In Search Of 'Mystery' Devices
I use another method to figure out the "mystery" yellow-question mark hardware in Device Manager. You need to go into the Registry and navigate to
HKLM\System\CurrentControl\Enum\PCI
This is where Windows tracks all of the hardware it detects (i.e. enumerates). Each key in this hive will list the Vendor ID and Device ID for every piece of detected hardware. The IDs are 4 digit hexadecimal numbers.
Example Key: VEN_10DE&DEV_0028&SUBSYS_006010DE&REV_15
Vendor ID is 10DE
Device ID is 0028Under each key there are values listed. Look for the DeviceDesc value to get a plain language description of the hardware device (e.g. "NVidia Riva TNT Pro" for the key listed above). If you see a device description that says "Unknown", that's your yellow question mark item. Make a note of the Vendor ID and Device ID and cruise on over to http://www.pcidatabase.com . Enter the IDs to get a clue about the manufacturer and model of the device. Hopefully you will be able to download drivers from the vendor's website. Not exactly for the faint of heart, but this has helped me out more frustrating driver situations than I care to remember. Thanks for a great newsletter! ---Mike Ornellas
Thanks, Mike! This method and site should work well
for real PCI devices with missing or problematic drivers. If a search to unmask
the identity of a "mystery" device on the pcidatabase.com site leads to a dead
end, other possibilities include the existence of a USB or IEEE 1394 device that
requires no driver; the use by hardware of a virtual device driver--- a .VXD
file--- from an older version of Windows; or simply a device with an ID that
Windows doesn't recognize. It could also be a software-only device driver, which
offers up no ID at all, and leaves Device Manager in the dark.
Another method to track down "mystery" devices is to try to make them vanish
from Device Manager altogether. Boot in Safe mode, for example, then check
Device Manager. Any devices that have vanished are likely software-only device
drivers. One by one, unplug hardware devices before booting and, again, check
Device Manager to see if they've vanished.
Keep in mind, however, that the existence of a yellow question mark in Device
Manager does not mean you actually have a problem needing a fix. There is a wide variety of reasons why
unknown or unrecognized devices--- real, virtual or otherwise--- may be listed.
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