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Got a Compaq C712nr on Black Friday a few years back and ripped Vista off and installed XP. Now 3 years later, my hard drive takes a dive. So I reinstall XP, but the drivers are nowhere to be found.

Anybody no where to look?

EDIT: Ok, for all you who points towards the official HP site and make a smart remark, notice there is nothing for the wifi, video, audio, and trackpad drivers. At least, they have the keyboard driver.

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Really? Your 3 yo computer? I can find drivers for my 7 yo computer just fine... – SeanJA Jun 10 '10 at 1:33
1  
Yo dawg I herd you like drivers.. – Shiki Jun 10 '10 at 5:54

5 Answers

up vote 2 down vote accepted

Okay, here I come, THE genius. =)
Wireless: Here search for the proper one. You should install "Everest" (home edition will be fine for this.) to check what Wifi card have you got.
Da trackpad: Get Synaptics driver here, this is pretty generic.
Grab the Video driver here dawg: http://downloadcenter.intel.com/Detail_Desc.aspx?agr=Y&DwnldID=18774&lang=eng

For the sound, check Everest info and tell me what card you've got.

{Notice: Added +1 for your question. Don't really see a reason for -1 after my edit. Guess everyone likes to be called a genius, but not that way. (: }

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up vote 3 down vote

You have many drivers in DriverGuide. The Website sucks, has obligatory log in (thanks god for Bugmenot) and for almost everything you click you have a "special offer" to buy membership. Anyway, it has lots of drivers and I always go there when I need some for old computers.

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up vote 2 down vote

Ummm, how about at Compaq?

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This is the first hit googling Compaq C712nr drivers. – Wayne Johnston Jun 10 '10 at 1:27
What is this "googling" of which you speak? I just have... umm... a really good memory of sites... that I've never visited... or sumptin. – msw Jun 10 '10 at 1:32
Why wouldn't the OEM's website be the first place you look for drivers if its a prebuilt machine... – wag2639 Jun 10 '10 at 4:00
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I know being a wise guy is way more fun, but if I need drivers for something other than my keyboard, it's not there. When was the last time you used a laptop without wifi, audio, or trackpad drivers? – JoeCortopassi Jun 10 '10 at 15:42
There's a lesson here: CHECK YOUR SOURCES! =) – BloodPhilia Jun 10 '10 at 16:14
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up vote 1 down vote

General steps for finding drivers:

Step 1: Go to [manufacturer].com. If this is not the manufacturer website, Google [manufacturer] then click the first result.

Step 2: Go to Support.

Step 3: Find your model name/number. Instructions are provided on the website (99% of the time).

Step 4, 5, and 6: Download drivers, run installer, install drivers, restart computer.

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up vote 1 down vote

Ripping Vista from your laptop was a good thing. replacing with XP was not so. A better alternative would be to use Linux, more specifically Ubuntu. I bought a Toshiba Satellite 3.5 years ago, and since then I've always been running Ubuntu. And finding drivers will be easier for older hardwarte under Ubuntu than Vista/Windows 7.

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I like this suggestion. Linux may not be as good as vista but it can definitely finally compete with XP. – djangofan Jun 10 '10 at 16:29
Some laptop comes with a ridiculous installed OS. This was the usual thing back then. Every lappy came with Vista even though Vista was far in the future, needed much stronger hardware than XP. | Now, people tend to look back, use Vista sometimes and hey its not that slow, I don't know why people say its slow. Of course they find it normal, since they got a new machine ever since. | (Even know, an acquaintance of mine got a new machine. A Toshiba Satellite. His Windows 7 is soooo damn slow, I'd have use a XP.) – Shiki Jun 10 '10 at 16:31
Also: Leave Linux. It is far , really behind when it comes to hardware support. Okay, the device works, like the touchpad. But when you eventually want to configure it up, like set mouse properties, its a pain in the arse (only avaliable in xorg.conf edit). Also, battery life is lower than in XP, and.. okay won't list. Linux is problematic, but its almost usable on desktop. For laptops, I'd stick to Windows as long as they won't support them totally. (Guess never, since Linux is quite old and no sign of catching up. Maybe Haiku.) – Shiki Jun 10 '10 at 16:33
I usually dual boot my computers with Ubuntu, but I can't do just Linux. Need XP for work stuff, and WINE just doesn't cut it. Still, +1 for suggesting Linux :-) – JoeCortopassi Jun 10 '10 at 20:24

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