How does windows find the correct device driver?

Bazzer Smith wrote:
"mdp" wrote in message
...
Emperor's New Widescreen wrote:


I am not sure how to do this, which particular ENUM key do you have
the full path rathre tham just "ENUM"?



This works for Win98 SE (not sure if it's the same for Standard
Edition but probably is). The path is HKLM\Enum. To get the

* Goto Start, Run, type in Regedit.
* Navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Enum
* Your device is probably under PCI. Expand the VEN ... names under
PCI until you see something familiar that shows up in Device Manager
for the device in question.
* When you find the right entry, click once on the VEN ... item that
it falls under (highlights it). Go up to the pull down menus, select
Registry, select Export Registry File, make sure 'Selected Branch' is
selected at the bottom (not All or you'll get your whole registry),
enter a name for the file and save it.

You can open this up with a text editor such as Notepad or Wordpad
and post the info back here. Be careful if you make any changes to
the contents, a double-click on this file will begin to import
(shows up as a Merge command) this information back into the
Registry. If this happens, you'll get a confirmation window, simply
select No.

Thnaks I will look at that later, I think I found some of that info
using a prog someone recommended I forget the name, no its Everest
IIRC. It came up with two things one was 8119 and I forget the other.
8129 and 8139 have been poppinig up a lot during my 'troubles'.
Anyway I am really tried and coonfused now (just beeen trying to
reinstall windows, which succeeded, but I couuldn't install the card
anyway (setup.exe needed oleaut32.exe of something), I could not
get broadband to work either. Anyway I need a break from it for
a while cos I am getting nowhere fast. Infact I seem to be moving
backwards
O)

Everest is good. I use it too. This link might help also and has a version
that boots from a floppy so you know it's not reporting the Windows driver
but information directly from the HW.

http://www.hwinfo.com/

Bazzer Smith wrote:
"Lee" wrote in message
ups.com...
One aspect that confuses many about installations of such custom
drivers is that Windows keeps a copy of any applied .inf files in
Windows\INF\OTHER folder. That's where Windows looks first and if a
suitable inf file is found there, it is automatically selected. If you
want a choice, delete the offending file(s) from that folder and
Windows will once again start asking for locations for installation
files.

Thanks for that that sounds like that will be very usefull advice (maybe).



The other side of this issue is that any named files required inside
such a custom inf file should be supplied in the same folder as the inf
file. Perhaps THEIR telnet.exe file is different from Win98's copy of
the same named file and it's not working for that issue?

Actually what tend to happen, I believe is I told it to keep the
existing telnet and then it locked up (telnet maybe a red herring).
So next time I though I might as well overwrite it, however it
still failed eventually.

Usually such
named files from these inf files are placed in the Systems folder and
you may have a form of dll hell where similar named dll support files
are not the right versions and/or linked to other missing/wrong
versioned dll files. One might track that a few layers deep with
Dependency Walker but it could get very confusing very fast.
Especially after so many attempts have been made.
http://www.dependencywalker.com/

I will try that when i am feeling brave!!


Try unzipping the cab files to seperate folders so that if a proper
driver is found it is not matched to the wrong support file(s).

Not too sure what you mean my that (maybe) however I did notice
whenI unzipped all the cab files in options/cabs to a folder that
there were different versions of the same .dll in different folders,
I tried to keep the latest. I can't undesrtand why this should be if that
is a copy of what is on the installation disk, you would think that that
would
have its .dll files 'sorted'?


Ahh... so you ARE thinking that only the latest dll is the only one you
should be using? Bad thinking, get rid of what ever caused it. Dll
files are matched in internal functions to other files in a 'set' but
not always do they carry the same date or version numbers even when in
a matched set, so you can go by nothing, say it again, nothing except
the way they are delivered to you in individual cab file packages or
self-extracting packages, or 'true' installation packages. Thus the
need to extract cab files to individual folders containing all the
files of only one cab file so that Windows doesn't grab the wrong
support file(s) from an amassed collection and butcher the installation
good and proper.

