Do hard drives come with the operating system CD's?

[Hirano]

My laptop and my desktop both pretty much are dead.

My desktop: I reformatted that hard drive, and I used dell disks. Later to figure out that I have a Western Digital hard drive. So I used dell disks on a Western Digital hard drive=No drivers so I can't do anything.

My laptop: I reformatted as well, but with the normal disks, and it worked fine, but ever since I did it, it is really slow. And then just today it crapped out, and now it is making really loud noises and saying that I have a faulty connection or something like that.

So I want to get a new hard drive for both. What I want to know is, do Hard Drives come with the Operating System and driver CD's so if I need to reformat it, I can?

Thanks

 

[edfair]

The chipset drivers are normally part of the driver package on the CD.

The reason for having the CD is XP as it originally installs may not find the correct drivers for the network portion of the M/B, and if it can't network it can't get the drivers from the net.

I advise getting the CD out of caution. You might not need it but it is better to have it and not need it than to need it and not have it.

You put your drivers on any media that you have access to. CD, floppy, flash, or another hard drive. Anything you can point and click to get to. The problem is sometimes the chipset drivers are needed to get access to the CD or flash. And then you spend some time beating your head against the floor or apply percussive maintenance to the computer, all in frustration. Most go smoothly, some don't.

Ed Fair
Give the wrong symptoms, get the wrong solutions.

 

[wahnula]

Generally speaking, the most important driver you need is for your LAN (Ethernet or Internet connector). Once you have that, you can navigate to the website for download of the others. Windows XP will load and work with its built-in drivers, after installation you load the specific drivers for your motherboard. Don't worry about northbridge or southbridge, the chipset drivers for your board should have both.

You don't install them to a directory, you let Windows find them (on your flash drive or a CD) and install them.

I looked up the board and could find nothing, so maybe you are a letter off on the part #. We are not looking for the processor, which does not need drivers, but the LAN, audio, video, USB, and chipset. Any unzipping and running of .exe files will happen after XP is installed.

You might want to download Belarc Advisor and run it on the PC after XP install, but it might not recognize hardware that does not have the proper drivers installed. Part of the process BEFORE reloading an OS is to run the Advisor and note the parts, but it's too late for that.

Double-check the motherboard part number please. At the very least, after XP install, Belarc Advisor should be able to tell you that information.

Tony

Users helping Users...

 

[Hirano]

Ok. I have the CD for my wireless internet connecter thing, I think, and I bought the OS, (which I switched to vista btw, but I checked with the people with this problem, and they said the same thing.) They said just install the OS and find the drivers for the internet or ethernet or w/e you are using and install those so your internet works, confirm windows, and install the drivers off the internet. But I just need to know the website that I can install the correct drivers for my chipset and motherboard. And I might be off, but my motherboard says PTBBOPro-A7 Combo, or it says PT88OPro-A7 Combo OR it says PTBB0Pro-A7 Combo, OR it says PT880Pro-A7 Combo. I can't tell the O's and the B's from zero's and eights. Can somone check them all, and get me a website for my chipset and motherboard drivers?

 

[edfair]

Have you tried a google search under those characters?

It is time for you to start taking responsibility for some of the work.

Ed Fair
Give the wrong symptoms, get the wrong solutions.

 

[jurgen36]

I do agree, actually its way past time to take responsibility.
Regards

Jurgen

 

[wahnula]

Since you switched to Vista (hope your graphics chip is up to the task!) the driver loading could be a moot point. Vista has virtually every driver built-in, I did a Vista install (when it first came out) to a separate HDD and ALL the drivers for my hardware were automatically loaded, including the SATA RAID and chipset.

It is time for you to start taking responsibility for some of the work.

True, true, well said edfair. While we don't mind helping, Hirano, we would like to see you trying to help yourself first.


Tony

Users helping Users...

 

[Hirano]

Lol ok guys, thanks for all your help. My vista is coming in a couple of days, and yes, I have googled those and yahoo and dogpile and others, just to no prevail. I have looked back at my processor and motherboard many times and it says the same thing I typed the first time. If you are correct about the chipset and motherboard drivers for vista, man I'm glad I got that. Haha. If not, I can find them on the internet somewhere, and put them on a flashdrive, but my point of asking for the link was just for a a little extra help, because I'm doing all the hardware, and I can use some help with the software.

Thanks everyone :]
Hirano

 

[supertech2000]

What is the speed of your processor, how much memory do you have, how big is your hard drive, etc. Vista needs alot of all of the above to work!!

