Timothy A. Musson wrote:
> At 01:35 AM 9/30/04 , Ton Heeren wrote:
> 
>>Sir, ma'am
>>after my computer crashed due to a virus, I had to
>>format my hard drive and install Winsdows [xx] again.
>>My problem is now, the on-board (AMP) sound-/videocard
>>is now presented as a ? in the list of hardware.
>>Windows does not recognize the type and I believe the
>>driver is lost.
> 
> 
> Your computer may have come with a rescue CD that you can use. You should also be able to open your computer case and find the model of your motherboard. Then, you should be able to find drivers at the motherboard manufacturer's website.
> 
> Also, searching for "hardware identification utility" at www.google.com leads to a plethora of programs you may want to try out, including these pages:
> http://www.majorgeeks.com/downloads9.html
> http://www.pcworld.com/downloads/file_description/0,fid,23043,00.asp
> 
> 
>>I heard NetBSD is able to run an application with
>>which I can identify my soundcard. If that is so, can
>>you please forward me the details of this application
>>(can I download it ?) so I can identify the details of
>>my soundcard and try to get the proper driver for it.
>>It you have other suggestions to solve this problem,
>>they are more than welcome !
> 
> 
> Well, not really... But, many unix-like operating systems, including NetBSD and Linux, do typically print useful information during boot-up (which can be accessed after boot-up with the "dmesg" command). If you're interested in exploring that path to identify your hardware, you probably want to use a bootable install CD, or something that is known as a "LiveCD", and not actually install a different operating system to your harddrive. To do this, you would download an ISO image and burn it to a CD (taking care to make sure you tell the burning software that you're using an ISO image). You can download the NetBSD install ISOs at http://www.netbsd.org/Releases/ (you probably only need the first one for your purposes). However, a better option for you would probably be something like Knoppix ( www.knoppix.org ), which is a Linux-based Live CD; it will boot your computer into a user-friendly graphical mode where you can get a command line (a.k.a Terminal / Terminal Emulator / Co
nsole) to run the dmesg command. As a bonus, you'll get lots of free games, an excellent Photoshop-like program called The Gimp, a great word processor, and all kinds of other stuff. Whether or not you use it to identify your hardware, Knoppix is an excellent way to try out a new, Free, operating system!
> 
> Good luck,
> Tim Musson
> 
> 
> 
> p.s. List Members - I only replied on the list so that people searching the archives in the future will know that this is not the correct forum for help with non-NetBSD operating systems. Note: I modified one part of the quoted material to reduce search hits for such operating systems.


"I only replied on the list so that people searching the archives in the 
future will know that this is not the correct forum for help with 
non-NetBSD operating systems."

Hahahaha - and what did you JUST do? Helped him with a NON NetBSD OS.

Gimme a break - that question did't deserve any sort of answer except 
the required flame.

If you want to take the time to lead someone like this around, do it off 
list otherwise, expect (and gladly except) the additional flame.



-- 
Best regards,
Chris

Despite the sign that says "wet paint",
please don't.