Further, since exactly this has been done already you may be in a
position where you are trying to get Windows to overwrite a higher
versioned dll with the needed, correct, older(?), lower versioned(?)
one - and Windows can NOT do that without your manual help in that you
must first find and delete the offending support file(s) so that
Windows can put the correct support file there instead of the wrong one
that doesn't work. This is dll hell. Further some of these files may
need to be registered in their proper location after installation,
without registration they may not work, yet another aspect of dll hell.

Try your best to stay away from Options\Cabs folder for this
installation. That place is overrun with update files to the point
that it's a hodgepodge of God knows what. Pick a temporary folder not
named TEMP, for this work and it's best to keep it a short name that is
DOS accessable. Which means no spaces or periods ect., leading right
to the root (C:\) if possible. C:\NIC1, C:\NIC2, C:\NIC3 for example.
You can delete them after the installation is successful.

I don't know what is on your installation disk, I don't know the
installation instructions for that disk or the card itself. Usually
it's best to do it they way they say too, even if it sounds absolutely
crazy. Try again to get and follow any instructions from them as my
advice so far is only vaguely general in nature and may be the wrong
advise for your partictular installation. You might be better off in a
specific group dealing with the hardware in question.

Bazzer Smith wrote:
"Lee" wrote in message
ups.com...
One aspect that confuses many about installations of such custom
drivers is that Windows keeps a copy of any applied .inf files in
Windows\INF\OTHER folder. That's where Windows looks first and if a
suitable inf file is found there, it is automatically selected. If you
want a choice, delete the offending file(s) from that folder and
Windows will once again start asking for locations for installation
files.

Thanks for that that sounds like that will be very usefull advice (maybe).



The other side of this issue is that any named files required inside
such a custom inf file should be supplied in the same folder as the inf
file. Perhaps THEIR telnet.exe file is different from Win98's copy of
the same named file and it's not working for that issue?

Actually what tend to happen, I believe is I told it to keep the
existing telnet and then it locked up (telnet maybe a red herring).
So next time I though I might as well overwrite it, however it
still failed eventually.

Usually such
named files from these inf files are placed in the Systems folder and
you may have a form of dll hell where similar named dll support files
are not the right versions and/or linked to other missing/wrong
versioned dll files. One might track that a few layers deep with
Dependency Walker but it could get very confusing very fast.
Especially after so many attempts have been made.
http://www.dependencywalker.com/

I will try that when i am feeling brave!!


Try unzipping the cab files to seperate folders so that if a proper
driver is found it is not matched to the wrong support file(s).

Not too sure what you mean my that (maybe) however I did notice
whenI unzipped all the cab files in options/cabs to a folder that
there were different versions of the same .dll in different folders,
I tried to keep the latest. I can't undesrtand why this should be if that
is a copy of what is on the installation disk, you would think that that
would
have its .dll files 'sorted'?


Ahh... so you ARE thinking that only the latest dll is the only one you
should be using? Bad thinking, get rid of what ever caused it. Dll
files are matched in internal functions to other files in a 'set' but
not always do they carry the same date or version numbers even when in
a matched set, so you can go by nothing, say it again, nothing except
the way they are delivered to you in individual cab file packages or
self-extracting packages, or 'true' installation packages. Thus the
need to extract cab files to individual folders containing all the
files of only one cab file so that Windows doesn't grab the wrong
support file(s) from an amassed collection and butcher the installation
good and proper.

Further, since exactly this has been done already you may be in a
position where you are trying to get Windows to overwrite a higher
versioned dll with the needed, correct, older(?), lower versioned(?)
one - and Windows can NOT do that without your manual help in that you
must first find and delete the offending support file(s) so that
Windows can put the correct support file there instead of the wrong one
that doesn't work. This is dll hell. Further some of these files may
need to be registered in their proper location after installation,
without registration they may not work, yet another aspect of dll hell.

Try your best to stay away from Options\Cabs folder for this
installation. That place is overrun with update files to the point
that it's a hodgepodge of God knows what. Pick a temporary folder not
named TEMP, for this work and it's best to keep it a short name that is
DOS accessable. Which means no spaces or periods ect., leading right
to the root (C:\) if possible. C:\NIC1, C:\NIC2, C:\NIC3 for example.
You can delete them after the installation is successful.

