It’s a problem we all encounter at some point: You’ve just re-installed Windows, and now you need to download your Mainboard drivers. But which motherboard do you have again?
Instead of opening your PC case to find the Motherboard model number, check out CPU-Z
CPU-Z is a free, stand-alone application (no installer) that very quickly lets you know your system’s vital statistics (CPU, Mobo, and RAM), so that you can head off and find the drivers you need, without having to open up the PC.
This is something I come across frequently when I’m performing OS refreshes at DisplayLink. I imagine it’s a common problem in most start-ups (are we still are start-up? haha), where PCs are bought to spec on an ad-hoc basis. Often, the only way of finding out the motherboard number is by opening the case, lifting cables, and poking around the motherboard, in an attempt to find the tiny bit of writing on the PCB that tells you its model number. Hardly ideal!
If you have an Intel-based laptop (Centrino and above) and you’re frequently away from your desk, you might want to check out Notebook Hardware Control. In a nutshell, it’s a Windows application designed to extend your battery life by reducing the power consumption of your laptop’s components.
It does this by allowing you to change various settings in your hardware and software. Obvious things like lowering the brightness of your screen, allowing your hard drive to go to sleep, and clocking down your processor are covered. But there’s other useful features such as the facility to under-volt your processor to consume less energy, and settings to reduce the punch of your graphics processor.
I’ve found I get at least 30 minutes more battery life on my Intel Centrino 1.83Ghz. Try it out, and let me know how much extra battery life you get from it!
Whilst studying for the Linux+ Exam just now, something hit me. If you ever run out of SATA/PATA ports on a system, you could just add more drives on the USB bus. this would be nice for the new RAID5 set up. Granted there’s the physical space/storage issues, but it’s still properly accessible storage. I wonder if mdadm would support the hot-plugability of USB in a RAID array. Hmmm… that would be very cool.
Problem: After installing Hardware drivers from Windows Update I found my W3V would not boot up from a hibernated state. The progress bar appears to finish, but windows never loads the GUI.
Solution: Turns out, the LAN drivers Windows Update installs mess with the power management features on the W3V, preventing it from successfully booting from a hibernated state. You should re-install the Asus LAN Drivers from here: http://support.asus.com/download/download.aspx?SLanguage=en-us
Phil is an IT Professional working at DisplayLink in Cambridge,
England. He generally blogs about useful solutions that he comes across in his work/play.
