
Click to expand...

You wouldn't want my day job lol.
 
GiGaBiTe said:
Unfortunately, the G7 laptops don't have a way to disable the track pad that I'm aware of. I double checked in the BIOS and in the Synaptic control panel, there was no option to turn it off.
Click to expand...

On my Probook G5 (admittedly not the same model, but probably isn't much different), go to Settings > Bluetooth & Devices > Touchpad. From there, the gestures/taps can be turned on/off - or the touchpad can be disabled completely.
 
Hi Guys,
Thanks for all the help. I think the wireless mouse (Logitech) probably doesn't work although I will try it on another computer when I get a chance. The on/off switch in the back doesn't move so I cannot tell whether it is in the on or off position. I hooked up a USB mouse so I don't have to fool with it anymore.

As to the touch pad I will look at the Bluetooth settings. I was able to install the Synaptic software and move the sensitivity setting to "heavy" so now you really have to pound on the pad to get it to act like a mouse click. With the external mouse hooked in I will rarely use the touch pad.

All in all I think the machine is fully functional...and it only took a week! I could never have done it without you guys, and especially GiGaBiTe, so thank you again.

Joe
 
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