I don't know what is on your installation disk, I don't know the
installation instructions for that disk or the card itself. Usually
it's best to do it they way they say too, even if it sounds absolutely
crazy. Try again to get and follow any instructions from them as my
advice so far is only vaguely general in nature and may be the wrong
advise for your partictular installation. You might be better off in a
specific group dealing with the hardware in question.

"Lee" wrote in message
oups.com...

Bazzer Smith wrote:
"Lee" wrote in message
ups.com...
One aspect that confuses many about installations of such custom
drivers is that Windows keeps a copy of any applied .inf files in
Windows\INF\OTHER folder. That's where Windows looks first and if a
suitable inf file is found there, it is automatically selected. If you
want a choice, delete the offending file(s) from that folder and
Windows will once again start asking for locations for installation
files.

Thanks for that that sounds like that will be very usefull advice
(maybe).



The other side of this issue is that any named files required inside
such a custom inf file should be supplied in the same folder as the inf
file. Perhaps THEIR telnet.exe file is different from Win98's copy of
the same named file and it's not working for that issue?

Actually what tend to happen, I believe is I told it to keep the
existing telnet and then it locked up (telnet maybe a red herring).
So next time I though I might as well overwrite it, however it
still failed eventually.

Usually such
named files from these inf files are placed in the Systems folder and
you may have a form of dll hell where similar named dll support files
are not the right versions and/or linked to other missing/wrong
versioned dll files. One might track that a few layers deep with
Dependency Walker but it could get very confusing very fast.
Especially after so many attempts have been made.
http://www.dependencywalker.com/

I will try that when i am feeling brave!!


Try unzipping the cab files to seperate folders so that if a proper
driver is found it is not matched to the wrong support file(s).

Not too sure what you mean my that (maybe) however I did notice
whenI unzipped all the cab files in options/cabs to a folder that
there were different versions of the same .dll in different folders,
I tried to keep the latest. I can't undesrtand why this should be if that
is a copy of what is on the installation disk, you would think that that
would
have its .dll files 'sorted'?


Ahh... so you ARE thinking that only the latest dll is the only one you
should be using? Bad thinking, get rid of what ever caused it. Dll
files are matched in internal functions to other files in a 'set' but
not always do they carry the same date or version numbers even when in
a matched set, so you can go by nothing, say it again, nothing except
the way they are delivered to you in individual cab file packages or
self-extracting packages, or 'true' installation packages. Thus the
need to extract cab files to individual folders containing all the
files of only one cab file so that Windows doesn't grab the wrong
support file(s) from an amassed collection and butcher the installation
good and proper.

You would expect the latest version to best though.
Can two programs run different version simultaneously?

The rest of the system still runs fine though, despite my efforts.


Further, since exactly this has been done already you may be in a
position where you are trying to get Windows to overwrite a higher
versioned dll with the needed, correct, older(?), lower versioned(?)
one - and Windows can NOT do that without your manual help in that you
must first find and delete the offending support file(s) so that
Windows can put the correct support file there instead of the wrong one
that doesn't work. This is dll hell. Further some of these files may
need to be registered in their proper location after installation,
without registration they may not work, yet another aspect of dll hell.

Is there something to report/fix this? Lke system file checker?


Try your best to stay away from Options\Cabs folder for this
installation. That place is overrun with update files to the point
that it's a hodgepodge of God knows what. Pick a temporary folder not
named TEMP, for this work and it's best to keep it a short name that is
DOS accessable. Which means no spaces or periods ect., leading right
to the root (C:\) if possible. C:\NIC1, C:\NIC2, C:\NIC3 for example.
You can delete them after the installation is successful.

I don't know what is on your installation disk, I don't know the
installation instructions for that disk or the card itself. Usually
it's best to do it they way they say too, even if it sounds absolutely
crazy. Try again to get and follow any instructions from them as my
advice so far is only vaguely general in nature and may be the wrong
advise for your partictular installation. You might be better off in a
specific group dealing with the hardware in question.

The instructions are not very good, there is even a screen shot
of it not finding a .dll it needs, and it just says click OK,
which endlessly results in the same error. That kind of thing dooesn't
give you a whole lot of confidence in the card suppliers does it.
Card was dirt cheap (for the UK at £5, others were £20).

