Some Notes on the Machines

Here is one:

http://drp.su/

Here are great places to find drivers and info for HP devices by serial number.

First, workstations and printers:

http://h20565.www2.hp.com/portal/site/hpsc/template.PAGE/public/psi/swdSelector/?spf_p.tpst=psiProductSelector&spf_p.prp_psiProductSelector=wsrp-navigationalState%3D_op%253Dserial&javax.portlet.begCacheTok=com.vignette.cachetoken&javax.portlet.endCacheTok=com.vignette.cachetoken

Second, Enterprise, for servers, storage, and networking:

http://h20566.www2.hpe.com/portal/site/hpsc/template.PAGE/public/psi/swdSelector/?cc=us&javax.portlet.begCacheTok=com.vignette.cachetoken&javax.portlet.endCacheTok=com.vignette.cachetoken&javax.portlet.prp_867000c4cf25636cc859bfdeb053ce01=wsrp-navigationalState%3D_op%253Dserial&javax.portlet.tpst=867000c4cf25636cc859bfdeb053ce01&lang=en-us&ac.admitted=1438961375712.125225703.1938120508

To get Autodesk’s recommended drivers for its products, use this tool:

http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/syscert?id=18844534&siteID=123112

In case they move the URL, this is the “Find Recommended Hardware” page, which is very different than the “AutoCAD Hardware Advisor”.

Try this:

http://www.win-raid.com/t15f37-NVIDIA-Optimized-nForce-Driverpacks-for-Vista-Win.html

New versions of the HP Universal Printer Drivers are actually working well for such difficult situations as an older USB laser printer shared from an XP box to Windows 7 ×64. Here are elements:

1. The HP web page for your printer, may list only HPU PCL 5 or PCL 6. That’s the version you will need to have.
2. Copy the appropriate downloadable to both the host PC and the client PC. If the host is 32-bit and the guest is 64-bit, put the 32-bit downloadable on the host and the 64-bit downloadable on the guest. If different, do accordingly :-)
3. Do NOT run the downloadable. Install 7zip or equivalent, and unpack to a folder.
4. Make sure simple file sharing is off, and make sure both host and client have identical logins set up if this is not a domain network.
5. If you are running a non-universal driver on the host, you can keep it if you want; but you do need to install an instance (or a second instance) of the printer using the appropriate HP Universal driver. Use the Windows printer add dialogue, not the HP Universal’s application. Share it to the network.
6. On the client, again unpack, don’t run the downloadable.
7. Don’t use the printer add dialogue on the client! Browse to the host, e.g., by putting “\\HOSTNAME” in the Explorer address area. Your printer will be visible. Right-click on it and choose “Connect”. If you chose to keep an original non-HP-Universal driver object, there will be two printer objects, and be sure to pick the right one!
8. Eventually Windows will ask you for a driver if it needs one. Browse to the location at which you have unpacked the appropriate HP Universal driver, and tell it to go.

Try this:

bcdedit -set loadoptions DDISABLE_INTEGRITY_CHECKS
bcdedit -set TESTSIGNING ON

To reverse:

bcdedit /deletevalue loadoptions
bcdedit -set TESTSIGNING OFF

The download page for Sharp products (MFPs and other things) used to be easy to find. Now it’s not. Here it is:

http://www.sharpusa.com/CustomerSupport/ProductDownloads.aspx

If a NIC disappears altogether, try an actual unplug of the PC for 10-15 seconds, and then fire it up again.  It worked for me, recommended by a vendor’s tech support.  Realtek gigabit NIC.  The recommended fix was to update all drivers.

Sometimes hidden devices can exist as objects in the Device Manager.  When these are NICs, and sometimes monitors and other things, problems can occur.  To see these, do this:

1. Open Command Prompt. Then enter:

2. set devmgr_show_nonpresent_devices=1

3. devmgmt.msc

4. When the Device Manager comes up as requested by #3, there will be a “View” menu.  Open the View menu, and choose “Show Hidden Devices”.

Somewhat mysteriously, performance of Intel software RAID appears to increase a lot if one restarts the service twice or more per day.  I am using these two commands:

NET STOP IAStorDataMgrSvc
NET START IAStorDataMgrSvc

The name of the service may need to be changed, depending on multiple factors.  The names can be obtained using the properties of the services within ‘services.msc’.