Missing Drivers in XP OEM

[Mark Taylor]

I had an HP with Win XP Home and SP1 on it to which I added SP2. Everying
worked fine ! I have bought an Acer with XP Pro and SP1, 2 and bits of 3
installed and there seem to be drivers missing which mean some applications
fail. I can install most in Safe Mode but some applications still hang on the
new machine (where they did not on the old one). All security (firewalls etc)
are off. I have a copy of XP SP2 on CD. If I try and install it in the hopes
it will have the missing drivers does anyone know if it will try to uninstall
the OEM version of SP2 or will it simply update the system? Does SP2 include
the updates of SP1? Will SP3 fix this problem. Or is the answer all or none
of the above.

 

[Shenan Stanley]

I had an HP with Win XP Home and SP1 on it to which I added SP2.
Everying worked fine ! I have bought an Acer with XP Pro and SP1, 2
and bits of 3 installed and there seem to be drivers missing which
mean some applications fail. I can install most in Safe Mode but
some applications still hang on the new machine (where they did not
on the old one). All security (firewalls etc) are off. I have a
copy of XP SP2 on CD. If I try and install it in the hopes it will
have the missing drivers does anyone know if it will try to
uninstall the OEM version of SP2 or will it simply update the
system? Does SP2 include the updates of SP1? Will SP3 fix this
problem. Or is the answer all or none of the above.

Missing drivers? Download the drivers (from the individual hardware
manufacturers of the components you need them for or at least from the
overall vendor of the main product's support web page) and install them -
there is no need for all this OS installation if all you are missing are
hardware drivers.

Hardware drivers are the responsibility of the hardware manufacturers -
there are likely many thousand (tens or hundreds of thuosands by now) that
are not included in the basic Windows XP installation - or any OS
installation for that matter. You have to know what you have and get the
correct drivers from the hardware manufacturers support web pages.

Service Packs are cumulative. SP1 contains all the fixes released before
it. SP2 contains all the fixes released before it - including SP1. SP3
will contain all the fixes released before it including SP2 (which already
contains SP1 which also contains the fixes released before SP1...)

 

[DL]

Are you saying you slipstreamed OEM editions of Winxp?
Are you using the Acer supplied winxp or a generic OEM?
Sp3 if that what you are saying is still, a beta / RC1 it would be most
unwise to use this on anything but a test PC

 

[Mark Taylor]

Shenan,

No these are software drivers and this is the OS which came preinstalled. I
have heard from certain developers that some manufacturers put out cut down
versions of the OS software which is missing .dll files required to run their
software. Obvviously thety can not tell me what is missing and their website
provide no updates.

This is an Acer Extensa E210 and I can not find it mentioned on the Acer
website and others using Acer products with the same motherboard have found
them sililarly unhelpful.

 

[DL]

I think maybe you will find this model was supplied by certain large sheds
and as such is not supported by Acer, but by the particular shed you
purchased from.
You still dont explain what you mean by 'bits of 3'