I would post the instructions as an attachment but it is 17meg adobe acrobat
file. Maybe I can post a part of it?

"Lee" wrote in message
oups.com...

Bazzer Smith wrote:
"Lee" wrote in message
ups.com...
One aspect that confuses many about installations of such custom
drivers is that Windows keeps a copy of any applied .inf files in
Windows\INF\OTHER folder. That's where Windows looks first and if a
suitable inf file is found there, it is automatically selected. If you
want a choice, delete the offending file(s) from that folder and
Windows will once again start asking for locations for installation
files.

Thanks for that that sounds like that will be very usefull advice
(maybe).



The other side of this issue is that any named files required inside
such a custom inf file should be supplied in the same folder as the inf
file. Perhaps THEIR telnet.exe file is different from Win98's copy of
the same named file and it's not working for that issue?

Actually what tend to happen, I believe is I told it to keep the
existing telnet and then it locked up (telnet maybe a red herring).
So next time I though I might as well overwrite it, however it
still failed eventually.

Usually such
named files from these inf files are placed in the Systems folder and
you may have a form of dll hell where similar named dll support files
are not the right versions and/or linked to other missing/wrong
versioned dll files. One might track that a few layers deep with
Dependency Walker but it could get very confusing very fast.
Especially after so many attempts have been made.
http://www.dependencywalker.com/

I will try that when i am feeling brave!!


Try unzipping the cab files to seperate folders so that if a proper
driver is found it is not matched to the wrong support file(s).

Not too sure what you mean my that (maybe) however I did notice
whenI unzipped all the cab files in options/cabs to a folder that
there were different versions of the same .dll in different folders,
I tried to keep the latest. I can't undesrtand why this should be if that
is a copy of what is on the installation disk, you would think that that
would
have its .dll files 'sorted'?


Ahh... so you ARE thinking that only the latest dll is the only one you
should be using? Bad thinking, get rid of what ever caused it. Dll
files are matched in internal functions to other files in a 'set' but
not always do they carry the same date or version numbers even when in
a matched set, so you can go by nothing, say it again, nothing except
the way they are delivered to you in individual cab file packages or
self-extracting packages, or 'true' installation packages. Thus the
need to extract cab files to individual folders containing all the
files of only one cab file so that Windows doesn't grab the wrong
support file(s) from an amassed collection and butcher the installation
good and proper.

You would expect the latest version to best though.
Can two programs run different version simultaneously?

The rest of the system still runs fine though, despite my efforts.


Further, since exactly this has been done already you may be in a
position where you are trying to get Windows to overwrite a higher
versioned dll with the needed, correct, older(?), lower versioned(?)
one - and Windows can NOT do that without your manual help in that you
must first find and delete the offending support file(s) so that
Windows can put the correct support file there instead of the wrong one
that doesn't work. This is dll hell. Further some of these files may
need to be registered in their proper location after installation,
without registration they may not work, yet another aspect of dll hell.

Is there something to report/fix this? Lke system file checker?


Try your best to stay away from Options\Cabs folder for this
installation. That place is overrun with update files to the point
that it's a hodgepodge of God knows what. Pick a temporary folder not
named TEMP, for this work and it's best to keep it a short name that is
DOS accessable. Which means no spaces or periods ect., leading right
to the root (C:\) if possible. C:\NIC1, C:\NIC2, C:\NIC3 for example.
You can delete them after the installation is successful.

I don't know what is on your installation disk, I don't know the
installation instructions for that disk or the card itself. Usually
it's best to do it they way they say too, even if it sounds absolutely
crazy. Try again to get and follow any instructions from them as my
advice so far is only vaguely general in nature and may be the wrong
advise for your partictular installation. You might be better off in a
specific group dealing with the hardware in question.

The instructions are not very good, there is even a screen shot
of it not finding a .dll it needs, and it just says click OK,
which endlessly results in the same error. That kind of thing dooesn't
give you a whole lot of confidence in the card suppliers does it.
Card was dirt cheap (for the UK at £5, others were £20).

I would post the instructions as an attachment but it is 17meg adobe acrobat
file. Maybe I can post a part of it?