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I'm looking for some serious windows driver download pages. It seems that looking for them in google is a waste of time, as they're mostly scam pages, or referring to some dodgy software. What I've found so far in case someone else runs into them (not including www-s and com-s, so that those don't become links):

Scam:

  1. driver-download
  2. soft32
  3. driverfiles net
  4. bioticaindia

Advertising software by faking normal downloads:

  1. drivershq
  2. driversdownloadsfree
  3. drivermax

Working, but requiring a lot of work / going around loads of ads:

  1. driverguide

Still I didn't find the drivers I needed, so I'm looking for other answers...

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3 Answers

up vote 6 down vote
  • Windows Update
  • The device manufacturer's site

That's all I would trust.

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Unfortunately that doesn't work for stuff like: almost-generic integrated ICH6 audio inside a rebranded acer that is 5 years out of production :/ (on xp, there's no manufacturer's page) – viraptor Oct 11 '09 at 18:12
Many sites just want you to download their bogus driver fixing (read that as driver breaking) software. Windows updates and manufactures websites are the best. We use driver guide at work and it is ok but ad heavy. A tip after you find the driver you are after, hang on to it. We have a driver dvd at work just filled with old drivers. If I have an unknown device and am having trouble nailing it down, I through in the disc and let windows have a look see. Nine times out of ten it finds one that works. – Daddy Su Oct 12 '09 at 0:24
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up vote 1 down vote

Good luck. Take a common windows problem, and common google search to resolve the problem, and as you've found you're presented with a wonderful opportunity to get scammed.

You might have luck searching for very specific drivers - open up the machine, search for manufacturers number, chip identifiers, etc - something that's unlikely to be common-place.

It sounds like you're looking for a way to get sound - one option would be to purchase a used sound card, if you live in an area that has 2nd-hand computer stores, pawn shops might also have some older hardware that you could use.

Finally, you could always try booting with linux - newer distributions are pretty good at supporting older hardware. At the very least, you might get some clues as to the hardware that'll make searching a bit easier.

Good luck.

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It's a laptop, the chipset name brings up DriverDetective on most pages and the user needs windows. Good ideas, but I can't use them ;) I've already installed the driver through DriverMax, but opened the question as a community wiki in case I/someone else needs the links in the future ;) – viraptor Oct 15 '09 at 19:26
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up vote 0 down vote

Drivermax is a good one.

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After searching you get "Click here to download driver" which points you to drivermax download page. This is exactly what I did not want to get. – viraptor Oct 11 '09 at 21:28
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