 

[wahnula]

What is the speed of your processor, how much memory do you have, how big is your hard drive, etc. Vista needs a lot of all of the above to work!!

Not really. Just to work well. At this point it's a moot issue as Hirano has already purchased it, and will hopefully be installing it soon. My guess is that integrated graphics will mean no Aero, but it should still work with all the eye candy turned off.

And, given Hirano's concern about finding & loading drivers, it might actually be a good choice, as Vista's driver integration is way superior to XP's. Worst case, Vista is installed, the hardware becomes identified, and now there's a list for future reference. The user can upgrade RAM & GFX, and possibly CPU in the future.

Most important part to run Vista well is the graphics card, as Vista's graphics engine uses math instead of pixels to draw the desktop. At any rate, we will see how his/her install goes. A friend bought a new Gateway laptop running Vista Home Premium, the Vista performance index was 1.8 out of the box. Still ran, albeit slowly.

Tony

Users helping Users...

 

[Hirano]

Okk. My vista hasn't come yet, but the man said 1-2 business days, and I got it on friday, so It will hopefully come tomorrow. And I actually only got vista because of the integrated drivers for the chipset and motherboard. My graphics card is not integrated, so It should run smoothly. Now all I need is to figure out how to install the drivers for like wireless internet and things like that so my wireless internet USB thing works. It came with a disk, so should I install that? Or does each individual computer need to install drivers for that sort of thing.


THANK YOU ALL SOOOO MUCH. For all of your help and cooperation. If this works, I'm hugging this forum. :] (Btw, I'm a him.)

 

[wahnula]

Start off with the USB device disconnected, in fact EVERYTHING peripheral to the system should be disconnected. Connect one at a time after Vista installation. I just had to re-install Vista and the only thing it didn't pick up was my 1999 modem. All RAID controllers, sound devices, video card, and everything else was detected and installed just fine. Yours will be too.

Tony

Users helping Users...

 

[BadBigBen]

Your motherboard is from BIOSTAR, I did one search on GOOGLE and found them, so the excuse that you already searched for them does not cut it...

I have googled those and yahoo and dogpile and others, just to no prevail.

but here is the link anyway:

http://www.biostar-europe.com/v3/app/de/mb/content.php?S_ID=100

from there you can get all the drivers necessary if you need them, as VISTA will install most already... just make sure that you get the correct ones, e.g. if you got 32bit VISTA then get the VISTA x86 , and if you have the 64bit flavor then get the VISTA x64, note that some of the drivers are universal, meaning that they will work on both...



Ben

"If it works don't fix it! If it doesn't use a sledgehammer..."

 

[Hirano]

Ok. Another problem just came up, but I'm going to try and deal with it. I don't have a working dvd drive, and I got a dvd-rom disk. So I have to wait and get a dvd drive, or the CD's which are only like 10$. But I don't know if I have a 32bit or 64bit computer. How can I tell?

 

[Hirano]

And yeah, just noticed that it does come up on a google search. I might have changed since my last time typing it in, but I did try it. Thanks for that link BadBigBen, I really appreciate it. :]

 

[BadBigBen]

You will need a DVD drive to isntall Vista...

and you do have a 64bit computer, but that is not the problem, as you need to know if you have VISTA in 64bit or 32bit flavour... check the VISTA CD, there may be some clues stamped on it...

or you will have to wait til you install it...


Ben

"If it works don't fix it! If it doesn't use a sledgehammer..."

 

[Hirano]

Ok. I am on my new desktop with Vista 32 installed! Thanks everyone :]

 

[wahnula]

Allright Hirano!

And no driver incompatibilities, right? We really like when someone like yourself returns to update us on the problem. Enjoy!

Tony

Users helping Users...

 

[goombawaho]

Everyone should suggest to the forum operators that threads MUST be "closed" or else the OP would lose their privilege to post again. Does anyone know how to ask the "powers that be" to make that happen?

 

[edfair]

There is no loss of privilege to post again.

The powers to be have argued the close issue on several occasions with the final consensus to leave the thread open so better ideas can be added in case somebody else has the same problem and needs some alternate solutions.

There have been arguements on both sides about adding a solution star so people browsing the threads to help know that help is no longer needed. That suggestion has died from lack of enthusiasm.

 

[deenap]

hard drives would not come with pre installed OS software, reason is that every OS installation acquires information about the system that the hard drive is in, like drives, chipset, cpu other components ect, so if this drive is now taken out and put into another pc with different components, chipset, cpu ect then this drive will have a boot up error as the components list within the hard drives database would not correspond to the actual pc hardware