Make my laptop stop searching for missing PCI devices?

[Melonhoney]

Erm, I don't know if such threads are appreciated here, but I feel like the people are are probably more qualified than Yahoo Answers, lol.

So a long time ago, the laptop I'm using (Acer Extensa 5420, Windows Vista) was dropped (not by me!1) and the PCI devices have been broken since. I'm not sure which ones they are and how to tell. I already took it to a shop and they were able to get the laptop working, but not the PCI devices. The main thing I'm wondering is if there's a way to make the laptop stop searching for the PCI devices. There's no way to get them back and I receive no results when I try, but for some reason, every time I turn on the laptop it takes forever for that "Missing PCI device" message



to pop up and I have no internet at all until it does. It probably takes up to 20 minutes. Plus, I have to close the message over and over and over before it finally goes away. I feel like it would make things easier if I could get rid of that, and hopefully it won't effect the laptop in any way.

So does anyone know if there's a way to make this laptop stop searching for the PCI devices?

[Disconsented]

Physically remove them or install the drivers for them.

[Melonhoney]

Disconsented

Physically remove them or install the drivers for them.

Well... as far as I know, they can't be installed. The dudes at the shop tried and failed.

But do you know how I can physically remove them? Or what they look like? I'm a total amateur. I'm probably gonna get my brother/dad to do it. ._.

edit
My brother actually said that it's attached to the motherboard. So... er. I guess they can't be removed?

[God Emperor Akhenaton]

So it is the PCI devise. Do you know if it's the wifi?

[Minion4Hire]

Nova Mistral

the laptop I'm using [...] was dropped (not by me!1) and the PCI devices have been broken since.

I already took it to a shop and they were able to get the laptop working, but not the PCI devices.

I'm just curious... did they get the laptop working by replacing the hard drive? Or perhaps reinstalling Windows?

Maybe a simpler question - did you lose your data after you got it back?

If the above is true then the drop had nothing to with this PCI device. The shop you took it to failed to install all of the drivers (or the correct drivers) for the hardware in your computer and XP doesn't have a generic driver that it can install.

Open Device Manager. What is listed under the "Other" or "Unknown devices" category there?

[Melonhoney]

Minion4Hire

Nova Mistral

the laptop I'm using [...] was dropped (not by me!1) and the PCI devices have been broken since.

I already took it to a shop and they were able to get the laptop working, but not the PCI devices.

I'm just curious... did they get the laptop working by replacing the hard drive? Or perhaps reinstalling Windows?

Maybe a simpler question - did you lose your data after you got it back?

If the above is true then the drop had nothing to with this PCI device. The shop you took it to failed to install all of the drivers (or the correct drivers) for the hardware in your computer and XP doesn't have a generic driver that it can install.

Open Device Manager. What is listed under the "Other" or "Unknown devices" category there?

There's four PCI devices listed with little exclamation marks next to them. Like this.



When I try reinstalling the driver, whether I search for the driver online or on the computer, it'll just load and load and have no signs of finishing at all. I'm unsure how long it normally takes to locate lost drivers, but I've waited hours for it to no avail.

And I still had all of my information when they fixed it. I don't know what they did, but I was surprised. This thing is barely staying alive, lol.

[Minion4Hire]

Nova Mistral

Minion4Hire

Nova Mistral

the laptop I'm using [...] was dropped (not by me!1) and the PCI devices have been broken since.

I already took it to a shop and they were able to get the laptop working, but not the PCI devices.

I'm just curious... did they get the laptop working by replacing the hard drive? Or perhaps reinstalling Windows?

Maybe a simpler question - did you lose your data after you got it back?

If the above is true then the drop had nothing to with this PCI device. The shop you took it to failed to install all of the drivers (or the correct drivers) for the hardware in your computer and XP doesn't have a generic driver that it can install.

Open Device Manager. What is listed under the "Other" or "Unknown devices" category there?

There's four PCI devices listed with little exclamation marks next to them. Like this.



When I try reinstalling the driver, whether I search for the driver online or on the computer, it'll just load and load and have no signs of finishing at all. I'm unsure how long it normally takes to locate lost drivers, but I've waited hours for it to no avail.

And I still had all of my information when they fixed it. I don't know what they did, but I was surprised. This thing is barely staying alive, lol.

XP is so old (it's 12 this year) and was never very good at automatically locating drivers. But do this for me...

