Fresh install of computer but missing many drivers

Question

I recently acquired an HP Z420 without a hard drive, and so I have to do a fresh install of it. It came with the Windows 7 (64 bit Professional) install CD, which ran fine. But, quite a few of the drivers are missing, including the driver(s) required for network access, making this a real headache. I went to HP's site for drivers on this machine and tried all 4 of the 7 drivers that were listed for my system under the "Driver - Network" category (the other 2 are wireless and the 3rd "Broadcom NetXtreme..." didn't seem appropriate) to no avail. I then noticed under Device Manager that the Ethernet Controller driver was missing. As an aside, I can't figure out if this is the same thing as a network driver. Returning to HP's driver site, the only thing I could find was this one under the "Firmware" category, but that also failed.

I'm now at a loss as to how to proceed. My impression is that maybe there's some other driver that I need to install before I can even get to the network adapter, but that's just a guess. Here's a screenshot of Device Manager, showing what's missing:

For reference, I've built a computer before and would call myself a well-versed amateur at these sorts of things, though I don't know much when it comes to BIOS-level and hardware driver-level matters.

Answer 1

We have that same model of desktop computer (HP Z420) at work. Unfortunately, the vendor's web site isn't always the most accommodating source when it comes to device drivers.

If at all possible, try to find another HP Z420 that is up and running with Windows 7 x64. Copy the %SystemDrive%\Windows\System32\DriverStore folder to a DVD-R or an external USB drive. Once you have it, you can temporarily attach it to your computer and do the following:

1. Within Device Manager, right-click each missing device and select Update driver software...

   

2. On the next screen select Browse my computer for driver software

   

3. Navigate to the temporary location of that DriverStore folder, ensure that the box is checked to Include subfolders and click Next

   

Follow the same procedure for every problematic device, and each driver will be installed successfully.

Answer 2

Sometimes, just downloading the driver files is NOT the final step as those files are binaries which have to be installed first and THEN searched for drivers. IE you download a file like SP704047.exe Broadcom NIC drivers and utilities.

Then upon so called "install" you will get prompts "do you want to..." but that does NOT install the actual drivers in as lot of cases it only unpacks the software package to a folder called SW on your hard drive in the root.

Its a complicated way to say "unzip" or "Extract to " which only makes those files available. You must then select the device in device manager and then update driver and browse to that folder This should be enough to get the installer to recognize the appropriate drivers and then begin install.