Right click one of those devices and select Properties. In the properties window that appears click the Details tab (I think; going from memory) and then you should see a dropdown menu. Click it and select Hardware ID, take a screeshot of that window and post it here.

In addition to the above, can you give us the make and model of your laptop? (ie Toshiba A105)

[Melonhoney]

Minion4Hire

Nova Mistral

Minion4Hire

Nova Mistral

the laptop I'm using [...] was dropped (not by me!1) and the PCI devices have been broken since.

I already took it to a shop and they were able to get the laptop working, but not the PCI devices.

I'm just curious... did they get the laptop working by replacing the hard drive? Or perhaps reinstalling Windows?

Maybe a simpler question - did you lose your data after you got it back?

If the above is true then the drop had nothing to with this PCI device. The shop you took it to failed to install all of the drivers (or the correct drivers) for the hardware in your computer and XP doesn't have a generic driver that it can install.

Open Device Manager. What is listed under the "Other" or "Unknown devices" category there?

There's four PCI devices listed with little exclamation marks next to them. Like this.



When I try reinstalling the driver, whether I search for the driver online or on the computer, it'll just load and load and have no signs of finishing at all. I'm unsure how long it normally takes to locate lost drivers, but I've waited hours for it to no avail.

And I still had all of my information when they fixed it. I don't know what they did, but I was surprised. This thing is barely staying alive, lol.

XP is so old (it's 12 this year) and was never very good at automatically locating drivers. But do this for me...

Right click one of those devices and select Properties. In the properties window that appears click the Details tab (I think; going from memory) and then you should see a dropdown menu. Click it and select Hardware ID, take a screeshot of that window and post it here.

In addition to the above, can you give us the make and model of your laptop? (ie Toshiba A105)

Yessir. Thanks for attempting to investigate. ; o;



The make and model is Acer Extensa 5420. VERY cheap laptop. Well, in its time. It was $500 dollars, but it turns out you can get a decent gaming PC at that price nowadays. e_e It had problems to begin with even before it was dropped.

[Minion4Hire]

Nova Mistral

The make and model is Acer Extensa 5420. VERY cheap laptop. Well, in its time. It was $500 dollars, but it turns out you can get a decent gaming PC at that price nowadays.

Not... really. By comparison I suppose. A current generation $500 computer is going to perform a lot better, but I guess it depends on your definition of "decent". razz

As for your system, that appears to be hardware from O2 Micro.

Looking at Acer's 5420 download page, the only viable option would be this card reader driver, and it makes some sense given that there are multiple entries listed (different physical connections for different cards), but hopefully that's the driver you need. If that direct download link doesn't work just go to the driver page and find it from there.

Does your paperwork say what the shop actually did to your laptop? I'm assuming they reinstalled Windows, but I'm just curious.

[Melonhoney]

Minion4Hire

Not... really. By comparison I suppose. A current generation $500 computer is going to perform a lot better, but I guess it depends on your definition of "decent". razz

Oh... lol. I suppose I do have really low standards. I've used crappy computers my entire life.

Minion4Hire

As for your system, that appears to be hardware from O2 Micro.

Looking at Acer's 5420 download page, the only viable option would be this card reader driver, and it makes some sense given that there are multiple entries listed (different physical connections for different cards), but hopefully that's the driver you need. If that direct download link doesn't work just go to the driver page and find it from there.

Does your paperwork say what the shop actually did to your laptop? I'm assuming they reinstalled Windows, but I'm just curious.

Alrighty, I installed it. It went smoothly. (Which is a bit of an accomplishment with this machine. xD) I'll restart the laptop in a sec and see if there's any changes.

And I'd actually need to find the paper first - I think my dad has it. x_x I'll tell you once I get my hands on it!

[Minion4Hire]

Nova Mistral

Alrighty, I installed it. It went smoothly. (Which is a bit of an accomplishment with this machine. xD) I'll restart the laptop in a sec and see if there's any changes.

So what was the result...?

[Melonhoney]

Minion4Hire

Nova Mistral

Alrighty, I installed it. It went smoothly. (Which is a bit of an accomplishment with this machine. xD) I'll restart the laptop in a sec and see if there's any changes.

So what was the result...?

Hi, sorry for the really late reply. = w= If there was a change, I haven't noticed yet, sadly. I'm still having the PCI device problems. I actually made another thread concerning even more problems with this laptop.